Haugen: Support from ORGOP is like 'holding our jewelry while we get water boarded'

First Congressional District candidate Joel Haugen (R-Scappoose), who is battling Republican officials in that district, called support from Oregon Republican Party officials a farce after they refused to rectify a situation where local county officials would not support his candidacy.

“ORGOP's help is likely to be of the order of holding our jewelry while we get water boarded,” Haugen said in an email to PolitickerOR.com sent from Minnesota, where he was attending a wedding.

Haugen’s anger comes after Republican Party Chairman Vance Day issued a letter saying that ORGOP would support Haugen no matter who he has endorsed in the primary.

The Republican nominee has come under fire from District 1 Republican officials for his endorsements of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and U.S Senate candidate Jeff Merkley.

“We whole-heartedly disagree with his decision to publicly endorse Obama and Merkley and encouraged him to reconsider,” Day wrote in part of a letter to CD-1 officials that was released to PolitickerOR.com. “But, because he is our Republican candidate, we will continue to offer him the support from the Oregon Republican Party that we offer all our other candidates.”

ORGOP spokeswoman Brianne Hyder confirmed that the letter meant that the Oregon Republican Party would support Haugen.

“The purpose of the letter was to let them know where we stood on the issue,” Hyder said.

But the entire letter, which was obtained by PolitickerOR.com, seemed to indicate that the Republican Party was more concerned with their CD-1 officials keeping quiet about the situation than they were concerned about their support of Haugen.

“There has been a series of provoking emails between many of you and Mr. Haugen –many of which have been forwarded to the media and, I believe, directly impacted the news coverage of this situation,” Day wrote. “Without the email trail to forward to the press, this story would have more than likely died.”

Haugen said he has placed several calls to Day’s office since he received the letter. He wants more clarification as to how the party can help him in his bid to unseat Rep. David Wu (D-Portland). None of the calls were returned, he said.

Haugen’s campaign manager Sarah Tiedemann said that the campaign needs clarification in order to expand their Republican support at the local level.

Meanwhile, CD-1 Republican officials remain split with the Oregon Republican Party and the National Republican Congressional Committee, who has also stated their support for Haugen. It gives the last line of Day’s letter an ironic ring.

“United we stand, divided we fall,” Day wrote.

Divided we fall

Republicans have been divided about what they do with Haugen since CD-1 Republicans started uninviting him from their events.

The move to shun Haugen’s candidacy has occurred mostly at the local level. Officials first revoked Haugen’s invitation to speak at the district’s nominating convention in July. Since then, Haugen has been uninvited him from other CD-1 Republican events, and not allowed him to distribute campaign literature at Republican tables at public events, such as the Washington County Fair last weekend.

Even after Republican officials in CD-1 received Day’s letter restating that ORGOP would support Haugen like any other candidate, there was no move by local officials to walk the state party’s line.

“They’ve indicated they will support him the way they will,” said Jeff Smith, chair of the CD-1 Republicans. “My understanding is we are still operating on under the conditions we voted on. The bottom line is we will support the candidates that support Republican candidates. You cross a line when you publicly endorse the top two people on the ticket.”

Haugen’s campaign manager thinks that by banning Haugen, Republican officials are looking to undo the voters will. Haugen became the Republican nominee for CD-1 after he won the May 20 primary with just under 70 percent of the vote.

“They’re going against their constituents if they do this,” Tiedemann said.

Calls to the Republican Party county chairs in Yamhill, Washington, and Clatsop counties were not returned. Fred Yauney, chairman of the Columbia County Republicans, sounded skeptical about letting Haugen back into the fold before refusing to comment further on the situation.

“That’s something for the future,” he said.

The hard line taken by local officials is why Haugen asked Day for clarification as to where he stands within the Republican Party. According to ORGOP spokeswoman Brianne Hyder, the state party supports Haugen as they do any other candidate.

“We’re going to continue to give him the support that he needs,” Hyder said.

So Haugen will have access to the same things that any Republican candidate can access from ORGOP, including voter databases and access to their e-newsletter. Organizing events, handing out campaign literature, and doing all the networking to get to know the voters falls under the umbrella of the county parties. So if they don’t want to help him with that, they don’t have to.

That social support is what Tiedemann says Haugen’s campaign needs the most.

“Since Joel’s views don’t really adhere to modern Republican ideology, there’s a lot more explaining Joel has to do,” she said. “Our job as far as communications goes is more difficult. Which is why Joel would prefer to have more social capital instead of having a few big money donors.”

But even after reaffirming their support, Hyder says there is nothing that the Oregon Republican Party can do to get Haugen the help he says he needs the most.

“The purpose of the letter was to let them know where we stood on the issue,” Hyder said. “Should the county parties decide that they no longer want to support Haugen, then that’s their decision.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which has also publically supported Haugen, cannot do anything about it either.

“Each county runs their own ship,” Michael Kaplan, a spokesman for the NRCC said. "The Republican Party has always been a big tent Party which is accepting of all people and their views. We are encouraged by Joel Haugen's grassroots campaign and know that his message of changing a broken Washington will be well-received by Oregon voters come November.”

But according to both Kaplan and Tiedemann, the only tangible support the NRCC can offer Haugen is money. Kaplan said that the NRCC had yet to cut Haugen a check, and he did not know about future plans to help Haugen with funding. Tiedemann says the Haugen campaign has not been holding their breath for a check from the NRCC.

Haugen is still waiting for a potential nomination from the Oregon Independent Party. If that happens, according to the Secretary of State’s office, Haugen will have to choose one nomination or the other by August 26. In the meantime, Tiedemann says the Haugen campaign is just picking up support wherever they can.

“We’re just doing what we’ve been doing all along,” Tiedemann said. “Finding creative ways to get our message out has been a lot more fun.”