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State GOP re-elects Atkinson Medford broadcaster gets chairmanship easily From staff and wire reports Perry Atkinson was unanimously re-elected Saturday to the chairmanship of the Oregon Republican Party, the first time in a decade that the GOP didn�t have a fight for its top spot. The fights have long been between the party�s religious conservatives and its mainstream business establishment. In recent years, social conservatives have come to claim the vast majority of the 132 seats on the Republican state central committee. Atkinson, a Christian broadcaster from Medford, clearly sides with those views. But Atkinson, 52, has made it a priority that the party�s first job is to help elect Republicans to office, regardless of the wing they come from. "We have shown folks that we�re serious, we�re intelligent and we�re very practical," he said. "We�re not pushing an issue; we�re pushing the big picture." Leon Coleman, a Washington County delegate who once headed the Oregon chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, said he�s never had a problem getting help from the party, even though Atkinson has been a high-profile supporter of anti-gay rights measures sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance. "We may not agree philosophically, but as a party tactician he�s done a lot," Coleman said. Atkinson�s position was further solidified by being a strong ally of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Oregon. About $5.7 million flowed through the party�s bank accounts last year, most of it in large "soft-money" donations collected by the Republican National Committee to help the presidential ticket. By the end of it, Atkinson said, the state party was able to give legislative and statewide candidates about $425,000 in cash contributions and mount major mail and phone-banking efforts. Atkinson moved to Medford from Sacramento and began managing Phoenix Christian radio station KDOV in 1983, purchasing the station in 1984. He functioned as the station�s president and general manager until he decided to run for Congress for the first time in early 1994 as a Republican, the first time the conservative Christian ran for public office. Federal Communications Commission rules mandated he relinquish his regular KDOV talk-show and other on-the-air duties during his campaign, which he lost, falling 940 votes short of winning his party�s nomination to the 2nd District congressional seat. Atkinson returned to active broadcasting duties following his campaign. Atkinson�s second attempt to garner a Republican Congressional seat in 1998 also failed. As an ordained Assemblies of God minister, and broadcaster over KDOV�s airways, Atkinson has blasted heavy metal music, promoted patriotism, and, at times, taken on the press. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.