Susan Hutchison came to Port Orchard with a rallying message for members of the South Kitsap Republican Women and candidates: Walk the talk.
The state Republican Party chairwoman was the guest speaker at the South Kitsap Republican Women’s membership luncheon — “Let Freedom Ring – Garden Party for Patriots” — on June 19 at the McCormick Woods Golf Course Clubhouse.
More than 80 people attended the event. South Kitsap Republican Women President Cindy Lucarelli was excited with the turnout.
“Our membership luncheon turned out better than we could ever have imagined,” she said. “We are so pleased with the great turnout, including the huge representation of candidates.”
Hutchison said as the state’s party chairwoman, her job is to remind its members to “walk the talk.”
“Everyone running for office is walking the talk. You are putting yourself out there,” she said. “Every one of us has to walk the talk, walking the neighborhood and knocking on doors. It is time to stop the arguing, the splitting of hairs about issues we fill strongly about and time to walk our neighborhood and convince people our ideas are better than the oppositions’ ideas – which is absolutely true.”
Democratic rule is “evil”
She said it was astounding what is happening in the world, especially in Iraq.
“We had great hope for that country and we shed our nation’s blood and gave our treasure for the people of Iraq and the Middle East,” Hutchinson said. “All of that has been squandered by a president who either doesn’t know what he’s doing or willfully chose [to] weaken America’s influence in the Middle East and give up on the people of Middle East.”
She said she recently asked a group of people if President Obama was “incompetent or evil.”
“They said both,” Hutchison replied.
Hutchison, a former television journalist, said what goes on under Democratic rule is “evil.” Democrats like Americans — especially single mothers — being dependent on government.
“Government is not a husband and government is not a father,” she said. “The Democrats think it is. The Republicans say, ‘No, it is not.’’
She said what is happening at the Internal Revenue Service — it revealed in 2013 that it had selected political groups applying for tax-exempt status for intensive scrutiny based on their names or political themes — is “immoral.”
“Isn’t it interesting how all the hard drives have suddenly disappeared from certain people’s computers? Those actions deserve criminal consequences,” Hutchison said. “If this would have been under the Bush administration, we would have had grand juries on this really to announce a verdict. People need to stand trial on criminal charges.”
Hutchison, who was raised in Washington, D.C., and is the daughter of military officer, said she can’t believe we have a government full of people who are “willing to go alone with what is happening in America today.”
“Our government workers are turning a blind eye,” she said.
Message to local candidates
Hutchison thanked the candidates for “stepping up” and they are important to the Republican Party.
She said at the Republican headquarters in Bellevue, their mission statement is: “One party uniting 39 counties serving to elect Republicans at every level of government.”
‘No job is too small when you’re serving the public as an elected official,” Hutchison said.
She told the candidates not to be afraid to repeat their message.
“Repeat it, repeat it, repeat it. It takes a long time for it to get in here (mind) and then in here (heart) before they can fill out their ballots,” she urged.
Hutchison said it’s time for all Republicans to come together and “do the right thing on behalf of the citizens of the state.”
“We need to work like we have never worked before,” she said. “Walk our talk and get the people elected that we know that will help change the course of history.”
Hutchison said she predicts the Republican will win the governor’s race in 2016. As for the presidential race in 2016, she noted that Washington has the most electoral votes west of the Mississippi River excluding Texas and California.
“We have power in our state,” Hutchison.
During her speech, Hutchison compared running of an elected office to mountain climbing. She said mountain climbers have to train, have the right tools and know teamwork.
“When mountain climbing, you are tied to someone going up the mountain with you,” Hutchison explained.
“I want you to be roped-up with everyone else as be climb the peak with is winning in 2016 the governor’s seat,” she said.
Hutchison said 2014 is training for the 2016 election.
“Everyone who is working on a campaign is learning how to win by all the things they are doing to help a candidate win,” she said. “Everyone who worked on Jan Angel’s campaign was trained on her race. Now, we can help other candidates win.”
“We are grateful to Susan Hutchison for her inspirational message to all who attended, and to the generous sponsors and donors of our event,” added Lucarelli. “It is heartwarming to have people come together for great causes.”
Lucarelli said 11 Republican candidates attended the luncheon. Candidates attending were Marty McClendon, Sixth District U.S. Congress), Dr. Michelle Caldier (26th District state representative), Ed Wolfe (Kitsap County commissioner), Kelly Emerson and Sean Smith (Kitsap County auditor), Phil Cook (Kitsap County assessor), Tina Robinson (Kitsap County prosecutor), Gary Cheney (Kitsap County clerk), Tracy Flood (Kitsap County court judge), Dan Griffey (35th District state representative) and Greg Sandstrom (incumber Kitsap County coroner).
Representative for State Sen. Jan Angel and State Rep. Jesse Young also attended.
Elected officials at the luncheon were Port Orchard Mayor Tim Matthes, Jerry Childs, Port Orchard councilman and Lucarelli, Port Orchard councilwoman.
