Smith Shakes Up Staff In Senate Race Vancouver Populist Also Faces Opposition In Gop Primary, Still Refuses Pac Money

Republican Linda Smith, who last month had a clear shot at her party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate seat, begins February with a shake-up in her campaign and a new primary opponent.

The Vancouver-area congresswoman lost her campaign manager and her fund-raiser for Puget Sound this week.

Next week, Seattle lawyer Chris Bayley, will formally announce a primary challenge to Smith.

The staff changes are a warning sign, some Republican sources said, that the campaign is struggling to transfer Smith’s skills as a local populist into a statewide Senate race. She’s also caught, sources said, between her opposition to big-money political fund raising and the realities of an expensive campaign.

Scott Hildebrand, who had managed Smith’s campaign for about eight months, resigned Thursday.

In a two-sentence press release, the campaign announced he resigned “to pursue other opportunities.”

Hildebrand said Friday he “wasn’t prepared to comment” on his reason for quitting. “I’ve left the campaign,” was all he would say when contacted at his home.

Jennifer Brzucek, who worked for the campaign since November, also left.

David Cutbirth, who was named the campaign’s communications director on Monday, said Friday he couldn’t shed any light on the departures. A search for a new campaign manager is under way.

“All I can really give you is the statement,” Cutbirth said.

Frank Bickford, executive director of the state Republican Party, said the staff shakeup is occurring early enough that it shouldn’t cause major problems.

“That kind of stuff happens on a campaign,” Bickford said. “If it were to happen four months from now, it would have been a major blow.”

Other Republican sources agreed Smith has plenty of time to rebuild her staff. But the departures have several wondering if the congresswoman is micromanaging the campaign.

Smith has run two successful statewide campaigns - but both were for initiatives. This is the first time that she’s on the ballot statewide, with both a primary and a general election, these sources noted.

Past U.S. Senate campaigns in Washington state have cost as much as $5 million. Smith, who had about $376,000 at the end of 1997, has said she doesn’t expect to spend that much. She also has repeatedly refused to take any money from political action committees, relying instead on small contributions from her supporters.

The problem with that strategy, Republican and Democratic campaign sources agreed, is it requires her to spend a higher proportion of her money raising more money - on postage and mail solicitations - instead of on campaign commercials.

Bayley, a former King County prosecutor, will accept PAC money as he tries to catch up to Smith in name recognition around the state.

“His first priority is to raise as much money as he can,” said Bickford, the state GOP official.

Smith will be in Whitman and Spokane counties over the weekend, meeting with local supporters, Cutbirth said.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray’s campaign is happy to watch and say nothing as Smith goes through a staff change and the GOP field grows. Murray had raised more than $1.1 million by the end of last year, and will hold fund-raisers in Spokane and Seattle in mid-February, while Congress is on its Presidents Day recess.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo