Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Craswell May Jump Gop Ship Former Candidate For Governor May Join U.S. Taxpayers Party

Associated Press

Ellen Craswell, the Republicans’ 1996 candidate for governor and for years the leader of the religious conservatives, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she’s considering leaving the party.

The former Poulsbo state lawmaker said if she makes the break, it would be to join the U.S. Taxpayers Party. State Republican Chairman Dale Foreman said he was “saddened and surprised” by the news and that he will try to talk her out of the decision.

“We have thought about it,” Craswell said of herself and her husband Bruce, a longtime party activist. “But we are not at that point (of announcing a departure). It is all in the thinking stage right now.”

She made clear that she has plenty of complaints with the state and national GOP, and that she thinks she would find a comfortable home in the foundling U.S. Taxpayers Party. Craswell said the party will run candidates for various offices, although she doubts she’ll run again.

Craswell said she was unhappy that national GOP leaders, including presidential nominee Bob Dole, released Republican candidates from following the party platform that grassroots activists had written. She also noted the recent vote by the Republican National Committee to reject a litmus test for candidates on their view on the procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion.

“They basically said, ‘We think ‘partial-birth’ abortions are terrible, and no one has to be accountable,”’ she said.

Closer to home, Craswell and fellow conservatives have been upset with legislative Republicans for failing to use their majority status to push through abortion limits and a ban on same-sex marriage. Lawmakers are currently working on those measures.

Craswell, 65, a former 16-year member of the Legislature who lost to Democrat Gary Locke in the 1996 governor’s race, said the U.S. Taxpayers Party is “the one closest to where I am. It is very much there - right down the line (they believe) what I ran on.”

If she makes the switch, she’ll let her followers know - at least 4,000 subscribers get her “Family in Touch” newsletter - but won’t do a hard sell.

“I don’t tell people what to do or what to believe - I come out with what I’m going to do and tell folks ‘If you’re feeling like I do ….”’ she said in an interview.

Dan Eby, state director of the Taxpayers Party, could not be reached for comment.

The party was formed by Howard Phillips, who was on the ballot in 40 states as a presidential candidate. He drew 4,578 votes in Washington state, or .02 percent of the vote.

During debates, Phillips said government has acquired more power than assigned to it in the Constitution. He said he stood for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and capital-gains taxes, withdrawing the United States from the United Nations, returning education to the states and ending legal abortion.

“The role of civil government is to be a ministry of justice and a terror to evildoers. Currently, it is a ministry of injustice and a terror to the innocent alone,” Phillips said.