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<h1 id="gmail-page-title" style="font-size:1.8em;margin:0.5em 0px;color:rgb(50,50,50)">Immigration plank dies at convention</h1><div id="gmail-content" class="gmail-region" style="padding-top:10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><div id="gmail-block-system-main" class="gmail-block gmail-block-system gmail-no-title" style="margin-bottom:10px"><p class="gmail-author-datetime" style="margin:0px 0px 1em">Posted: June 30, 2018 3:03 p.m.</p><div class="gmail-node-content"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-byline gmail-field-type-text gmail-field-label-hidden gmail-view-mode-full" style="font-style:italic;font-size:12.6px;font-weight:bold;margin-top:0px"><div class="gmail-field-items"><div class="gmail-field-item even">By BRYAN CLARK</div></div></div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-bylinecredit gmail-field-type-text gmail-field-label-hidden gmail-view-mode-full" style="font-style:italic;font-size:12.6px;font-weight:bold;margin-top:0px"><div class="gmail-field-items"><div class="gmail-field-item even"><a href="mailto:bclark@postregister.com">bclark@postregister.com</a></div></div></div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-body gmail-field-type-text-with-summary gmail-field-label-hidden gmail-view-mode-full"><div class="gmail-field-items"><div class="gmail-field-item even"><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">POCATELLO — A proposed amendment to the Idaho Republican Party’s platform calling for harsher penalties for agricultural businesses that employ undocumented immigrants died a second death Saturday.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">One day earlier, in the party’s platform committee, the proposed amendment was defeated by opposition from delegates aligned with agriculture, a significant base for the party. It was initially decided that it had died and would not be included in the report that was voted on by the full convention. But after another count, it was found that there were enough votes to trigger a minority report — a second report to the convention that the full body could vote on apart from the more widely agreed amendments.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">The proposal was amended to focus on all businesses employing such workers rather than only those in the agricultural sector.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">Bjorn Handeen, chairman of the party’s Region 1 in north Idaho, issued a harsh attack against any employers that cannot run profitable businesses without undocumented immigrants.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">“If your business model depends on illegal practices, I call that organized crime,” Handeen said.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">But a number of delegates, including outgoing Sen. Jeff Siddoway, said the resolution was an unwarranted attack on business owners and farmers.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em"></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">“I understand the concern about hiring illegals,” Siddoway said. “And I understand the concern that we aren’t a nation of laws, and that we need to uphold them. But there’s a pragmatic part to this. We’re going to have crops rotting in the field. We’re going to have livestock not being tended.”</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em">Despite the effort by immigration critics to revive the measure, it died by a wide margin.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em"></p></div></div></div></div></div></div>And an excerpt from the Spokesman-Review:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">

<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 17.6px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia,times,serif;font-size:20px;font-variant-ligatures:none;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The platform had already defined marriage between a man and a woman, but it now also reads: “We recognize that the definition of marriage and its administration is not subject to federal authority and that Idaho is authorized to nullify any federal congressional act, federal mandate or court opinion that is contrary to traditional marriage.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 17.6px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia,times,serif;font-size:20px;font-variant-ligatures:none;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Delegates also accepted a slate of new resolutions that include directing the Idaho Republican Party to oppose a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative expected to be on the Idaho ballot in November.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 17.6px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia,times,serif;font-size:20px;font-variant-ligatures:none;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Others resolutions ask the Idaho Legislature to make city election partisan in order to hinder Democratic candidates from winning local races, working to eliminate a state standardized test known as the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, and eliminating the color blue from the party logo.</p>

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<br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Ron Force<br>Moscow Idaho USA</font></div></div></div></div>