PORT ANGELES — Turmoil in the Clallam County Republican Party has ended, and party members will once again be celebrating tonight inside their former South Lincoln Street headquarters, which they have reclaimed.
“I think everybody has come back to the party,” county GOP Chairwoman Donna Buck said Sunday while she and her mother, Lucile Harrison, moved boxes to make room for a “Relocation Party” at 6:30 tonight at the offices, 509 S. Lincoln St.
“We have mended our fences and we have decided to return to our new headquarters,” Buck wrote.
In a news release Saturday, Buck declared that the party’s “turmoil is over.”
“The party has emerged stronger than before,” said Buck, the wife of Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce.
“We are reunited once again and ready to be a voice for responsible government in this community.”
Back to main focus
Buck said Sunday that the party has returned to its main focus: Electing Republicans to office.
Buck succeeded Dick Smithton, who resigned abruptly two months ago after an unsuccessful attempt to unseat former county commissioner candidate Sue Forde as the party’s vice chair.
Smithton took issue with Forde’s argument in a court case that the state constitution does not exist.
“Her position greatly damaged the credibility of the local Republican Party,” Smithton said.
With Buck’s ascension to the chairmanship, the party leadership elected Fred Norton, who ran unsuccessfully for Port Angeles City Council last year, to replace Forde.
County Commissioner Mike Chapman, R-Port Angeles, has said he believes party member differences arose before the November general election last year when he declined to endorse Forde over her opponent, Democratic County Commissioner Steve Tharinger of Dungeness.
Chapman said his decision not to support Forde was based on their wide range of differences on county issues.
Chapman said he believes a faction of county Republicans who supported Forde is backing Undersheriff Fred DeFrang, a Republican, to run against him in the September primary election.
DeFrang, however, maintains that his decision to run was his own.
Happy for the refocus
On Sunday, Chapman said he thinks Buck was doing a good job in her party leadership role, and he was glad that the party was refocused on electing Republicans.
“Whatever differences there were have been worked out,” Chapman said.