In this June 2015 file photo, U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., speaks with Chuck Haunreiter.
A Democratic precinct committee officer recently filed a lawsuit against the Lewis County Democratic Central Committee and its chairwoman, alleging the committee locked him out of meetings without authority.
Chuck Haunreiter, PCO for the seventh precinct in Chehalis, claims the committee violated its bylaws and charter by banning him from meetings.
Haunreiter, also known by his self-proclaimed moniker “King Chuck,” filed the complaint on March 16 in Lewis County Superior Court, representing himself.
Carol Brock, chairwoman of the Lewis County Democrats, told The Chronicle the committee has consulted an attorney and didn’t want to discuss the lawsuit further.
The executive board for the party sent a letter dated Feb. 8, 2016, to Haunreiter, saying he violated the bylaws by being “very disrespectful and disruptive to the membership at the meetings.”
Haunreiter’s behavior, according to the letter, doesn’t “contribute to the growth and influence of the Democratic Party, develop leadership, increase party responsibility, and promote harmony within the party ranks,” as written in the bylaws.
The letter states the organization won’t allow him to attend any meeting or gathering except as necessary as PCO.
The next event Haunreiter has a responsibility to attend as PCO is the caucus on Saturday.
According to the letter, the decision will be enforced as long as the organization exists.
Robert’s Rules of Order allows for an assembly to eject a person from a room by rule or vote.
Haunreiter’s response to the letter is decorated with expletives, words typed in all capital letters and a number of exclamation points to get his thoughts across.
Along with expletives, Haunreiter also calls members of the local party’s executive board “oafs” and “losers” in his letter.
In the lawsuit, Haunreiter accuses the party of having inaccurate meeting minutes and writes that Brock adjourned a meeting without a vote. He also claims that he should have been seated as PCO in May 2014, but wasn’t seated until December of that year.
He said Brock refused to give him walk lists, a list of likely Democrats, so he got them from the county Auditor’s Office.
Haunreiter has previously submitted multiple letters to the editor accusing the committee leaders of being “incompetent.”
He told The Chronicle he has been trying to get the party to get out the Democratic vote in Lewis County. Haunreiter believes the best way to do that is by writing letters to the editor at The Chronicle and by calling into a daily local radio talk show hosted by John Panesko.
He said if the central committee had ideas about how to increase voter turnout, he would like to discuss them, but they don’t have any, he said.
The most recent figure he points to as a way to illustrate poor Democratic turnout is when Bob Dingethal, who ran as a Democrat against Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, received 23 percent of the vote in Lewis County in 2014.
“If they really were tough, they’d go out and they’d fight for Democrats,” Haunreiter told The Chronicle.
Instead of figuring out how to get more votes for party candidates and issues, Haunreiter said they treat the party’s meeting as a social club.
“The only thing missing is a bar,” he said.
In his lawsuit, Haunreiter is asking for a declaratory judgement that the executive board didn’t have the authority to lock him out of meetings.
He also asks to be allowed to attend meetings, participate as a PCO and for any party business that took place while he was locked out to be declared null and void.
Haunreiter is seeking financial relief for costs including attorney fees due to the lawsuit and any other relief determined by the court.
