FARMINGTON – Members of the University of Maine at Farmington’s Republican student’s organization, the College Republicans, did not go to sleep Friday night. They cooked breakfast instead.
Using about 100 eggs, 30 pounds of potatoes, 10 pounds of bacon and boxes of pancake and muffin mix, they stayed up all night preparing eats for the state politicians invited to Saturday’s hunter’s breakfast.
The meal began on Saturday morning at 4:30. While the grass outside UMF’s North Dining Hall was still crunchy with frost and the dark skies were not even hinting of the coming day, students, interested community members, and politicians trickled into the dining room, drank coffee, ate pancakes and chatted.
The College Republicans organized their breakfast fund-raiser as a way to help students interested in traveling to Washington, D.C., for the 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference, pay for the trip. For about $150, student attendees will hear talks by the likes of Dick Cheney, Dennis Hastert, and Ann Coulter, said club President Emily Davis.
State Sen. Chandler Woodcock, who is a candidate for governor, and state Rep. Tom Saviello both made appearances at the breakfast, at around 5 and 6 a.m., respectively. Davis said both chatted with students about changes they want to see made in Maine, especially in regard to the state’s tax burden. “We’re the highest-taxed state in the country, did you know that?” Davis said.
Davis and club Treasurer Shawn Roderick, both seniors, said the College Republicans meet weekly, with members participating in political events “three our four times a month.” One of the club’s aims, Davis said, is “to make it fun, in politics.”
Another, she said, is fostering diversity of opinion on the UMF campus. She added that, at UMF, some conservative students feel their views to be unwelcome in the classroom.
“One student was told he should change his opinions,” to excel in his chosen field, she said, without elaborating.
So the Republicans stage events like one they held last month, in which conservative Michael Heath gave a talk supporting the “Vote Yes on One,” viewpoint to, “promote other sides of the issue,” Davis said. The club did not take a stance on that particular question, she said, adding that many College Republicans voted “no.”
In all, the club spent more purchasing food for the breakfast than it made. All is not lost, however, Davis said, announcing the College Republicans will continue to raise funds in December. They will be raffling off a pair of Red Sox tickets, two pairs of one-day passes, one to Sugarloaf and one to Titcomb Mountain, two blankets, and movie passes, from a table set up in the Student Center from Mondays through Thursdays.
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