AP: GOP defector says party is 'out of touch'

By DAVID AMMONS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA -- State Rep. Rodney Tom recently bailed out of the Republican Party, saying a rightward-drifting GOP has no room for progressives and moderates.

The Democrats are all too happy to agree with Tom, and see him as the poster child for Democrats making inroads in the changing battleground districts around Seattle.

... Tom found himself voting against his caucus and the state party when he was a "yes" on last year's big transportation tax package, which included massive appropriations for local and regional projects. His e-mail and phone lines were jammed with angry comments from Republican activists in his district.

That was probably the tipping point, he said, but he also broke with the party over simple-majority school levy approval, abortion rights, gay civil rights and children's services.

"The far right has taken over the party," and it was increasingly hard to properly represent the 48th as a Republican, he said.

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