It was determined that Kathy McDonald violated the CCRP bylaws in October of 2022 when she co-hosted a fundraiser for the now-elected Congresswoman, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Leah Anaya
For Clark County Today
At the Clark County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) meeting held Thursday (Feb. 9), precinct committee officers (PCOs) voted to censure Republican PCO and former vice chair of the Clark County Republican Party (CCRP) Kathy McDonald. The vote stemmed from McDonald allegedly violating the CCRP bylaws in October of 2022 when she co-hosted a fundraiser for the now-elected Third Congressional District Congresswoman, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
The CCRP had already voted to endorse Republican candidate Joe Kent following the defeat of incumbent Jamie Herrera-Beutler before the fundraiser. The bylaws of the CCRCC state, “No active PCO or Officer may perform any of the following: Make a formal, public endorsement in a third-party publication for a candidate of a competing party when there exists an endorsed Republican candidate.” They also say that no PCO or officer may “Run, staff, or fundraise a political campaign or PAC for a competing political party.”
During the CCRCC meeting, PCO Mark Moore introduced the resolution to censure McDonald, citing the county party’s bylaws and evidence that McDonald was in violation. The attending PCO’s voted unanimously to pass it.
The censure means that McDonald will not be able to vote on county party matters and will not be allowed to hold the floor to speak at meetings. She was not present for Thursday’s meeting and in fact had not been present at a CCRCC meeting since Kent and Perez were announced as the two candidates to advance to the general election after the August 2022 primary. She had also stepped down as vice chair during that time.
Speaking to Clark County Today, McDonald said that she didn’t know much about the resolution of censure so couldn’t comment on it “effectively.” She said she read through it after it was sent to her but wasn’t contacted about it prior to it being presented at the meeting. “They’re breaking the law,” she said. “The bylaws say I should have had the resolution two weeks before it’s voted on, but that didn’t happen. But these guys don’t care about the law; they don’t care that they’re breaking the law. That doesn’t matter to them. I don’t care. It’s a witch hunt.”
When asked if she planned to attend CCRCC meetings, McDonald said, “I have no idea if I’m allowed to come to meetings. But a resolution carries no teeth. They asked for my resignation. I have no intention of stepping down. I was elected by the people of the 104th precinct. They can’t kick me out. This is laughable.”
McDonald was put in the precinct 104 PCO position in the 49th Legislative District following that same August election. Her race was uncontested, which means she faced no opposition for the seat.
In a press release about the censure, CCRP Chairman Matthew Bumala said, “Party discipline is a rare and serious event and the CCRCC does not entertain these matters lightly. It is the highest priority that Republican voters can trust party leadership to represent their interests and conduct business with transparency. Therefore, when a party officer acts in violation of CCRCC bylaws in such an egregious manner, the body will execute its duty to enforce the code of conduct.”
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The results were so close, Perez 50.14% of votes vs. Kent 49.31%, write-in .55%
So close that a partial re-count was conducted of a very small number of the total ballots cast. Perhaps a partial rather than full recount is because the candidate with fewer votes tallied pays for the recount?
A Clark County citizen reviewed the recount and has filed a complaint about how high the error rate was for the ballots included in the partial recount,
“Originally, when I filed my complaint I was under the impression that the Kent Campaign conducted a full machine recount of all 207,112 ballots but I was wrong. The Kent campaign only recounted the undervotes totaling just 2,404 ballots. With this new realization, the error rate becomes an astounding .582%…”
The citizen has since filed a complaint about the high error rate, which he explains in an opinion article he submitted to Clark County Today.
“Voting System Standards by the Federal Election Commission states in section 3.2.1 Accuracy Requirements that “for each processing function indicated above, the system shall achieve a target error rate of no more than one in 10,000,000 ballot positions, with a maximum acceptable error rate in the test process of one in 500,000 ballot positions.”
Based on these standards above, the recent recounts of the November 8th, 2022 election show an error rate grossly above the accepted target rate of one in 10,000,000 (.00001%) or the maximum acceptable error rate of one in 500,000 (.0002%).”
Citizens are urged to add their name to the amended complaint and call for a full forensic audit by clicking HERE
I like how McDonald doesn’t actually address the allegations in her comment, just says “They are breaking law!”. Way to deflect, and also to highlight that she was the one who actually broke the bylaws.
