NEWPORT, R.I. -- State Republicans will gather here on Tuesday night to adopt their election-year platform.

A proposal to "end political dynasties in the state by imposing term limits'' on state lawmakers is among the more controversial proposals up for debate when the 200-plus members of the Republican State Central Committee meet at 7 p.m. at the Best Western "Mainstay Inn'' on Admiral Kalbfus Road.

But what is also striking in the draft circulating among the party faithful is what is missing.

There is no mention of the divisive family-values issues that
so often dominate national GOP debate.

State Republicans are being asked to vote instead on a platform that says, in part: "In the long-standing tradition of New England Republicans, we respect the right of all of our candidates to hold
and express their own considered views on social issues.''

Also missing from the proposed state party platform: a renewed insistence on the need for "voter initiative'' as a mechanism for citizens' groups to get issues on the ballot, without having to go through the state legislature. It was a major issue the last time the state GOP adopted a platform in June 2006, and is not even mentioned in the draft currently circulating.

State Republican chairman Giovanni Cicione says he expects debate, and acknowledges the document may change a little - or a lot - before it winds its way through the GOP's platform committee, headed by the GOP's former National Committeeman Rob Manning, and executive committee before reaching the full state central committee on Tuesday night.

He said Republican legislators are "concerned about the implications of having a term-limits plank.''

Loyal fans of voter-initiative may insist on seeing it reinstated in the party platform. Others want to make absolutely sure that "we are not advocating for a container port at Quonset,'' Cicione said, despite the emphasis on the state's need for "jobs, change and growth,'' and a proposed plank that, as currently written, says: "Develop Quonset as a deep water port to create jobs, promote alternative energy, and create investment for Rhode Island.''

The core argument is a familiar Republican refrain that goes like this:

National financial trends have contributed to Rhode Island's financial plight, "but the severity of the recession in Rhode Island, with over 13 percent of the working population jobless, can be directly traced to the high tax, union friendly, special interest focused economic policies of the Democratic legislature of the past 15 years.''

Among the proposed solutions: phase out the state corporate tax; reduce the state's income tax rates to a level "in line with our neighboring states; eliminate "costly and time consuming regulatory''; promote research at local colleges and universities; "reinvigorate state support of higher education'' and finally, "fix our roads and bridges to improve our economic viability.''

The draft platform also lays out a state budget-cutting agenda, that includes a more drastic overhaul of the state pension system than any of the nips and tucks of recent years; new limits on "public sector wages, benefits and co-pays to match those in the private sector;'' and the elimination of "all unfunded mandates on the cities and towns.''
On health care, the mantra is "promote competition among multiple health insurance providers'' and "ensure continuation of private health plans for any and all individuals, families and businesses.''

On the education front, the GOP's platform committee suggests merit pay increases tied to "rigorous'' teacher evaluations. It opposes a feared expansion, by state lawmakers, of binding-arbitration as a means to settle money issues in contract disputes.

It is also proposing to "make available to every child in a failing school district a scholarship worth 75 percent of the cost of their public education.'' Full details were unavailable.

In a brief interview on Monday, Cicione said the platform is designed, in part, to give voters and candidates "some guidance as to what the party stands for,'' but party leaders do not expect the party's candidates to embrace each and every plank.