Excitement Builds for Minneapolis

Plane tickets purchased, hotel reservations secured and I am getting really, really jazzed! Check out the official convention website. I am also very excited because Cindy has agreed to be my guest. Husband Larry was my top choice but because we will have spent a previous week driving Larissa (and horse) back to college in Texas he was not able to get away for another week. As the state director for Washington Eagle Forum Cindy will be a favored guest at several Eagle Forum functions. It makes perfect sense that she make the trip to Minneapolis with me.

Check back often as we make preparations and plans for the HUGE week of September 1-4. Let the (GOP) PARTY begin! We plan to be the LIFE of the party!

Press Release

June 2, 2008
Luanne Van Werven Elected as National Delegate to Republican National Convention
Running as a principled pro-life conservative, Washington State Eagle Luanne Van Werven was elected as a national Delegate to the Republican National Convention. Luanne will represent Washington's 2nd Congressional District at the September convention in Minnesota.

Luanne was aided in her campaign for national Delegate by fellow Eagles who also attended the state convention in Spokane as state Delegates, Cindy Honcoop and Anne Culbertson. Luanne credits the respected Eagle Forum organization with paving the way to her election as national Delegate.

Luanne now joins with other Eagle Forum members from several other states as we prepare to protect the pro-life plank in the Republican platform and advance the conservative principles of the Republican Party Platform.

Battle for the Republican Party

Saturday was dedicated to cementing the state platform of the Republican Party. Just as we experienced at the county convention the Ron Paul delegates were bent on seizing control of the party. There was very little regard for long held, deeply felt, traditional Republican philosophy and we were treated with undisguised contempt. This was most upsetting to me as it became an "us vs. them" challenge as we clashed with each other. We have our hands full battling Democrats, we can't afford the time and energy to battle within the party. This was a day of objections, contesting, accusations and stalling. The platform committee had done alot of work prior to the convention and I thought the platform they introduced for our ratification was magnificent in its clarity and uncomplicated eloquence. Read the approved document here. It was a hard fought battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party with some fireworks and dramatic moments along the way but in the end, conservative Republicans prevailed and we held on to the Reagan inspired ideals of the Grand Old Party.

Spokane is a beautiful town

We stayed right along the river just a short walk from the convention center. The river was running very high and fast because of all the late Spring rains we experienced. It was really quite breathtaking. On Saturday morning I managed to get up early and run the River Walk all the way to Gonzaga University and then back to the Riverfront Park. It was a great way to clear my head and spend time thanking God for the opportunity to represent the Republican Party at the National Convention in Sept.

Washington State Republican Convention

Friday morning was crazy hectic because of all the things we needed to do before the convention offically convened at 9:00AM. The logistics and timing of this morning were mind-boggling because we needed to set up the Eagle Forum booth, register to receive our delegate credentials and I was needed at a 7:00AM meeting for John McCain delegates. But before we could do any of this we had to swing by Kinkos to pick up all the documents we had emailed for printing prior to our arrival. This saved us having to lug them all on the airplane. As soon as we got everything taken care of we raced off to the airport to pick up Charlie and Anne and our luggage. We were all so glad to see each other again! They had the great pleasure of traveling on the same flight as Dino Rossi (next GOV for WA) and Rob McKenna (attn. general) so their mood was festive and they were ready to get started.

We needed to get Chas. and Anne back to the convention center ASAP so they could register before the 9:00AM deadline. As it turned out they were both elevated to delegates which was a real answer to prayer. Whoop! Whoop!

Speechifying, introductions, motions, and votes took up the majority of the morning and then we moved into individual caucus meeting where the voting for National Delegates was to take place. Here's where it got fun for me as I had the opportunity to do a bit of personal campaigning before the meeting. Before we left for Spokane I came up with this great idea for endearing myself to the voting delegates of the 2nd CD. I bought mini chocolate crunch bars that were packaged smartly in red, white and blue wrappers and I attached stickers that said, "Vote Luanne Van Werven for National Delegate". The candy was a hit and so was Anne as she worked the room for me asking people to vote for her friend Luanne.

Doug Roulstone was the first to be elected, deservedly so, as he has campaigned tirelessly for John McCain and the Republican Party. He has earned great respect in our district. It was a dramatic moment when the next round of ballots were counted and my name was announced as the 2nd of the two national delegates from our congressional district. I could hardly believe it, my dream had been realized!

Acts of Mercy

Meanwhile, back in Seattle Charlie and Anne re-booked for the first flight out in the morning, took a hotel room for the night (after deciding against driving through the night to Spokane!) and lugged FOUR large pieces of luggage so we could make our flight to the other side of Washington State.

