Convention Day 3: Tsunami

Republican conservatives made their voices heard in Twin Falls

The final day of the 2022 Idaho State Republican Party Convention started early, with a breakfast hosted by the Idaho Federation of Republican Women. It was a quiet and peaceful gathering as the IFRW spoke about their activities and gave out various awards. The fireworks started soon after.

The second General Session began with nominations for the state party officers. Every incumbent was renominated for another term, save Secretary Marla Lawson, who was stepping down to focus on her new duties as Region III Chair. I had the privilege of giving the second nomination speech for Steve Bender, who was running for treasurer.

The loudest ovation of the weekend came when Kootenai County Chairman Brent Regan nominated Dorothy Moon for State Chair. Mr. Regan spoke eloquently about how the Republican Party has a duty to defend traditional American values. Representative Judy Boyle seconded, and Mrs. Moon herself gave a rousing speech.

After all the speeches were done, it was time to vote. It took around three hours for 725 delegates to cast their votes. Poll workers checked our photo IDs, checked our names off the list, marked an X in permanent marker on our name cards, and handed us our ballots. The Ada County Clerk’s office lent us their voting stations so we could record our votes in private. We dropped them in the proper boxes and then it was off to lunch.

We returned to session once everyone had voted and resumed our business while they were counted. We heard from Congressman Russ Fulcher and Senator Mike Crapo and began debate on the platform. The first Republican Convention in 1856 issued a platform that called for slavery and polygamy to be abolished in the territories, and the state and national platforms have only grown since then. The Idaho GOP’s platform is published on the official website, and has grown extremely conservative in the last ten years. We already call for the repeal of the 17th Amendment, a return to the gold standard, and instruct our elected leaders to nullify unconstitutional federal laws. This year we added stronger language affirming our opposition to abortion, called for the 16th Amendment to be repealed, and added explicit language supporting all manner of school choice.

Debate was paused so that the election winners could be announced. The room was breathless with anticipation. When the dust settled, every incumbent had been defeated.

The new officers of the Idaho State Republican Party are:

• Chair: Dorothy Moon

• 1st Vice Chair: Daniel Silver

• 2nd Vice Chair: Mark Fuller

• Treasurer: Steve Bender

• Secretary: Maria Nate

Dorothy Moon speaks at a meet and greet the night before the elections.

These results show clearly that the conservative faction of the Idaho GOP has grown much stronger than it was just two years ago when Tom Luna defeated Mark Fuller by a hair. The Idaho Dispatch reported the vote counts from Saturday’s election and it was not close. Dorothy Moon won the support of 434 delegates compared to 287 for Mr. Luna.

Mr. Luna gave a very classy concession speech, tearing up as he remarked that the Lord will surely bring him new opportunities to serve. The Convention united in a prolonged standing ovation for Tom and his service to the Republican Party.

Dorothy Moon said that she did not believe Luna was a bad guy, rather he was a good man who had gone astray. That sounds right to me. I have heard from people on all sides of the party who agree that Luna is a good Christian man, and none of my own interactions with him contradict that assessment. It is clear to me, however, that Luna made at least three costly mistakes:

• Suing the Bonneville County GOP

• Focusing on fundraising over ideology

• Losing touch with the conservative base

Luna tried twice to defend the lawsuit during the Convention. Even if he thought it was the right thing to do, he underestimated the backlash, not only by Bonneville but by the other counties that believe they have the right and duty to evaluate and recommend primary candidates. I saw many stickers and buttons with variations of Is Tom Luna going to sue you next?

The opposite position is that the party should be entirely neutral in primaries. Yet many of the same people who advocate this position are funded by donors who support ideological attacks on more conservative candidates. Melaleuca founder Frank VanderSloot, who pledged money to the Idaho Republican Party specifically for the lawsuit against Bonneville County, has called the Bonneville leadership extremists. He and his company have also donated to the Democratic Party in Idaho.

As I have said, Mr. VanderSloot and his company have the absolute right to donate to whom they will. However, it makes Mr. Luna’s perspective that we should be neutral in primaries ring hollow when his much-vaunted fundraising comes from donors who are decidedly not. Rumor has it that the germ of the lawsuit came from VanderSloot himself, who supported the more moderate candidates in Bonneville County and was angry that the extremists on the county committee would dare disagree.

Ideology matters. Every two years the Idaho Republican Party passes a platform that is supposed be the philosophical mission statement of the party. I get the sense that those in leadership do not take the platform seriously. In observing and interacting with several old guard Republican leaders such as Senator Chuck Winder and future Lt. Governor Scott Bedke, I got the impression that they see this whole affair as a sideshow to placate the rank and file. Do they read the platform and make an effort to hold to it? Or do they give it lip service and then go back to work with their wealthy donors and powerful lobbyists? Do the PCs who make up the various central committees of the Idaho Republican Party have a role to play in educating voters about the platform and holding our candidates and elected officials to it?

Lt. Governor candidate Scott Bedke confers with Senators C. Scott Grow and Chuck Winder.

