GOP silent on Craswell’s death

Unless I missed it, the state Republican Party didn’t send out a press release paying homage to former GOP lawmaker Ellen Craswell who died last Saturday..

I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the silence based on interviews I did for my story in Monday’s edition. But I am.

Sure there were some bad feelings all around when she left the GOP for the American Heritage Party. Her departure came a couple years after her unsuccessful bid for governor in 1996.

And sure a few GOP influence peddlers complain Ellen and her social and religious conservative friends overran the party and left it in a weaker state at the end of the last decade.

It still seems hard to believe the Grand Old Party could ignore her 16 years of service as a Republican state legislator in Kitsap County. When she won a seat in Senate in 1980 it broke the Democrats’ grip on that position in the 23rd District. She held it for 12 years.

She was the first woman to hold the title of Senate president pro-tem.

While the GOP appears to be officially silent, one of Craswell’s close friends isn’t.

Larry Stickney, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington penned a very personal tribute on the organization’s Web site.

I’d be interested in hearing the view of others on the political legacy of Ellen Craswell. Send a comment or drop me an e-mail

There will be a public memorial service for her April 16.