At the platform committee meeting at the GOP convention in Nampa. They're just doing the roll call now, should get started in a bit. #idpol
Here's a link where you can take a look at the proposed platform planks idgop.org/2020-conventio… #idpol
And a thread I did a couple days ago going over some of the more significant ones #idpol
The first one they're taking up is from Bear Lake County's Charles Horikami which would replace the current platform with this short statement of principles. They're doing that one first since if it passes it would make the rest of it moot. #idpol 
Horikami said his proposed platform is "short and sweet" and each principle is tweetable, 280 characters or less. "People don't read 14 page documents," referring to the current platform. #idpol
Dan Cravens: "Shakespeare said brevity is the soul of wit and I believe this is a document that will be easily digestible, as Charles is saying, by voters."
The current platform is much more detailed and contains provisions not everyone in the party agrees with. (The plank calling for state legislatures to pick U.S. senators to give one example is one I've heard more than a few people disagree with.) #idpol
Hari Heath says he will vote no, calls this just a preamble. "This essentially removes the entire expression of the body of what the party's about." #idpol
Bryan Smith: "Our current platform has been drafted and prepared and debated over years and years and years. And we're talking about taking everybody's efforts over the last several years and replacing it with the wisdom of two people."
Horikami's proposal has been postponed indefinitely. (That is to say it's not moving forward, old platform stays in place.) Now they're moving on to a new platform plank calling for penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants. #idpol
Bjorn Handeen, Kootenai County: "A lot of Americans are out of work. It's sending the wrong message to let these illegal labor practices continue at the expense of our own workforce." #idpol
The platform plank mentions agriculture specifically. Handeen says he is fine with amending it but "I'm not the one that singled them out. They singled themselves out. I think we all know the main problem in Idaho, the main source of the problem, is the agricultural industry."
The committee voted unanimously to amend it to drop the reference to agriculture, then voted unanimously to adopt it. #idpol
Now they're taking up a platform plank to support electing one state senator per county, rather than apportionment by population.
What Barron is proposing -- one senator per county, House seats apportioned by population but also taking counties into account -- is basically the system Idaho had before SCOTUS mandated proportional representation in the 1960s.
It would require amending the state constitution to implement and almost certainly lead to a lawsuit if it were to be tried.
And now we're onto P3, which would add "we believe we are inheritors of a distinct Western Civilization and that our traditional culture safeguards our identity as a free people" to the preamble. #idpol
Handeen: This is important when "so much of our western culture is being dismantled and destroyed before our very eyes." Says he is from Minneapolis and has watched his hometown burn #idpol
Handeen: "It's important for us in Idaho to stand up and say we have a right to be us and a lot of the things that are important to us ... (come from) our culture." #idpol
The committee just voted to amend the proposed plans to say candidates for public office should affirm their belief in the supremacy of the US Constitution. #idpol
An Ada County delegate says he wants to make sure it wouldn't exclude someone of a different race or religion. Handeen: "The beauty of western civilization is it belongs to the whole world. Anyone can come here and join our civilization." #idpol
An Adams County delegate spoke against it at some length. Says America's principles are what have united us rather than any particular culture. After he was done the committee adopted the platform plank in what sounded like a close voice vote. #idpol
Scott Herndon is up now, presenting a platform plank calling on the state to nullify federal court rulings the state deems unconstitutional.
And that was adopted unanimously. Herndon, from Bonner County, is up again, with a platform plank that would define all abortion as murder, including in cases of rape or incest. #idpol
Herndon: There is "no circumstances under which a child would be put to death for the crimes of its father. ... The exceptions tend to be the door through which legislatures drive trucks and allow murder by abortion." #idpol
Herndon's proposal would call on the state to ignore federal court rulings holding there is a legal right to an abortion
That passed unanimously with a couple slight changes. (The gist of what Herndon is trying to add didn't change.) The committee just voted down Cravens' motion to reconsider Horikami's proposal. (Go to the beginning of the thread for background.) #idpol
Now they're considering a platform plank, also from Herndon, to make judicial elections partisans. Says it would require a state constitutional amendment #idpol
Herndon says 20 states have partisan elections for at least some judges. Herndon: we want judges to interpret the law fairly but we know everyone has a political bias #idpol
Herndon notes how many judicial races attract a lot of money around the country. "Somebody knows a lot about these judges and it isn't me and it probably isn't you and they're willing to put their money behind it." Says partisan elections would help better inform voters
That is it would give them an idea about a judge's judicial philosophy
That passed pretty overwhelmingly. Just a handful of nays.
Only three more planks left. Mark Fuller, Bonneville County, who is running for chairman, is sponsoring them all. One states support for the Electoral College; one supports a border wall; one would add a belief in American exceptionalism to the preamble #idpol
The electoral college one was just adopted unanimously.
The proposed plank supporting the wall passed unanimously. Now all that's left is the American exceptionalism addition to the preamble. #idpol
And that was just adopted unanimously. Now Zollinger just moved to suspend the rules to consider an additional platform plank that was submitted after the deadline. Zito seconded.
That passed with just a few nays. I'll let you know what the proposal is in a minute once they start presenting it.
Branden Durst is up presenting it now. It says tax dollars shouldn't support abortion providers. (Zollinger and Zito sponsored, and Durst supported, a bill during this year's #idleg session to defend abortion providers.)
That was adopted unanimously. The platform committee is wrapping up its work. Sounds like they won't need to meet tomorrow morning. #idpol
And the platform committee is done
