Convention day eventful for Lotton, Zinke

The first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was an eventful one for Havreite and Montana delegate Brad Lotton.

“Great day, and the party all came together and unified for a strong front,” Lotton said Tuesday morning in summing up the day.

The talk of unity, though, was marred in the afternoon by an unsuccessful bid by some anti-Trump Republicans to deny the billionaire the nomination.

Lotton posted on his Facebook page a picture he took of the brief rebellion that was later quelled.

J.S. Wardell, a friend of Lotton’s, posted that he had heard rumors that the Republican National Committee was moving to weaken protections for grassroots conservatives who don’t support Trump. He asked Lotton in the post to stand up for conservatives.

Lotton, a Trump supporter, responded by saying that he would do so.

Lotton described the prime-time address delivered by Melania Trump as “a class act.”

The Treasure State briefly took center stage at the end of the night when Rep. Ryan Zinke addressed the convention.

When the camera panned over the thinning crowd, Lotton and a handful of other members of Montana’s 27-member delegation could be seen standing as Zinke spoke.

“Zinke’s speech was nearly last, around midnight here,” Lotton said later in a Facebook post.

Zinke, a former Navy Seal commander, stood alongside several other veterans on stage.

Zinke has made his military service and harsh criticisms of the Obama administration’s foreign policy a centerpiece of his first term, and delivered a blistering assessment of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Obama.

“I shudder to think how many times our flag will fly at half-staff if Hillary Clinton is in the White House,” he said.

Zinke, who was also elected as a delegate in May at the Montana Republican Party Convention resigned his delegate position due to a dispute over a plank in the platform calling for the transfer of public lands from federal to state control.

Zinke, who is facing Democratic Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, has opposed those public land transfers.

Lotton refused to comment on Zinke’s resignation as a delegate.

“I am not going to be baited into a political argument justifying anything whatsoever with a … liberal reporter while I am super-busy with convention happenings,” he said.