Morrow County Republicans call for Smith to resign; Smith says “deceitful” tactics used
By Terry Murry on Friday, January 23rd, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
MORROW COUNTY – The Morrow County Republican Party Central Committee has passed a resolution calling for the resignation of Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner). The vote on the resolution was 6 to 1.
The resolution cites serious concerns including multiple ethics commission investigations and a civil lawsuit filed by the Oregon Attorney General’s Office alleging insider trading.
In addition, the resolution calls for central committees in counties throughout Smith’s district to consider similar resolutions. It also calls on the Oregon Republican Party leadership to publicly support the resolution. The counties in Smith’s district are Umatilla, Gilliam, Sherman, Wheeler, Wasco, Jefferson, Marion, and Clackamas.
If Smith refuses to resign, the resolution urges state party leadership to censure him and withhold party support from future candidacies.
UPDATE: Smith responds, says “deceitful” methods used to pass resolution
Below is a release from Smith:
Two years ago, Oregon Right to Life publicly denounced Jim and Kelly Doherty for falsely claiming Jim had an endorsement he did not receive.
You may recall the many news stories.
At that time, these people and their campaign team set up a fictitious organization and publicly asserted that it had endorsed him. Subsequently, he then sent marketing materials claiming he was the authentic right-to-life candidate, when in reality, Senator Todd Nash was the genuine pro-life endorsed leader. In addition, they did not place a “paid for” line on the campaign materials, as required by law. The Doherty’s were exposed in one of their falsehoods. Oregon Right to Life rectified the issue and condemned the action.
Déjà vu, a similar incident is unfolding. This time, the Doherty’s have proclaimed the Morrow County Republican Central Committee is demanding my resignation.
Admittedly, I’m not a psychologist but many folks classify the Doherty’s as deceitful or delusional, perhaps both. No one really knows. Let me further explain:
Recently, these two masterminds created a “resolution.” They then waited for our Morrow County Republican Central Committee meeting to be sparsely attended and so they could surprise Chair Clint Carlson with an unannounced motion to pass their false declaration.
Yes, it gets weirder. The Doherty’s then rounded up a few of their usual suspects (anti-Greg individuals) to vote in favor of their deed, and then they publicly shouted it out.
So, who were the individuals responsible for this action and who were not? Well, there were six individuals, and their names are familiar:
Kelly Doherty, wife
Stuart Dick, friend
Raymond Akers, defeated candidate
Ethan Akers, son of the defeated candidate
The McNamee’s
Who were those who did not take part? Well, the remaining 21 precinct positions. To place a finer point, 21 of 27 precinct positions did not participate in this deceptive move. If you are doing some math, that is almost 80%.
Both Clint Carlson and his wife, Sarah refused to sustain such a deceitful gimmick, but what about the McNamee’s? Well, that is a head scratcher. Here is what Chair Carlson shared:
“There were eight present, the vote was 6 to 1. As chair I didn’t vote. Two of the votes I was surprised with their yes vote, but they called this morning and said they were wrong to vote that way. The others were the usual suspects that dislike Greg and usually don’t show up to the meetings. So this was planned, and they didn’t let me know in advance that this would be brought up.”
“We tried to get them to postpone the vote until the next meeting so the absent members could get a chance to see the resolution but they wouldn’t do it. So it was a railroad.”
The Doherty’s within minutes had a press release to distribute to the anti-Greg media.
Just for the skeptics…Kelly just trying to be helpful to Sarah Carlson, the central committee’s elected communication officer, emailed her and said:
“As the dissenting vote, I didn’t figure you were going to want to write this. I can send it out as well.”
Chair Carlson then shared with me “attached is a press release Kelly made up, and the resolution is attached with it.”
Chair Carlson concluded with: “We are very upset about the tactics they used on the whole issue.”
Morrow County Precinct Member Dawson Quinton had no idea.
The Oregon Republican Party had no idea.
Chair of the Morrow/Umatilla County Young Republicans Evan Purves had no idea.
A segment of the central committee’s unadopted meeting minutes read:
“Raymond Akers brought a Resolution “26-01”, from a “citizen collaboration group” (unnamed) from HD 57, calling for the resignation of Greg Smith. Since this was not sent out with the calendar invite, agenda, and November meeting minutes, Kelly Doherty read the Resolution. Raymond moved that we adopt Resolution “26-01”, and Stuart Dick seconded the motion. There was discussion. Sarah asked if there was an electronic copy of this that could be sent out to the rest of the Central Committee.”
UPDATE: In response to Smith’s release, Jim Doherty released the following statement:
“My mother always told me to be one of the people who talk about ideas and issues, not about other people. That’s the campaign I’m running, and that’s the kind of representative I’ll be.
I want to be clear: I did not write this resolution, and I wasn’t even at that meeting. The fact that Representative Smith thinks I have the time to run my ranch, run a campaign, write a multi-page resolution with years of detail, and then coordinate a group to submit it tells me he thinks I’ve got more hours in the day than I actually do.
Right now, I’m dealing with calving season and trying to talk to voters about clean water and clean government. All my spare time is tied up going door to door and talking to people. Just yesterday, I was visiting with a young couple in Boardman who are spending $1,200 a month on childcare, more than their mortgage. Those are the conversations I’m having, not “masterminding” a conspiracy.
I can see that Representative Smith is struggling with this news, and he’s in our thoughts and prayers. But Eastern Oregon families have been struggling with contaminated water for three decades. That’s what I’m focused on: giving voters a choice and talking about the real issues facing our district.
Regardless of this resolution, I’ll continue running a campaign about ideas, solutions, and serving Eastern Oregon. I leave it to the voters to decide what kind of representation they want on May 19th.”
EMG file photo of Rep. Greg Smith
