Oregon Republican Party Embarks on Embarrassing Recall of Its RNC Representative

The annals of conservative politics in Oregon have featured decades of failure punctuated by rare wins. Through it all, petty factional bickering about who’s to blame has derailed attempts to consolidate efforts, build an effective team, and elect Republicans. Now, dissident elements in the Oregon Republican Party (ORP) have floated a hare-brained scheme to recall the national committeeman, Solomon Yue. In a letter to the state party chairman, Yue’s lawyer, Vance Day, blasted the recall attempt as a gross violation of the party bylaws that should not move forward.

A meeting will take place on June 3 to decide whether the members of the ORP will allow Yue to continue to represent Oregon at the Republican National Committee (RNC), or whether they will replace him. This follows the circulation of a recall petition that reads long on accusations, short on proof, and devoid of sanity. At 37 pages, the resolution cites accusations asked and answered by political rivals as far back as 2008, without any new supporting information. Yue has made the point that, while the recall will not take place in a formal court, the old allegations constitute double jeopardy, which the U.S. Constitution forbids in criminal proceedings. The recall also makes unsubstantiated claims of fiscal malfeasance with PACs and non-profits outside of his duties with the ORP, in an attempt to malign his character and reputation.

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In response, Day threatened in his letter to seek a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the recall, as well as promising a fight at the RNC. In that letter, Day cites numerous instances in which the recall violates ORP and RNC rules and denies Yue a proper opportunity to defend against the charges.

Letter to Chairman Hwang 5.23.23 by PJ Media on Scribd

Day has several disputes with the acceptance of the recall petition:

• The secretary of the ORP accepted all signatures on the petition without due scrutiny, and without verification of the date or method of collection
• The secretary failed to respond to a request by Yue to observe the signature verification process
• The signatures have not been released to allow confirmation that all are voting members of the ORP
• The secretary has told members of the ORP she believes coercion and threats were used by petition gatherers to get signatures, but she allowed it to move forward anyway
• The rules of the ORP don’t allow for the current central committee to recall a national committeeman or committeewoman
• The special rules drafted for the June 3 meeting only allow Yue 15 minutes to defend himself against a 37-page document of charges, which was not provided to Yue until Day received one after the petition was certified
• The 15-minute time limit does not provide sufficient time to call witnesses or mount a sufficient defense, violating his rights to due process and to confront his accusers
• The rules give the presiding officer a grand total of 10 minutes to ask questions of the parties in the recall
• Recall backers have dredged up old, unsubstantiated tropes that Yue is a communist spy

A lot of the rules violations are inside baseball, but from the perspectives of Day and Yue, they invalidate the entire proceedings. Thus, should the vote proceed and the committee vote to remove Yue, they have promised to appeal the entire process to the RNC.

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Yue was born in Mao’s China, and is a passionate foe of communism and fascism. First elected as national committeeman in 2000, Yue co-founded the Conservative Caucus in the RNC, a group of committeemen and committeewomen dedicated to advancing conservatism over compromise. He has sponsored a long series of fundraising events for the ORP, has helped county chairmen fundraise and organize their volunteers, and has advocated for resolutions at the RNC that advance conservative causes and interests. He supported the nomination of Donald Trump in 2016, and helped thwart an attempt at the RNC convention in Cleveland to parachute in Paul Ryan to replace Trump as the nominee.

In addition to his official duties as national committeeman, Yue has developed a significant presence on Twitter. One of his highlights is starting the hashtag #Xitler to refer to the current premiere of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). (He points out how funny it is if you say it out loud.) He gave support and a voice to the Hong Kongers who protested the Chinese takeover in 2019, and has drummed up support to thwart the CCP at every turn.

This recall is only the latest episode in a downward spiral in which Republicans have frittered away every opportunity to consolidate power, consistently win elections, and fight the destruction of Oregon by one-party rule.

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The Tea Party surge of 2010-2014, and the election of Republican Dennis Richardson as secretary of state in 2016, stand out as generational highlights that failed to produce sustained success. Richardson tragically died in office of a brain tumor in 2019, and establishment elements of the Republican Party — specifically the House and Senate Caucuses and the permanent lobbying infrastructure — deliberately thwarted power from accruing to Tea Party candidates after the state House ended up in a 30-30 tie between Republicans and Democrats in 2011. Despite possessing the ability to thwart Medicaid expansion under the newly passed Obamacare, Republican representatives rolled over and accepted a deal they could have stopped.

The Tea Party surge and the 2016 secretary of state election are the only two highlights for the Republican Party since the last Republican governor left office in 1987. Sure, for a while in the ’90s they held a majority in the legislature, they elected a secretary of state and a moderate U.S. senator, they achieved several good school choice bills in 2012, and even produced a budget with a fleeting rainy day fund for a couple of years. Nothing has really moved the needle, though. Even the 2022 election of a second congressman for the first time in decades can more accurately be ascribed to the Democratic Party screwing up redistricting than anything Republicans did right.

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And, oh by the way, that Republican secretary of state in the ’90s advocated for years for national vote by mail, Oregon’s unique contribution to election law that he vigorously supported and helped implement.

The backers of the Yue recall have stated on social media they believe he is the sole source of dissension in the ORP, and if only they could get rid of the guy, they’d be able to build a winning team. Of course, few of those involved in the recall have led winning campaigns, and collectively possess a marked lack of knowledge of what it takes. History does not provide the recall backers a positive comparison. All it demonstrates is that the more the party bickers internally, the more it loses.