Arriving in Spokane Cindy and I enjoyed 2 episodes of mercy... at the car rental agency when it turned out the only available vehicles were a PT Cruiser and a Dodge Durango but they were willing to rent to us at compact price. As we walked to our gleaming white SUV we passed the PT Cruiser which turned out to be nothing more than a rolling billboard for the rental company! Now that would have been mortifying! hilarious, but mortifying! The second act of mercy was administered at the hotel by the wonderful desk clerk who was very sympathetic to our plight and loaded us up with some very important personal items. We still did not have clean clothes or pajamas but at least we could brush our teeth and comb our hair! We collapsed into bed for a few short hours of sleep.

Spokane: the (mis) adventure!

Remember the $99 flight? Well, it was a great plan in theory but it fell apart in the details. It meant taking the last flight out on Thursday evening (11:00PM) and the first flight back on Sunday morning (5:00AM). We started the mess ourselves by leaving Lynden 30 minutes later than we should have. We would have made it (barely) except that when we got to Everett the DOT had chosen that evening to narrow I-5 to just ONE lane! We crawled for miles and watched the clock inch closer to the time we were supposed to be at the airport. With minutes to spare we parked at SeaTac and raced to the airport and frantically ran to the ticket counter. At this point we were well past the 30 minute time limit to board but the ticket agent told us if we ran we could make the plane but because they had already closed the cargo hold we could take NO luggage! Not only that, because this was the last flight of the night we could not leave our luggage at the airport overnight for security reasons! Someone was going to have to stay behind with the luggage and fly over first thing in the morning. Well, this created a huge delimma because Cindy and I each had a suitcase full of supplies for the Eagle Forum booth we planned to showcase at the Spokane convention. We also needed to be there very early on Friday morning for set up and meetings. Before we could even process all the implications of this situation Charlie and Anne said, "GO! GO! we'll come with all the luggage in the morning." Mercy me...I opened my suitcase to see what I could grab but of course everything I needed would be confiscated at security so I just zipped it back up and ran for the gate. Cindy had the presence of mind to grab a pair of pants and stuff it into her purse. We bolted for security, threw off shoes and jackets and begged to go around the other people. One look at our faces and they stepped aside with haste! I have never been so grateful for my marathon training as we literally had to run all the way to the end of the terminal. We arrived at the gate, barged onto the airplane and collapsed into our seats. Neither of us spoke for a very long time as we contemplated our situation... no clothes, no pajamas, no makeup, not even a hairbrush! This was going to be a long night!

Preparing for Spokane

Friend Cindy was also elected as a state delegate and friends Anne and husband Charlie were elected as alternates so we began to plan our Spokane adventure together. Our goal was to minimize the time away from family so opted to fly to Spokane. After finding airfare for $99 we decided it would be worth it... or so we thought.

In the meantime, I had decided to act on my dream of becoming a national delegate to the Republican Convention. It would truly be a "God-thing" if I was granted this opportunity, for several reasons... First, while I have always been a conservative Republican and have worked on many campaigns; outside of holding the position of Precinct Committee Officer, I have not been overly active in party politics. National delegate positions usually go to those who are well known within the party and it is considered somewhat of a reward for work and dedication within the party. Second, my election as national delegate would require a majority vote of state delegates from the 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd CD includes the five counties of Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan and Snohomish. I may have some name ID in Whatcom but hardly anyone knows me outside my own county.

So I started a campaign to win the votes of my fellow state delegates. I composed a letter of introduction which included personal, political and professional information and mailed this out to each of the 5 county chairpersons. I also began the arduous task of collecting the names of state delegates so I could contact them and introduce myself and ask for their vote at the convention in Spokane. This was NOT easy but in the end I was given the ability to reach them with my letter and later many told me it made all the difference when it came to voting for national delegate. Persistence paid off!

County Convention - RP Coup

The County Convention took on a life of its own as authentic Republicans battled against Ron Paul Libertarians and their “utopian” view that man will regulate himself. Sadly, many Republicans started leaving before we finished voting for the state delegation and because the RP contingent stayed to the bitter end we ended up with a very lopsided delegation of 75 percent RP and 25 percent authentic Republicans. The question on our minds: Will they unify under the Republican banner or will they attempt to displace Republican philosophy with their own alien worldview?

Oh, and by the way, I was one of the few Republicans who was elected as a delegate to the state convention. It was my first real campaign and the hard work paid off. Spokane, here I come!

Caucus to County to State...

Working very hard with friends Charlie and Anne Culbertson we went all out for the Lynden-area Republican caucus meeing on Feb. 9. We had a tremendous attendance and estimate there were at least 220 people at the caucus to either participate or observe. The Lynden-area Republican caucus was just as it should be... friends and neighbors of like-mind, gathering together to express their deeply held views. It was a great occasion and we were encouraged that so many citizens involved themselves in the wonderful process of self government! For the first time in many years Lynden sent nearly a full slate of delegates to the Republican Party County Convention which was held on March 15 at the Kulshan Middle School in Bellingham.