PORT ANGELES — Recall petitions filed against four Port Angeles City Council members were dismissed by a Clallam County Superior judge.
At Wednesday’s recall hearing, Judge Lauren Erickson said petitioner John Worthington from Sequim did not have standing to file the petitions because he is not a member of the political subdivision of Port Angeles.
The four council members facing recall were Kate Dexter, Navarra Carr, Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin and LaTrisha Suggs.
Worthington’s petitions said the council members were not eligible for office because they are members of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the council members have not posted international bond.
The petitions said an ICLEI agreement conflicts with the council members’ oaths of office and working for foreign organizations means they are ineligible for office and have voluntarily given up their American nationality.
The city of Port Angeles is the entity that belongs to ICLEI, not the four council members. Port Angeles became a member in 2019.
Worthington said in an interview that he started challenging the council members’ role in ICLEI three years ago. He told them via multiple email notices what they were doing was illegal, he reported them to Police Chief Brian Smith and he reported them to the FBI as unregistered foreign agents.
He then filed his recall petitions.
Worthington said he did not try to recall council members Amy Miller and Drew Schwab because they were both elected in 2023 and he didn’t have enough time to give them adequate notice, one of the recall requirements.
Worthington said he wished he had included council member Brendan Meyer in the recall petitions, but Meyer fell off his radar.
ICLEI is a global network of more than 2,500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable development. ICLEI works to influence policy and develop solutions to things like climate change, urbanization and inequity, according to www.iclei.org.
Schromen-Wawrin said ICLEI is “a resource on technical support for how to do good planning for sustainable development.”
Council members compared being a member of ICLEI to getting support from the Association of Washington Cities, the Municipal Research and Services Center or private consultants.
Worthington argued that he had standing to initiate the recalls because the council members’ operations with ICLEI had influenced policy within Sequim and Clallam County, the political subdivisions to which Worthington belongs.
Worthington said the city council members have worked with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the North Olympic Development Council, the Clallam County Economic Development Council, the Strait Ecosystem Recovery Network, the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization, the North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity for Salmon and the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee to leverage governments across the Peninsula to adopt ICLEI policies.
Worthington said this happened 70 different times.
Worthington said if the council members had only worked with ICLEI internally, and had not worked through NGOs on projects across the Peninsula, he would not have tried to recall the council members.
RCW 29A.56.110 says “any legal voter of the state or of any political subdivision thereof” may file a petition to recall “any elective public officer of the state or of such political subdivision.”
Council members’ attorney Matthew Segal said that law shows those who want to initiate a recall petition must reside in the public officer’s political subdivision.
Segal said he could not find a single case in which someone outside of a political subdivision had recalled a member from that political subdivision.
Erickson ruled that the recall petition was dismissed.
Worthington, representing himself, told Erickson, “I object to your ruling. You’re a member of the city of Port Angeles and you should recuse yourself.”
Worthington said in an interview that Erickson had a conflict of interest because she was a city council member from 2000 to 2006.
“I was going to lose the case no matter what,” Worthington said.
Dexter said the council members were “pleased with the outcome and look forward to getting back to work.”
Dexter said the recall petition and proceedings hadn’t changed the value of Port Angeles being a member of ICLEI.
“They’re doing good work to support cities and provide information to move forward with climate resilience and climate action plans,” Dexter said.
Schromen-Wawrin said Worthington is singling out ICLEI because “he has an agenda.”
“He’s personally interested in trying to chill elected officials from doing their jobs to support the health of the whole community,” Schromen-Wawrin said.
Worthington has an automatic right to appeal Erickson’s decision. He is not sure if he will appeal.
“I’m gonna keep fighting,” he said. “I don’t think they’re very good politicians. I think they’ve sold the city and county down the river.”
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