Days like Saturday must come as a shock to those leaders. How dare the people go against them? Who do we think we are? Lord Acton said that power corrupts, but to be as fair as possible to our leadership I would say that power insulates. The more time you spend in the Capitol, the less time you spend with the base. The more you surround yourself with wealthy donors and powerful lobbyists, the less you understand the perspective of the rank and file. I believe Tom Luna was simply not aware of the magnitude of the conservative revolution that has been growing in the Idaho Republican Party.

Daniel Silver, from his Facebook page.

Mr. Luna was not the only party officer who lost his position on Saturday. 1st Vice Chair Machele Hamilton was defeated by Daniel Silver, Executive Director of the Idaho Young Republicans by a margin of just nine votes. Ms. Hamilton was the only member of the conservative slate to fall, but it seems that there was a spirit of anti-incumbency in that auditorium that would not be denied. Mr. Silver had waited until the first day of the convention to announce his candidacy and he impressed delegates with his passion for the Republican Party and his earnest desire to get more young people involved in the fight for conservatism. While he aligned himself with the establishment side in the leadup to the vote, I believe he will prove to be an asset to the new executive board.

Mark Fuller speaks at a gathering the night before the election.

Mark Fuller defeated longtime incumbent Mike Mathews in the race for 2nd Vice Chair, two years after falling just short in the race for chairman against Tom Luna. The lawsuit between the two dominated the convention atmosphere, and Luna’s loss combined with Fuller’s victory showed the sense of the party. Mr. Mathews had served on the executive board for more than a decade and is also Senator Jim Risch’s Deputy Chief of Staff. It was in that capacity that Mr. Mathews attempted to make several amendments to a resolution calling out Senator Risch for comments implying that American troops might be involved in Syria forever, and that we should be prepared to do anything to stop Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In her nominating speech for Mathews, delegate Melinda Smyser called Risch the most conservative member of the Senate, eliciting laughs from the crowd.

Steve Bender makes his case. Photo by Kootenai County delegate Janice Camarena.

Maria Nate speaks on Friday night.

Steve Bender and Maria Nate won their races for treasurer and secretary, respectively. I believe that Stephen Parrott and Caleb Hoobery are both good and competent men but they could not stand against the tsunami that was crashing down on that auditorium. Mr. and Mrs. Parrott brought their baby to the Convention, and hearing his happy noises during the General Session was fun.

The liberty faction was energized by the election results. We soundly defeated several attempts to water down the platform regarding abortion. The sponsor of the plank, future State Senator Scott Herndon of Sandpoint, gave a measured and rational speech in defense of an unwavering committment to protecting preborn children in the face of attempts to carve out exceptions or soften the langauge. Former State Superintendent candidate Branden Durst sponsored a complete overhaul of the education plank and passionately defended the changes during debate. We passed all of the proposed planks and the new platform was duly adopted.

Before moving on to resolutions, former Twin Falls Chairman Steve Millington came to the microphone, called for a quorum check, and then immediately urged people to walk out, clearly hoping to prevent us from finishing our business. Numerous delegates filed out as the chair began calling roll, eliciting loud boos from the delegates who remained. Senator Chuck Winder decided to leave at this time, as well as National Committeewoman Cindy Siddoway. Is this the vaunted unity that they have always preached?

The message of unity from the establishment was never sincere, in my opinion. They only wanted unity on their terms. While Tom Luna mostly stayed above the fray, his supporters engaged in some of the nastiest personal attacks I have seen since moving to Idaho. As Maria Nate walked up to the podium on Saturday morning the auditorium began buzzing as we all received a text message from an anonymous number slandering Mrs. Nate, even attacking her late parents. We all received more than one anonymous email attacking both Dorothy Moon and Machele Hamilton as well. When the votes did not go their way, many simply walked out of the Convention.

The attempt to disrupt our business failed. When the roll was finally finished, we still had five hundred delegates in the auditorium, and it seemed to energize the remaining crowd even further. We passed the full slate of resolutions that came out of Friday’s committee, including Mark Fuller’s measure that directs the State Chair to withdraw the lawsuit against Bonneville County. While new Chairwoman Dorothy Moon had already promised to do just that if elected, Mr. Fuller’s resolution also demands that the State Chair seek approval from the executive board before engaging in litigation against a county party in the future.

Branden Durst at the Life After Roe rally in June.

Branden Durst was the clear MVP of the 2022 Convention. After losing the race for State Superintendent in May, Mr. Durst immediately went to work crafting resolutions, platform planks, and rules to make it harder for Democrats to interfere in Republican primaries as well as to overhaul the party’s stance on education to pave the way for school choice. He successfully argued for these changes in each committee, and then again in debate in General Session. The Convention adopted them all. He was attentive as well - when the chair declared a yea victory for an amendment to water down our abortion position, Durst was the first to call for division of the assembly and a roll call vote. When it was done, the amendment was soundly defeated.

We headed out the doors with free iced coffee and smoothies courtesy of Senator Mike Crapo. Now that the Convention is finished and we have all returned to our homes, the real work begins. Will the new executive board implement the changes we passed at the Convention? Will Dorothy Moon and her team be able to effectively organize the party and raise the neccessary funds to do so? Can conservative Republicans build on these successes to form a lasting movement? The answers to those questions are all up to us. The fight for liberty never ends.