Page 18 - Flathead Beacon // 10.5.16

COVER
ELECTIONS 2016
Young and Unorthodox, Flathead GOP Candidates Mount
Challenges on Dems
In House Districts 3 and 5, rst-time Republican candidates vie for only two Democratic seats
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
HOUSE DISTRICT 3
In the Republican stronghold of Flat- head County, it’s become an election-year anomaly for Democrats to win a bid for state political o ce, which is just one reason the tight race in House District 3 between incumbent Democrat Zac Perry and Republican newcomer Taylor Rose is drawing considerable attention.
Perry, 38, a self-proclaimed blue- dog Democrat from Columbia Falls, was elected in 2014 in a district that covers the communities of Columbia Falls, Hun- gry Horse, Martin City, and Coram — typ- ically characterized as one of the most conservative house districts in the state.
Rose, 29, is a social conservative run- ning to unseat Perry. He has gained atten- tion in the region for his unorthodox plat- form, which aligns with traditional GOP values on some fronts, but also strays into less conventional territory on others.
Chief among the latter is his former involvement with the now-defunct orga- nization Youth for Western Civilization (YWC), with which he was a liated during his time attending college at Liberty Uni- versity in Lynchburg, Virginia. YWC was a controversial anti-multiculturalism group that some human-rights advocacy organi- zations have called “radical right-wing” and accused of promoting a “white nation- alist” agenda. And while Rose acknowl- edges the group leaned right of other con- servative, issue-speci c groups like the College Republicans, its members weren’t on the “radical fringe,” he said.
Still, liberal-leaning blogs in Montana and beyond have characterized Rose as a “white supremacist,” while advocacy groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Montana Human Rights Network say his stances opposing multi- culturalism, mass immigration and ref- ugee resettlement is soft-peddled, coded language for white nationalism.
Rose is quick to distance himself from those claims, which he calls baseless, instead saying that his work at YWC was geared toward preserving and defending the cultural values of Western civiliza- tion, and represent an ideology that he dismisses as analogous to white nation- alism and consistent with his pro-Chris- tian beliefs and his conviction that “the rising tide of Islam in the West is a threat to the values of Christianity.”
“I am not a liated with white suprem- acist groups or leaders,” Rose said. “To say otherwise is slanderous. YWC was a cul- tural group, not a racist group. We de ned Westerncivilizationbytheclassicde ni- tion of ancient Greeks and Romans, and we were pro-Christian. We did not say it
The Montana State Capitol in Helena. BEACON FILE PHOTO
was exclusively white. We were also very
critical of Islam, but that is an ideological issue, not a racial issue. I can promise you that Liberty University would not have tol- erated a white power group on its campus.”
But Rachel Carroll Rivas, co-director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said her group has serious concerns about Rose’s candidacy, as well as the insidious nature with which beliefs like his are creeping into mainstream electoral poli- tics, a rhetoric she believes has been ele- vated by the ascendancy of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who continues to enjoy popularity despite a ood of incendiary remarks that have been characterized as undisguised rac- ism and sexism.
“I see Taylor Rose and his candidacy as one of the most overt examples of white supremacy moving into the political sphere in Montana right now,” she said. “I think Taylor Rose’s candidacy is no dif- ferent than David Duke (formerly of the Ku Klux Klan) running for the Legisla- ture, and I think people would be correct to make that comparison.”
Rose called the notion that he could be compared to someone like Duke “prepos- terous,” and noted that his support from mainstream GOP candidates and elected o cials like U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-White sh, as well as his endorsement by the Flathead County Republican
Party, is proof that the accusations don’t add up.
“I was open about my past involvement with YWC, and I was vetted by the Repub- lican Party,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that I am a mainstream candidate, but I’m not on the fringe either. The minute you reject multiculturalism, you become a target for the left, and that is what’s hap- pened here.”
In addition to the endorsement from Zinke, Rose has received campaign con- tributions from Republican gubernato- rial candidate Greg Gianforte and state Sen. Mark Blasdel, R-Somers, as well as endorsements from groups like the National Ri e Association and the Mon- tana Family Foundation, both of which are conservative stalwarts in main- stream Montana politics.
He also served as a regional eld direc- tor for the Montana Republican Party in 2014, when Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines was running for election, and in 2015 worked in the Montana Legislature as an assistant to the GOP majority in the senate.
According to Rivas, the fact that Rose has drawn support from and served in the state’s mainstream GOP channels is evidence of a paradigm shift in electoral politics, triggered in part by Trump’s candidacy.
“None of us predicted that we were
going to have a presidential ticket that elevated hate rhetoric to this level, and giving (Rose) entrée to one of the two mainstream political parties in the state and essentially turning their heads and shrugging at his white supremacist activ- ity is deeply unsettling,” she said. “This is exactly how marginal ideas make their way into the mainstream.”
Perry, who has remained on the side- lines as reports about Rose’s past activ- ities crop up on the Internet, said his campaign is focused on core values like rebuilding the economy, job growth, access to health care, and access to pub- lic lands.
Still, he said he has concerns about Rose’s past activities.
“I think that his previous a liations are concerning and certainly some of his activities and background is concerning, and I would just encourage voters to do their own research,” Perry said. “We are focused on what we bring to the table.”
As for Rose, he believes he’s breathing new energy into the state GOP, and his candidacy is complemented by another young contender’s bid in a nearby district.
“There is a reason that the two most contested races in the Flathead include conservative millennials,” Rose said. “TheRepublicanpartyneedsafreshnew face.”
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OCTOBER 5, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM