Don’t Let Party Elitists Cross You Off

Guest Editorial by Deborah Rose

Here in Kootenai County, abuse of power is threatening to cancel you as a voter.

The controlling factor of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee has been removing duly elected precinct officials and replacing them with ideologues they have chosen. This movement is being aided by the Idaho State GOP under the direction of Dorothy Moon.

Keep in mind, all politics is essentially local because it’s in local elections where a voter has the most influence, starting with party precinct committee member races. The tyrannical approach is fueled by party elitists’ belief that they deserve to dominate all governance in our state. Such an aggressive intrusion into your voting rights calls for an intervention from all proponents of our constitutional protections, specifically during elections.

The controlling faction of the KCRCC and the Idaho GOP keeps taking power from the wider voting public and accumulating that power for themselves. Allowing this movement to grow its influence by not vetting candidates thoroughly yourself, then voting against their manipulative efforts, only allows them to strengthen their stranglehold during our elections. Giving them license by voting as they recommend is giving them power over you that serves their interests, not necessarily yours.

Such blind trust is reckless.

You’ve seen many manifestations of their indifference to your voting rights and the suffering of others, demonstrated most recently by this group of elitists in their vote to remove a grieving widow from the KCRCC because she missed a few meetings while contending with the terminal cancer needs and the death of her husband.

Such sheer arrogance from the noisy elitists seated on the KCRCC has earned them a reputation as repressive fanatics. They have negated their obligation to act respectfully, transparently and honorably when they behave with complete disregard for your choice of whom you want representing your interest.

If reason and true common sense is to be the currency of our political and community discourse, we need to stand unified against all efforts from the elitists in control of the KCRCC in their attempt to silence our dissent and to disenfranchise us as voters. The best defense is to vote, well-informed, and wisely.

When these elitists walk away from accountability and responsibility to you as a voter, they abandon credibility and integrity for themselves. Effective citizenship requires the ability to foresee consequences and to think strategically. Your plan to preserve and protect the benefits afforded you by our state and national constitutions is to approach voting strategically and well-informed.

Those who condone the Stalinist conduct and poor judgment practiced by the elitists seated on the KCRCC are consistently being called to see the error in their decisions of support as more questionable behavior from the KCRCC-recommended candidates comes to public awareness.

There is a great divide on this committee. The controlling faction has been unreasonable, lacks transparency, and sound judgment, in my opinion. In the minority are well-reasoned, principled, transparency-driven individuals who approach issues and decisions with a true conservative presence.

Watching the consolidated power of the controlling faction during May’s meeting was not surprising. All sound reason was abandoned as they circled the wagons, ensuring they won every vote. An honest reading of the KCRCC bylaws was not done by the committee’s chair; instead, it was done by the committee’s minority.

Government is in place to provide for the general welfare of all. Its intent is to keep and maintain social stability, in other words, to prevent greed and self-indulgence from getting out of hand. The legitimate powers of government extend only to control acts that are potentially or actually injurious to others.

Our nation’s founders, as anti-elitists, spoke of virtue as a key to the preservation of our constitutional republic. Virtue includes traits as honesty, forthrightness, integrity, and a commitment to serving others. There can be no liberty without the classical definition of virtue practiced. When virtue is eliminated from the actions of our elected officials, liberty will collapse, as exemplified by the replacement of your elected officials with an ideological purist.

Kootenai County needs voters to stand in defense of their voting rights, and those who will vote wisely. In doing so, they can override the self-serving and insidious objectives of the KCRCC controlling faction.

Idaho Statute 34-502 reads: “The county central committee of each political party in each county shall consist of the precinct committeemen representing the precincts within the county and the county chairman elected by the precinct committeemen.”

In another act of disrespect to voters and apparent defiance of this statute, KCRCC chair Brent Regan stacked the deck in his favor. He has given voting rights to appointed executive board members and subcommittee chairs, some of whom had been ousted by the very precinct voters who know them best.

Regan and his loyalists want you to believe they are the “official” Republican Party—what foolishness. Every voter registered as a Republican is an official GOP member. By staying informed and voting wisely, we can strengthen the communion, the sound governance, and civility that allows societies to thrive.

---

About the Author

Deborah Rose is a Kootenai County resident and a former KCRCC precinct committee member