Election front on the move

SPOKANE

Election front on the move

A meeting this Friday at Gonzaga University is a candidate for a Periscope strange bedfellows award. The "Free State Project" discussion is being sponsored by the GU College Republicans and will feature one speaker who's been a regular Libertarian Party candidate in Washington and another who's been active in the Constitution Party in Idaho. … The Free State Project is a plan by the "less government is better government" forces to move thousands of voters to a small state and essentially take over. They are looking for about 20,000 citizens willing to move to a sparsely populated state, register and get active in politics, and sway elections. … They would back candidates – or become candidates – dedicated to paring back government.

This idea was hatched a few years ago by the Libertarian Party, and one of its prime proponents, Elizabeth McKinstry, is on the agenda for the 7 p.m. session in the GU Law School's Moot Court room. Also on the program is Rob Chase, who has run in Spokane – enthusiastically but unsuccessfully – for the state Senate and the U.S. House. … They'll be joined by Bill Denman, who has run for Bonner County commissioner across the border in Idaho and is active in the Constitution Party, which is one of the landing spots for folks who think the GOP tilts too far left.

Proponents of the Free State Project can do the math, and they know that to have any impact with 20,000 voters, they need a state with a fairly small population base. … Washington, with nearly 6 million people, isn't one of their target states, but Idaho, with about 1.3 million, is. Of course, if state Sens. Bob Morton, R-Orient, and Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, could ever get Eastern Washington split off into a 51st state, we'd probably move to the top of the project's list. … The show goes on the road to North Idaho College, where it plays in the Student Union, at 6 p.m. Friday.

• Public Periscope is published on Mondays and is compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports. You can contact him by mail c/o The Spokesman-Review, PO Box 2160, Spokane, 99210; e-mail at jimc@spokesman.com; phone at (509) 459-5461; and fax at (509) 459-5482.

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