Republicans Prepare To Select County Leaders State Chairman Don Benton Rejects Executive Board Request To Resign

Republican Party activists gathering today in Spokane and other Washington counties will be choosing county leaders. But those elections also will decide the fate of their controversial state chairman, state Sen. Don Benton.

The Vancouver legislator was asked to resign Thursday night by members of the party executive board, a group of leaders who oversee operations between meetings of the state committee.

Benton refused, saying only the state committee can remove him.

The board then voted to require any checks from GOP accounts be co-signed by vice chairwoman Arlene Hilmer.

“We want to remove Mr. Benton from writing any checks,” said executive board member Rich Munson of the Spokane Valley. He called Benton’s actions “extremely damaging.”

Benton is under fire for buying an Olympia bank building for $365,000 without telling the executive board. He wants the building to be the party’s new headquarters.

The fact that he had so much money left in campaign accounts after this year’s hotly contested elections is probably as controversial as the purchase.

“We want to know why he didn’t spend it on campaigns,” Munson said.

The leftover funds, which may be as much as $1 million, could have been spent to help candidates, Munson and other critics said. One of the sorest points is the close loss by U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, defeated by Maria Cantwell by about 2,200 votes out of more than 2.5 million cast.

That loss leaves the U.S. Senate split evenly between the two parties.

Benton has argued that there was no way to spend the money, which was received late in the campaign, after most commercial air time was already booked and the party had hit the limits for contributions to many candidates.

But Munson and others doubt that. Some candidates, such as Sam Reed, had asked for money to help with their campaigns and were turned down, Munson said.

“There’s always more you can do with money,” said Brett Bader, a political consultant with the Madison Group, which works on Republican campaigns.

The party could have run generic “issue ads” for Republican candidates in general, advertised on cable television or hired more callers for phone banks, Bader said.

Benton didn’t tell the executive board about the purchase until a regular meeting last Saturday, after papers had already been signed.

“To keep faith with our donors and supporters, the board asked Don Benton to do what is right and consider the party’s interests and to resign immediately,” the board said in a statement late Thursday.

Benton called an emergency meeting of the state committee to decide whether to complete the purchase of the building in Olympia, which has been put on hold.

The state committee is made up of 78 members - one man and one woman elected to the panel from each of the state’s 39 counties.

But those positions, and all other county party offices, must be selected by the precinct committee officers who were elected in the Nov. 7 election. Spokane, King and several other counties are holding their meetings this weekend to elect the new officers to two-year terms.

The new state committee is scheduled to meet Jan. 27. By then, Benton may have one or more challengers for the $70,000 per year job.

“I’m hoping they will choose to keep me on, certainly,” Benton said. “We’ve got money in the bank, no debts and our own headquarters. I believe that’s a pretty good record of success in terms of managing the party.”