Free Republic

One of the top leadership positions in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will go to Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents Washington state. The move comes after Republicans fared poorly with female voters in last week' election. Stinging from double-digit election losses among female voters, House Republicans elected a woman to their top leadership team Wednesday in a tense test of gender politics and the clout of the GOP's power brokers. The election of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state to the No. 4 leadership position among House Republicans dispatches conservative favorite Tom Price of Georgia, who had been endorsed...

I-502, a voter initiative designed to legalize the possession and personal use of Marijuana, appears to have passed. With 50% of the statewide votes counted, the initiative leads with a 55% to 45% approval rating. Up to one ounce of marijuana, grown at state-licensed facilities, and sold (and TAXED!) at state retail locations, will now be allowed. There will be standards set for driving while impaired, as well as a zero-tolerance policy for persons under 21. It is estimated it will take about a year for all the machinery to get set up before people can buy retail hooch! Negotiations...

Gay marriage advocates cheered victories in voter initiatives in Maryland and Maine on Tuesday night and seemed poised to win in two other states. The votes were first setbacks at the ballot box for opponents of same-sex marriage after more than 30 victories. With 93 percent of the vote counted in Maryland, Ballot Question 6, which legalizes gay marriage in the state, was leading by 52 percent to 48 percent, and supporters were already claiming victory in the heated and expensive battle. “Today the marriage equality map expands to Maryland, giving thousands more loving couples the opportunity to make lifelong...

Next week voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington will vote on whether to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. Given that there are good people on both sides of this issue, how are we to explain their opposing views? The primary explanation is this: Proponents and opponents ask two different questions. Proponents of same-sex marriage ask: Is keeping the definition of marriage as man-woman fair to gays? Opponents of same-sex marriage ask: Is same-sex marriage good for society? Few on either side honestly address the question of the other side. Opponents of same-sex marriage rarely acknowledge how unfair the age-old...

BURIEN, Washington, October 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A volunteer working on a campaign in support of traditional marriage, as well as a pregnant bystander, were shaken up after a heated confrontation this weekend with a homosexual activist. Arlene Mark, a volunteer for Preserve Marriage Washington, which is urging voters to reject a ballot measure to legalize homosexual “marriage,” says the attack began while she was waiting in her car to distribute literature to other volunteers. According to Arlene, a man ran at her car, hit the back of it and ripped the Reject 74 campaign sign off the side. Arlene...

Republicans Mitt Romney and Rob McKenna have gained ground on their Democratic opponents in Washington state, the latest KING 5 News poll shows. Romney trails President Barack Obama by 14 points in Washington state (40 percent to Obama's 54 percent). But that represents a pick-up of 6 points since the last KING 5 poll conducted at the end of September. And McKenna saw a net gain of 3 points against Jay Inslee in the governor race, putting the contest back within the poll's margin of error. Inslee leads Mckenna 47 percent to 44 percent, the poll found, with 9 percent...

Sixty-three former Roman Catholic priests in Washington state will announce on Thursday that they support Referendum 74, which would make Washington the nation’s seventh state to legalize marriage between same-sex couples. The stand comes as the state’s four Catholic bishops intensify a campaign of pastoral statements and videos urging parishoners to vote against marriage equality. In the latest pastoral letter, Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima told his 41 parishes that Referendum 74 “jeopardizes freedom rather than expands it” and “endangers our religious liberty and the rights of conscience.” “Once marriage is redefined as a genderless contract,...

Seattle, WA is extreamly liberal, think -Boston liberal. Yesterday St. Benidicts in the Wallingford community was celebrating their annual 'Borkwurst' Festival to raise money for their school. I wore a 2 1/2"X 3 1/2" pen I made up on my computor that said: 'ROMNEY: God, Freedom, and Prosperity. Obama: Socialism, Slavery, and $20 TRILLION Debt.' As I walked around the playground with our family, I recieved quite a few requests to take a picture of my sign with their i-pods. One girl said she wanted to send the pic. to her dad to prove that not everybody in Wallingford was...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state of Washington has advised the Catholic diocese in Yakima, Wash., that its plans to conduct a special collection to benefit the campaign to defeat the state’s marriage equality law is illegal under the state’s campaign finance laws. Last week, Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson sent a letter to pastors in 41 parishes of the Yakima Diocese asking them to announce a special collection that would go to “Preserve Marriage Washington,” the coalition fighting the same-sex marriage law that was passed earlier this year. Opponents of the law have successfully targeted the measure with a voter referendum...

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA will support Washington's Referendum 74, which would affirm the legislatively backed same sex marriage law. Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA will support Washington's Referendum 74, the company announced Monday. The referendum, which would affirm the legislatively backed law that legalizes same-sex marriage, will be on the ballot in November. The company will contribute $25,000 to Washington United for Marriage, the group campaigning to pass the referendum, according to company officials.

Washington state's primary election results as reported by the state elections office. US Senator: Maria Cantwell (D) 56% Michael Baumgartner (R) 30% Congressional District 1 - U.S. Representative: John Koster (R) 44% Suzan DelBene (D) 23% Congressional District 2 - U.S. Representative: Rick Larsen (D) 59.5% Dan Matthews (R) 27% Congressional District 3 - U.S. Representative: Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) 55% Jon T. Haugen (D) 39% Congressional District 4 - U.S. Representative: Doc Hastings (R) 57% Mary Baechler (D) 28% Congressional District 5 - U.S. Representative: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) 54% Rich Cowan (D) 35% Congressional District 6 - U.S....

OLYMPIA, Washington, July 31, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The fight for traditional marriage in Washington state is heating up with the announcement that billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, and his wife, MacKenzie, have pledged $2.5 million to homosexual lobbyists. The donation comes after opponents of the state’s new gay “marriage” law stopped the legislation in its tracks by collecting and filing over 240,000 signatures in support of a referendum on the November ballot. The contribution makes the Amazon couple the largest financial backer of homosexual “rights” in the state, according to the NY Times, far outstripping the $100k donation...

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, have given $2.5 million to fund efforts in the state of Washington to legalize same-sex marriage, effectively doubling the current electoral war chest of proponents. The gift was announced by Washington United for Marriage, the coalition working to pass Referendum 74 in November. It's believed to be the largest individual gift “to secure or protect the freedom to marry,” the group said in a statement released on its website. Washington is one of four states where the issue of same-sex marriage will be on the ballot this year.

Top of the ticket: A KING 5 poll conducted in May showed President Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney in Washington state by 14 points. But our July numbers show that lead is down slightly, with Obama leading 46 percent to 37 percent.

The leading candidates in Washington's tight gubernatorial race both issued statements opposing the Boy Scouts of America's recent decision to retain a policy prohibiting gay Scouts and leaders. Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna both chastised the organization for the announcement that their secret committee unanimously refused to change the discriminatory policy.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire handed gay rights advocates a major victory Monday, signing into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. Gregoire signed the bill surrounded by gay rights supporters. “I’m proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal,” she said. OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire handed gay rights advocates a major victory Monday, signing into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh in the nation to...

Washington state lawmakers voted to approve gay marriage Wednesday, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. The action comes a day after a federal appeals court declared California’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, saying it was a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples. The Washington House passed the bill on a 55-43 vote. Supporters in the public viewing galleries stood and cheered as many on the Democratic side of the House floor hugged after the vote. The state Senate approved the measure last week,...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Legislature is on the verge of having enough support to make Washington the seventh state to approve gay marriage, according to a tally by The Associated Press.A same-sex marriage bill is expected to be introduced by the end of the week. The AP reached out to all 49 state senators over the past week and found that more lawmakers are firmly supporting gay marriage than opposing it, by a margin of 22-18.The measure needs 25 votes to pass the Senate. The House is widely expected to have enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed...

Gov. Chris Gregoire has called a 10 a.m. Monday news conference in Olympia to announce her future plans. The Democrat is expected to say whether she'll seek a third term. Congressman Jay Inslee says he'll run for governor if Gregoire does not.

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain was a surprise victor in a straw poll of GOP presidential candidates held at State Republicans’ 29th Annual Spring Gala on Friday. Cain took 54 votes of 357 votes cast. He edged out former Massachusetts Gov. Willard “Mitt” Romney (52) and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (51). Daniels has yet to decide whether he will run......