Some Tri-City Republicans accused Semi Bird of a conflict of interest. This happened

A dissatisfied faction of the Benton County Republican Party tried to force a discussion into an alleged “conflict of interest” involving its chair, gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird, on Thursday night.

But those precinct committee officers were ultimately outvoted 24 to 45, killing an amendment to the evening’s agenda that would have allowed them to hold a closed-door executive session to talk about complaints against Bird.

The motion to amend was brought forth by John Trumbo, a Republican committee officer who also is an elected Kennewick city councilman. He has been one of the most vocal conservative critics in Tri-Cities of Bird’s leadership.

Trumbo believes Bird has created a conflict of interest by serving as county chairman and running for statewide office at the same time.

He says no person running for the endorsement of their own county should be allowed to also serve on that party’s executive committee.

Bird earned the sole endorsement for governor by the Benton Republicans earlier this year and says he did not influence the party’s vote.

“Reminds me of the three monkeys: They don’t want to hear it, they don’t want to see it and they don’t want to talk about it,” Trumbo later told the Tri-City Herald. “It’s very disappointing and reflective of what our country is like today in its discourse.”

WA governor race

The attempt to oust Bird from party leadership underscores the fragile and fractured nature Washington Republicans have found themselves in during a consequential election year where the governor’s mansion, Congress and the White House are competitive.

Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, is stepping down after more than a decade in that office and Republicans feel hopeful they can flip that executive seat red.

The problem is conservatives are split over two candidates for that seat: Bird, the candidate endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party, and David Reichert, the former congressman and King County sheriff with strong Westside support.

The top two vote recipients in the Aug. 6 primary will move on to November’s general election. Democrats already have rallied behind Bob Ferguson, the state attorney general who is expected by most to effortlessly advance to the general election.

“Whether I agree with the voice or I don’t agree with the voice, I value the voice,” Bird said of Thursday night’s vote. “We’ve got to come together.”

Bird said he thought Trumbo brought forward the agenda change in “a very respectable way.”

“You couldn’t do any better than John did. I couldn’t have asked for a more kinder, professional way of bringing a motion forward and he did it kindly and professionally. It went the way people chose it to go, and you have to respect that and value that,” he continued.

While Bird handily earned the endorsement of Washington Republicans earlier this year, his candidacy hasn’t struck the same chord of excitement with engaged voters across the state.

The most recent governors poll, a statewide Cascade PBS-Elway poll published two weeks ago, has Bird at 7% among 400 likely primary election voters.

That’s far behind Ferguson and Reichert, who have 42% and 29%, respectively, of likely voters in that same poll.

Bombshell reports

Bird’s background also has become a problem for a substantial share of moderates and “mainstream” Republicans around the state.

Most recently, conservative commentator Jason Rantz, of 770 KTTH in Seattle, published a bombshell report on May 28 detailing allegations that Bird was reprimanded by the Department of Defense for fraud to advance his career and that he engaged in “stolen valor” by misrepresenting his actions while serving as a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret in Iraq.

Bird has denied the allegations, saying it was a “slanderous and libelous story based on hearsay, half-truths, and illegally obtained and restricted personnel records.”

He said he plans to release exculpatory documents on Friday that will clarify the KTTH report.

Trumbo says he was asked to bring forward the amendment to talk about Bird’s alleged conflict by Natalie Whitten, the wife of another Republican precinct committee officer.

In a letter sent to the Benton County Republican Party on May 22, and distributed within Republican circles, Whitten detailed a list of reasons she believed Bird should step down as party chair.

She cites his controversial image following the Richland School Board recall, his split time serving as chair and running for office, turnover on the executive committee, his alleged hostility toward party moderates and his misdemeanor financial crime conviction and previous gun charge, among others, as reasons to turnover leadership.

“He has called out other Republicans who do not support him as ‘The Establishment’ and claimed persecution. His tactics and messaging have been divisive precisely when we need to be most united,” she writes.

She also wrote that she found it “wildly inappropriate” when Bird praised Arthur A. Fletcher, the father of Affirmative Action, during a party strategy session.

Bird said Whitten has since met with the party’s executive committee in private to discuss and acknowledge her thoughts, although no formal action has since been taken.

He also pushed back on criticisms that he talks too much about diversity.

“I’m going to continue with that because I don’t walk away from that,” Bird said. “This is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas and the party of abolition. This is the party of civil rights, the party of women’s rights, and I have brought that up consistently throughout my service to our central committee and these folks support it. And, I dare say, a lot of the folks in Washington state support it.”

Whitten could not be reached by the Herald about her letter and concerns.