PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Republican Party Chairman Dick Smithton abruptly resigned Tuesday after an unsuccessful attempt to oust former county commissioner candidate Sue Forde as the party’s vice chair.
“I, in good conscience, cannot work with Sue Forde,” Smithton says in his resignation letter to the GOP membership.
Smithton, a Port Angeles businessman, was joined by Party Secretary Karline Roseveare and Treasurer Robbie Varney, both of whom also resigned Tuesday.
Smithton said he sees a party divided, one he was been trying to pull together as an open forum that would attract new members.
Repeated attempts to contact Sue Forde, who lives in Sequim, on Tuesday for comment were unsuccessful.
“Since the election defeat last November of Sue Forde, it became clear to me that if we were ever going to become a majority party we had to start doing things differently,” Smithton said.
“After all, we have lost four of the last five county commissioner elections.
“Still many of you now want to throw (Republican county Commissioner) Mike Chapman out because he did not support Sue Forde or because you think he is not conservative enough.”
DeFrang challenge
Clallam County Undersheriff Fred DeFrang, also a Republican, last Friday announced he would challenge Chapman in the September primary election for the District 2 (Port Angeles area) commissioners seat.
But in a Tuesday statement, he said he wanted to make it clear that he decided to run not because of any ties with Sue Forde and her supporters but “based on my long-standing interest in the position, my qualifications and my time in life.”
Last year DeFrang sought to be named interim Clallam County sheriff but withdrew after commissioners would not increase the job’s pay.
Smithton, who was elected county GOP chairman in late 2003, said he tried to encourage an “open door policy,” add speakers at GOP meetings and improve media relations.
“Most of the Republican Party members, community business people and the general public that I have talked to thought the above plan was working well,” Smithton said.
Claims by Forde
“Unfortunately, when Sue Forde claimed the constitution of the state of Washington does not exist her position greatly damaged the credibility of the local Republican Party,” Smithton said in his letter.
“At our meeting Monday, March 15, 2004, I tried to remove Sue Forde as vice chairman of the party since she had filed court papers claiming that she was not a resident of Clallam County.
“Technically, under the bylaws of the party, she could not hold the position of vice chair.”
Smithton said he could not muster the needed support from the party’s central committee — which functions like a board of directors — and watched as it “benched the motion.”
The court papers Smithton refers to involve a lawsuit in which a collection agency claimed Forde owed it $5,000, linked to a Peninsula Daily News printing bill for her former Olympic Trader classified-ads newspaper.
In a District Court hearing in early February, Bob Forde, Sue Forde’s husband, claimed that the collection agency did not lawfully exist because the state constitution is invalid, which prevents the state from having the right to issue a business license.
Judge Pro-tempore Grant Meiner did not rule in the case, but asked Bob Forde to provide constitution experts and historians as witnesses for a future hearing if he wanted to try to pursue those arguments.
The lawsuit has since been dismissed by the collection agency after it decided it did not want to invest more in legal expenses.
‘Frivolous’ defense?
In an interview Tuesday, Smithton said the central committee was less concerned that Forde and her husband Bob used a “frivolous” defense that the state constitution does not exist.
Instead, Smithton said, they were more concerned that Smithton “had talked to the press.”
In a recent interview with the Peninsula Daily News, Smithton said the party did not agree with the Fordes’ constitutional argument in court, nor that there was any conspiracy involving Chapman, Democratic county Commissioner Steven Tharinger, D-Dungeness, and John Brewer, the PDN’s editor and publisher.
In legal papers he wrote and filed in early March, Bob Forde accused Tharinger, his wife’s opponent in last fall’s election, Brewer and Chapman of working together to undermine her unsuccessful campaign.
All three vehemently deny the claim.
Chapman on Tuesday said it was apparent that DeFrang was being backed in his election campaign by Sue Forde supporters.
“I think he’s their candidate,” Chapman said.
DeFrang, however, denies that, saying, “No one approached me to be a candidate.”
Rather, DeFrang said, he has considered running for county commissioner for the past 32 years with the county sheriff’s department.
In a statement released Tuesday night, DeFrang said:
“I was not involved in the 2003 election in any way.
“This is 2004, and I have chosen to be a candidate for commissioner.
“I made the decision based on my long-standing interest in the position, my qualifications and my time in life.
“No one approached me to be their candidate. I will be my own candidate; run on my own merits with my own convictions and issues.
“I prefer it that way.
“Recent controversies raised by my opponent regarding differing views within Republican Party membership will cease to exist in September.”
Chapman disappointed
Chapman voiced disappointment that Smithton had resigned.
Chapman added that he has asked Smithton to become his campaign manager for a second term as District 2 county commissioner.
“I think he did a good job as county chairman,” Chapman said of Smithton.
“I thought he had the party on a good track and was moving about in a positive direction.”
Allen Bentley, former Clallam GOP chairman, said he too was sorry to see Smithton go, but, “I think it may be a good opportunity to clear the air.”
Bentley said the new chairman would have to be a male because the vice chair is female; a male-female or female-male combination for the party’s top two jobs is in the party bylaws, he said.
Bentley said he also disagreed with the Fordes’ constitutional position.
“I don’t believe that it’s relevant — and it’s disruptive,” he said.
Bentley said he believe Smithton was “a good chairman” and “hopefully, I can talk him back into it.”
Party secretary Roseveare, of Sequim, said she resigned with Smithton because “there are some issues with the leadership that I can’t support.
“I do not want a good Republican Party trashed, and there are a handful of people doing that, and I don’t want to be a part of that,” said Roseveare, who has been with the county party for 1½ years.
Robbie Varney, a Sequim resident and executive board treasurer since 2001, also disagreed with the Fordes’ state constitutional issue.
“It doesn’t reflect Republican Party views, which are very strong on constitutional issues.”
