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NEWPORT - Pend Oreille County Republican Party Chair Bill Dielke has challenged the candidacies of Brian Smiley and Joe Seaney for Precinct Committee Officer, claiming that neither is a member of the Republican Party.
Dielke wrote to Pend Oreille County Auditor Marianne Nichols that Seaney and Smiley weren’t current members of the county Republican Party. He wrote that there is no record or other evidence that they are members of the Washington State Republican Party or participated in any way in the most recent Republican caucus at the county or state level.
“Please invalidate their applications for Republican Precinct Committee Officer immediately,” Dielke wrote.
Nichols wrote back that state law governs challenges of this sort, giving the courts jurisdiction over the request.
Smiley, who is also running for reelection as county commissioner, said he didn’t pay local Republican Party dues this year, but did pay the $30 dues for 2023.
“I don’t mind paying the dues,” he said. He said he’s always been a Republican and hopes to remain one.
“I feel the PCO should represent and have the trust of the community they serve,” Smiley said. He’s running to be PCO of the Metaline Falls precinct. He is running unopposed.
Seaney is running against Bill Bisson for PCO of Metaline Precinct.
Dielke said that that there have been attempts by outsiders to hijack PCO elections elsewhere.
“It’s happening all over the state,” he said. He said he may oppose the Primary Election because of it.
Dielke has been a controversial county party leader, but one with the support of his party members.
All the county elected offices are held by Republicans, but virtually none of them go to county party meetings.
Precinct committee officers are the backbone of a local political parties. There isn’t as much interest in being a Democratic Party PCO as there is in being a Republican Party PCO.
By state law, the PCO is the highest elected party official. Candidates must run for the office representing a party. Each precinct elects one PCO for each major political party during the primary election held in even years. Once elected, they serve two-year terms. In December following the election, the political party structure and leadership is literally organized by the newly elected PCOs. They form the party central committee, which is like a board of directors, according to the Snohomish County Republican Party website.
According to RCW.29A.80.041, precinct committee officers can be any member of a major political party who is a registered voter in the precinct. After being elected they serve until the next election unless they move out of the precinct.
Dielke says words matter and the word member is the one he’s focusing on. He maintains you can’t just declare yourself a member of the party, something Smiley thinks is possible. Dielke disagrees and says it’s not really about personalities, it’s about membership, he says.
“It’s not about Brian,” Dielke says.