Also, she is incorrect about the “law” being broken. She’s referring to the old bylaws for the CCRCC that expired 12/10/2022 when there was a the biannual reorganization meeting, which she also did not attend – obviously. New bylaws were passed by the CCRCC body which do not require 2 weeks notice to her with such resolution. It speaks volumes of her character to deflect her own misconduct to try and attempt to incriminate the CCRCC body on old, expired bylaws and ignore her egregious violation conduct.
As the elected representative of the 104 precinct, why wasn’t she at that meeting?
Since her censure was on the agenda, she did have at least some advance notice and she could have defended herself. Since the election was so close, her actions could have been the action that caused Joe to lose.
I have been told that she did something similar about a decade ago!
She is on her way out… Especially if she decides to NOT show up… it’s times to fill her Position in the 104th Precinct and flush her down the drain where she belongs. “They are Breaking The Law.” Ha Ha Ha. Rinos always try to lawyer up and complain that its just not fair… you did it to yourself dumb dumb.
Actually, McDonald is laughable. A RINO/Political Mercenary through and through, her resume includes working to jack our taxes up on both the horrific Port Levy AND the library levy. Her buddies went so far as to claim she was a Trump advisor when the man never heard of her.
My Spaniel is more Republican and I’m reasonably sure this will be her last stint as a PCO… and no one will miss her.
McDonald also supported and promoted the CTRAN tax hike of 2011.
C-TRAN, Clark County Public Transportation Benefit Area Authority, in adopting Resolution BR-11-004,
authorizes a proposition to increase the sales and use tax by 0.2 percent, or two pennies on a ten dollar purchase.
That was on top of the unnecessary CTRAN sales tax hike of 2005 !
CTRAN is rolling in $$$ from these tax hikes.
Now CTRAN is putting 60′ articulated buses on the streets, even tho the 40′ buses used previously were NOT FULL. Clark County Today reports on declining CTRAN ridership
Does C-TRAN need ‘high capacity’ and Bus Rapid Transit on The Vine?“C-TRAN forecasted a 50 percent growth in corridor ridership by 2030; instead there is a 33 percent decline”
And they are planning a new center to house and maintain the large and extra large buses, and the planned electric buses too.
Citizens need to pay closer attention to requests to raise taxes and consider the impact on neighbors. These TWO unnecessary tax hikes were completely unwarranted.
CTRAN staff have expanded and enjoy many more perks, pay raises, and holidays than prior to 2005. How many more $$MILLIONS have been collected by CTRAN to serve fewer riders? How much has been spent on salary and benefit hikes for more staff to serve fewer riders?
Come on Kathy don’t kid a kidder. The “law” has nothing to do with any of this. RCW’s don’t restrict a political Party from making their own rules about participation and voting on Party business and you know it. I’ve known you for 20 years. You did the same thing the last time you served on a Republican Party Board. That time, you were told to step off the board because you were violating the Bylaws by holding fundraisers for the Democrat nominee. Same behavior, different year. This time you really stepped in it. You say it’s no big deal to you. Well, that’s good for you then, isn’t it? And good for the Party too. It’s a win, win for everyone. Just, one more question? What does an elected Republican Party official have to do to justify a censure in your mind? Supporting a left leaning Democrat is also no biggie? Just wondering.
Note: I sat for almost two years on the board with this RINO! I called out her activities the entire time. The power of the PCO’s has been restored to the citizens now. Joel Mattila was just as bad as she was. He hasn’t been seen in a public republican format since August either. The republican party has been infighting for a decade I know of. These infiltrators are the reason why. We are free of them now! It’s time to raise big money and elect republican conservatives now. PCO 940 LD14 Glenn Kincaid. PS I sat on the ex board for 6 straight years. Nobody had a clearer seat to witness these people in action. Incumbents I hope you understand? We the people are now in control of the future here.
Maybe if she had showed up at the December 10th Reorganization meeting where we passed the bylaws for the ’23-’24 session, she would know that no such requirement to censure someone is necessary.
And for the editor, there was no “allegedly” about it. It doesn’t matter which version, old or new, of the bylaws you read, she clearly violated them when she participated in fund raising for the Democrat against the endorsed Republican.
Right. I realize “allegedly” is used for an abundance of caution, however in this case it was unnecessary and leads the reader to think there may have been some question. The bylaws are the governing document of the organization. The violations of the bylaws in this case are very clear, not even a little ambiguous.
Joe Kent did not lose. Anyone with half a brain knows that.
Hey Judas McDonald, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Have fun hanging out with your new left wing groomer buddies.