GOP delegates reject spending limits

BOISE — Idaho Republican Party leaders broke away from party matters for several hours on Friday to watch the state funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

But as they headed into the final day of their biennial convention, delegates had rejected imposition of preset limits on state spending and appeared ready to direct GOP state officials to use all possible means to assure that same-sex marriages are not recognized.

Defeat of the spending limitation was another setback for party conservatives. Rep. Ken Roberts of Donnelly has seen his colleagues in the Legislature reject the concept in the past.

Sen. Dick Compton of Coeur d’Alene blasted the suggestion that legislators “spend like drunken sailors,” citing 2003’s record session that was dominated by attempts to squeeze the state budget so that the temporary tax increase could be as limited as possible.

“I tell you, I spent 119 days last year in this city, and there were no drunken sailors in the room where I was sitting,” Compton declared.

The issue of gay marriage, which was one of the last major questions before lawmakers this past winter, was raised again at the convention because of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that that state’s constitution contains no justification for banning them.

Idaho already has a law prohibiting same-sex marriage, but some conservative Republicans, over private objections from some of their colleagues, pressed for passage in March of a constitutional ban. It was defeated by a single vote in the state Senate’s leadership committee.