Guilt by Coordination
A new IdahoExtremism.org investigation maps the operator chain publishing the slurs, doxxing, and dehumanization — and the 21 candidates banking on it.
On May 16, the most prolific surrogate in Idaho’s far-right amplifier network posted a video listing the 21 candidates she’s working to elect. The roster, in her own caption: Mark Fitzpatrick for governor, then David Worley, Chad Christensen, Kelly Golden, Steve Tanner, Kyle Harris, Rob Beiswenger, Barbara Ehardt, Jilene Burger, Brian McKellar, William Mostoller, and ten more. Two reps — Kyle Harris and Steve Tanner — quote-retweeted it inside two hours. The video closed with one card: “VOTE MAY 19th.”
That artifact, preserved in the new Amplifier Network investigation at IdahoExtremism.org, ends the “I had no idea what they post” defense for every name on the list. The surrogate, calling herself their friend has, in the months leading up to that video, demanded the home addresses of a Republican county central committee, called that same committee “my state’s most mentally retarded,” used the racial slur “Pajeet,” and on May 3 published a verifiable lie about Christa Hazel’s father, Wayne Manis, that she capped with an anti-gay slur. Every post is screenshotted, timestamped, and linked. Not one candidate on the video has disavowed any of it.
This isn’t guilt by association. It’s guilt by coordination.
The receipts
Dave Reilly, the operator who runs IdahoTribune.com and was once an IFF contractor, posted on April 8: “Boise, Idaho is ran by Jewish Sodomites.” It drew over a thousand likes. Mark Fitzpatrick — the candidate that same network is promoting for governor — posted on September 29: “Dear @realDonaldTrump, Mormons aren’t Christian. Stop saying otherwise.” Ryan Spoon, first vice chair of the Ada County GOP and a former Idaho Freedom PAC director, posted on May 17 that gay and transgender Idahoans “require forced institutionalization and professional treatment until cured. Or continued confinement if it is not cured.” Dustin Hurst, the former IFF VP who never stopped operating, attacked Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen by writing she “wants more foreign workers so she can ger her Taco Bell quicker.” Brent Regan, IFF board chair and KCRCC chair, sat at the top of the same KCRCC orbit that published a private Idahoan’s Social Security number as a political weapon — then told the Idaho Statesman there was “no way to confirm” it.
These are not anonymous trolls. They are the surrogates, board members, and operators that the 21 candidates depend on for distribution. The investigation tracks 27 amplifier accounts over a 45-day audit window, with engagement metrics and reply-chain timestamps. The official @IdahoGangOf8 caucus account itself amplified the May 6 Joe Pags hit on Governor Brad Little. Rep. Rob Beiswenger was among the 21 quote-retweeters of that same post.
Why they won’t disavow
Because they can’t. Dishonest candidates need dishonest networks to install them. The Idaho Freedom Caucus operates the way every captured political machine operates: keep a small base furious and motivated, drive normal voters into contention-avoidance, and turn the primary into a low-turnout election that the network can win by razor-thin margins. The IFF and Citizens Alliance of Idaho scream loudest about “election integrity” while running the most aggressive voter-suppression-by-vitriol operation Idaho has seen. The vitriol is the strategy. Decent voters staying home is the goal. It’s a sneaky form of voter suppression — the exact playbook these same operators accuse the left of running.
That’s why the candidates stay silent when their surrogates publish antisemitism. It’s why they don’t object when their gubernatorial favorite tells Donald Trump that Mormons aren’t Christians. It’s why Kyle Harris and Steve Tanner share the same surrogate’s video without a word about her doxxing posts or her slurs. The network is the campaign. The slurs are the distribution. It’s why Rep. Kent Marmon and Rep. Lucas Caylor slam the like button on these dehumanizing posts. You see the senators and representatives parrot the demeaning media campaigns coined by Walker and Heida in their own posts and floor debates, calling Idaho agricultural employers “slave owners” with complete disregard for the truth or humanity of those they attack.
They won’t disavow these horrible people because these are their people.
Read the full record before May 19
The full Amplifier Network investigation at IdahoExtremism.org catalogs every operator, every quoted post, every amplification, and every linked dossier — for Mark Fitzpatrick, Dave Reilly, Brent Regan, Ryan Spoon, Dustin Hurst, Greg Pruett, John Heida, and David Worley. Every claim in this post links back to a primary source there.
If you live in one of these 21 districts, you don’t have to take anyone’s word for any of it. Read the screenshots. Watch the video. Look at the replies. Then ask the candidate on your ballot one question: Will you disavow what your surrogates published in your name?
If they won’t, you have your answer about who they are.
About the Author
Gregory Graf is the CEO of Snake River Strategies and creator of Political Potatoes. He’s a lifelong conservative Republican living in Star, Idaho.
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Disclaimer: The following is intended to convey an opinion on newsworthy events of public concern regarding public figures and/or public officials in exercising their official duties. No implications or inferences—beyond those explicitly stated in the preceding— are intended to be conveyed or endorsed by the Author. Wherever available, hyperlinks have been provided to allow readers to directly access any underlying assertions of fact upon which this opinion is based.
Thank you for the heads up.
The buzz I’m hearing this year, especially from the moderate Republicans, is that they have had enough of the extremists in their midst.
I can’t stress this enough -
Please vote these nasty candidates out in the primary so that we can take our legislature back and address the concerns of real Idahoans!
WE MUST TAKE BACK IDAHO! This is NOT the state I have loved. I am so disappointed in our politicians who will not stand firm against this and the national ridiculousness.