One of the top elected officials in Clark County, Washington, is cutting ties with the local Republican Party — in part because it continues to gravitate to the far-right.
Clark County Councilor John Blom officially filed for reelection Friday afternoon, hours before the filing deadline. He stated no party, shunning the GOP despite winning his seat as a Republican in 2016.
Blom acknowledged to OPB he’s had a fraught relationship with the Clark County Republican Party, as have other Republican lawmakers, and no longer wants to be affiliated.
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But he said his decision is driven more by his view that county councilors do not need to be partisan.
“I haven’t been shy about expressing my thoughts over some of their actions over the last year or beyond. That certainly plays a part in it,” he said of the Clark County Republican Party. “But it’s much more about my belief that the position should be nonpartisan.”
Five councilors set policy throughout Clark County, the most populous county in Southwest Washington, and regularly decide how to spend the tax dollars that makeup its roughly $500 million budget. In Blom’s view, most of that responsibility shouldn’t rise to factional politics.
“A pothole doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. People just want that pothole fixed. It comes much more to managing resources than making broad, ideologically-driven decisions,” he said. “Planning out parks and infrastructure are not inherently political decisions.”
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He added: “Parties can take some of these issues and turn them partisan, but how is there a Democrat way to solve transportation or a Republican way to solve transportation?”
Blom wouldn’t be the first to cut the “R” designation from his ticket.
Marc Boldt, Clark County’s former chair, did so in 2015. He won, but said his victory may have only been possible because it wasn't a presidential election year.
“I think that’s kind of the only way you can run as a nonpartisan person and get by,” he said.
Boldt’s reelection didn’t go as well as an unaffiliated candidate. He didn’t make it past the primaries.
Blom’s reelection isn’t identical. Boldt sought the county chair — a countywide vote. Blom is seeking the Third District seat, giving only voters in east Vancouver a vote. No opponents had filed as of Friday afternoon.
OPB has reached out to the Republican party for comment.
A real estate broker who calls himself a “lifelong Republican,” Blom has also rarely been seen as an ally to the local GOP.
The party voted to oppose him two months before the 2016 election. Blom traces the animosity to the Republican primaries that year when he outpolled incumbent David Madore, an established and wealthy GOP benefactor.
Clark County Councilor John Blom.
Courtesy of Colin Mullane
“David had been a huge financial sponsor of the Republican party at that time, so after he lost in the primaries … they voted to actually oppose my candidacy,” Blom said. “There’s history between myself and the local Republican Party.”
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Blom has also condemned party leaders for embracing the pathos of the fringe right. Party members regularly attack Republican lawmakers who support any tax measures as "Republicans In Name Only" or RINOs.
In February, the party recruited Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, to emcee an annual fundraiser. That was two months after the state House of Representatives issued a report documenting Shea’s ties to right-wing extremist groups.
Blom also joined several Republican lawmakers urging party leaders, including Chairman Earl Bowerman, to resign in October after they promoted Dan Clark to the committee chairman role. Clark had been convicted in 2011 of sneaking into the bedroom of a 15-year-old girl when he was 43.