Yakima Tea Party Activist Calls For Hostile Takeover of Republicans

In an email being circulated by Yakima Tea Party Activist Jere Irwin, he advocates a "hostile takeover" of the Yakima County Republican Party leadership. The 14th Legislative District features a race for State Representative between two Republicans. Incumbent Norm Johnson, and challenger Michele Strobel. Johnson is considered a moderate Republican, and voted in the last legislative session to support the controversial domestic partnership bill. Strobel is running as a conservative, and has made the domestic partnership issue a central point of her campaign.

Irwin, a Strobel supporter, is upset that the Yakima County Republican Party Executive Board has chosen to endorse the incumbent, Norm Johnson. The endorsement itself has been controversial, since some of Johnson's supporters first proposed it during the primary election. Yakima County Republicans have traditionally stayed neutral in partisan primaries, until the general election cycle. However, Washington's relatively new top-two primary system has yielded a race between two Republicans. The County Executive Board decided to make an endorsement decision anyway. In a sharply divided house, the endorsement was given to Johnson. However, the Party also decided to give $500 to Strobel's campaign as well. The campaign contribution to the candidate without the endorsement has apparently not been well received by supporters of either candidate.

In the interest of full disclosure: I have attended Yakima Tea Party functions in the past, and am a recipient of Jere Irwin's mass emails. This is the total extent of my involvement with the local Tea Party groups. I am also a Republican Precinct Committee Officer in Yakima County, but am not on the Executive Board. I do not live in the 14th Legislative District, and would have preferred that the County Party stay neutral when two Republicans are running against each other.

NOTE: Jere Irwin ran unsuccessfully for Precinct Committee Officer this year. He was defeated by Al Schweppe, a member of the County Executive Board, and former candidate for State Representative.

For those that are interested, I am posting the entire text of Irwin's email here: