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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gop Delays Resolution To Honor Fdr

Jim Brunner Staff writer

State lawmakers have formally honored hundreds of people and events this year, from basketball teams to tulip festivals.

But when it comes to honoring the only four-term president in U.S. history, a man who led the country through the Great Depression and World War II, the Republican-led House has balked.

Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, sponsored a resolution in honor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt last week, the 50th anniversary of the expresident’s death. But as of Friday afternoon, the House had not yet brought up the measure for consideration.

Some Democrats say Republicans are blocking the resolution out of disdain for FDR and his ambitious social programs. Democrats have turned the cause into somewhat of a running joke: wearing “Free FDR” buttons and quoting him during floor debates at every opportunity.

“It strikes me as odd that we’re censoring this one particular resolution,” said Conway, a labor negotiator with a doctorate in history. “I just think that it measures a type of extremism.”

House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-Wenatchee, said he has no problems with honoring Roosevelt, but he wants to make sure that resolutions that come before lawmakers don’t turn into political statements.

“We’re working on the problem,” Ballard said.

That problem may amount to a few words.

The resolution says Roosevelt is “hailed as the greatest president of the 20th century.” Conway said he has been asked to change it to something like “one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century.”

That probably wouldn’t be enough to appease Rep. Gene Goldsmith, R-Ferndale, who implicates FDR as a partner in the Holocaust.

“I was raised Jewish,” Goldsmith said. “We always had two questions: “When did he know and what did he do?”

The answers, she said: “1935 and nothing.”

Other lawmakers remember FDR more kindly.

“There are certain American presidents who rise above politics,” Conway said, pointing to Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, as examples.

Rep. Jean Silver, R-Spokane, said she has no problem with honoring Roosevelt, even though she’s not sure if he was the best of the lot.

“I think that we’ve had some really good presidents, we really have,” Silver said.

Rep. Bob Basich, D-Aberdeen, recalled FDR’s role in pulling the nation through the Great Depression, when Basich and his Yugoslavian immigrant parents lived in the office of a lumber mill.

This isn’t the first time a seemingly simple resolution has become a point of contention in the state Capitol.

Rep. Steve Fuhrman, R-Kettle Falls, a 12-year veteran of the Legislature, said he recalls Democrats balking at resolutions honoring Dixy Lee Ray and Rush Limbaugh.

Basich said that’s irrelevant.

“Give me a break,” Basich said. “Limbaugh and FDR, that’s comparing day and night.”

“This sort of flabbergasts me.”