Several moments earned standing ovations at the Lewis County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Saturday night.
When the Cy Meyers Railsplitter Award, named for the late Winlock mayor, was given to Jennifer West, the crowd was quick to their feet.
When Ron Averill, state committee chairman of the Lewis County Republican Party and an 84-year-old former county commissioner and colonel, was given the Longevity Award, there was robust applause.
But one speaker earned a standing ovation from only about half the room, a visual representation of the divisive nature of his presentation. His name is Dr. Douglas Frank, and through the funding of Mike Lindell — the CEO of MyPillow who is deeply devoted to proving the 2020 presidential election was stolen — Frank has traveled across the country for the past year, claiming elections across the country are fraudulent and the rightful president-elect of 2020 was Donald Trump.
“Mr. Lindell discovered me, he made several movies about me,” Frank said.
Frank also mentioned a connection to Lacey Clark, who is involved with the Lewis County Young Republicans. He said she has helped put on events with him across the country. Clark also helped in the organization of Lindell’s “Cyber Symposium” event in August, which was set to prove election fraud on a massive scale across the country, according to a January “Irida TV Podcast” episode. Lewis County Republican Chairman Brandon Svenson was another local attendee of the symposium.
Lincoln Day dinners are a longstanding tradition in Republican party chapters. In past years, those annually-hosted events in Lewis County have been opportunities for candidates and electeds to rally local support and encourage constituents to vote red. This year’s dinner had a different flavor, and not because of the catered pulled pork from Boss Hogg’s Barbecue in Winlock.
The heavy theme from speakers Saturday was not one of encouragement to vote, but of a broken democratic system. Frank spent around 17 minutes talking about how elections across the country are being “stolen.” Likewise, Sherrona Bishop — a former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert whose home was raided by the FBI in connection to a criminal investigation into a Mesa County, Colorado, clerk for a possible election security breach — appeared to the Republican crowd via video chat. Bishop spent most of her time talking about canvassing voters in Colorado and claiming the efforts have uncovered “prolific fraud.” Bishop referenced Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk who is under investigation, and said in collaboration with Peters’ forthcoming information, she is “so incredibly excited to be able to prove what we said happened, all throughout this country.”
When asked about whether fraud was happening in Lewis County specifically, Svenson last week told The Chronicle he has not heard anybody say that is the case. Frank, in his speech, did not specifically mention the Lewis County elections being stolen, but did call on the crowd to assist with canvassing voters. He said canvassing is “evangelism” and that going to the homes of voters and showing them there are more people registered to vote at their address than actually live there is one way to make “converts.”
“I’ve been here four times already, I like this state. Especially, I like Lewis County,” Frank said. “I haven’t met the sheriff yet but I hear he’s tops. Your sheriff is probably your most important official. Because, as you embark on this period of election reform, that is one of the most important people. You need your sheriff and you have a good sheriff.”
Frank showed some slides meant to articulate his theories about the election, claiming there are “too many” people registered to vote in Washington and “that’s a problem.” Otherwise, Frank spent little time trying to convince the crowd there is any evidence that he’s right, saying instead that there is “mountains of data” and mostly encouraging the crowd to mobilize that data and tell everyone, saying, “You have to be that person at Thanksgiving dinner, at Christmas dinner, at the office, right?”
“Everyone knows that the elections are being stolen. Everyone knows that it's corrupt,” he said, adding later: “60% of people across the United States now believe that the outcome of the 2020 election is fraudulent.”
