United We Stand

Can Republicans come together while still holding to our principles?

This year’s Republican primary was contentious, to say the least. Numerous candidates challenged Governor Brad Little, denouncing his Covid lockdown policies especially. Many of the other constitutional offices had at least two Republican candidates, and there was a lot of mudslinging back and forth.

The morning after the primary election, Idaho GOP Chairman Tom Luna preached unity, gathering the winners together on the Capitol steps to reaffirm their shared support for each other and for Republican values. Those of us who supported other candidates in the primary were reminded that we are all Republicans, and that the true enemies are the socialists, communists, and Democrats who seek to destroy our culture and our way of life.

But what happens when Mr. Luna and his friends are on the other side of a contest? Can we still have unity when the political establishment loses a campaign?

Both candidates for State Chair preached unity at the Convention last week. Our lanyards had United We Stand stenciled on them. We were constantly reminded that as Republicans we needed to support the winners of the primary against the Democrats in November.

Behind the scenes it was anything but unity. The day before the Convention, outgoing State Senator Mary Souza sent a scathing email to all delegates lambasting her former primary opponent Dorothy Moon. We also received an anonymous email slandering both Moon and Machele Hamilton as corrupt and dishonest, accusing them (along with Maria Nate and Mark Fuller) of being puppets of the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

This was emailed to delegates by someone called “ANGRY”

The dirty tricks were not limited to the establishment camp. Someone allegedly printed flyers directing the poor and homeless of Twin Falls to go to Mr. Luna’s pizza gathering on Thursday night. This was obviously an awful thing to do, as it used vulnerable people as pawns for a cruel joke. To his credit, Luna made sure nobody left empty handed. He made sure to use the incident to his advantage, however, implying his opponents were behind the stunt. He sent a text message to delegates on Saturday morning reminding us of the incident just before voting began.

In 2020, Tom Luna defeated Mark Fuller in an extremely close election for State Chair. Despite questions about the way voting was handled, Mr. Fuller graciously accepted the results and gave a wonderful speech urging us to unite behind Chairman Luna. Again, to his credit, Luna returned the favor last Saturday, accepting the will of the delegates and urging unity.

Some of his supporters were less than gracious.

Steve Millington, former Chairman of the Twin Falls GOP, urged delegates to walk out of the auditorium before we could vote on our resolutions. More than a hundred people left the Convention early, many of whom were from Twin Falls and Jerome Counties, the people with the shortest drives home. National Committeewoman Cindy Siddoway and Senate Pro Tempore Chuck Winder also participated in the walkout.

Amos Rothstein, an Ada County delegate who currently lobbies for IACI, expressed his disappointment on Twitter that the Idaho GOP decided to “elect an almost entire slate of fringe and out of touch people to the highest positions in the party.” The fact that 60% of Convention delegates voted for new leadership seems lost on Mr. Rothstein. I wonder who is really out of touch.

Outgoing Senator Steven Thayn, now the Chairman of District 14, spoke to Betsy Russell of the Idaho Press on Monday, expressing his concern that “a purge has begun.” Echoing the rhetoric of the anonymous email we received during the Convention, Thayn said “I don’t know what you call it, the Wayne Hoffman wing, probably the libertarian wing of the party… I see them imposing their own form of elitism or tyranny.”

In a public post on Facebook, former Idaho GOP Chairman Trent Clark accused the incoming leadership of “co-opting the Party's good name,” singling out new 1st Vice Chair Daniel Silver as the lone officer standing against such tomfoolery. Mr. Silver admirably clarified his own positions: “I want to be clear that I do not believe the other members of the executive team are the enemy or power-hungry liberals.” (Mr. Clark subsequently edited his post to remove some of the more incendiary language.)

Ronald Reagan used to quote what he called the 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” He practiced what he preached - while the 1980 GOP presidential primary was brutal at times, Reagan and George H.W. Bush were nevertheless able to unite and work closely together for the next eight years. There is another lesson there: don’t burn your bridges.

I take the 11th Commandment to mean that we should not enlist the corporate media in our intraparty disagreements. The Convention was the place for us to have our discussions, debates, and votes, and now that it is over, it is time for us to stand together and to present a united front against the Democrats and their media allies.

Or at least that’s what we were told when most of the conservative candidates for statewide office lost in May.

In the movie The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone admonishes his oldest son Sonny to never take sides against the family in public. Sonny had implied during a discussion with mobster Virgil Solozzo that he disagreed with his father’s position, a mistake that nearly cost Don Corleone his life. Solozzo determined that with him out of the way, Sonny would be amenable to his ideas. Sonny Corleone himself would be murdered in the mob war that followed the attempted assassination.

I believe that Republicans should follow the same philosophy. We should not be afraid of vigorous debate within the party, but once the decisions have been made, we should present a united front, especially when we talk to the media. When Ms. Russell called me up Monday afternoon for a quote, I was very careful not to give her any ammunition to attack fellow Republicans. I spoke positively about the direction of the party, explaining that our new platform and resolutions are really just stronger expressions of existing Republican philosophy. I did not try to do a victory dance or make accusations against anyone with whom I disagree.

Had Mr. Luna won the election, I would not have gone to the media to decry the tyranny of the establishment. If they asked for my opinion I would have acknowledged that this was the will of the party and expressed my intention to work together with the leadership to accomplish our shared Republican goals. I believe that is what unity looks like.

It is okay to have disagreements within our party. There is room for us to interpret natural law, the US Constitution, and the Republican platform differently. Unity is fighting together for the 80% that we all agree on. But that unity has to go both ways. Recall how certain conservative leaders who told us we had to support John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 changed their minds when we nominated Donald Trump in 2016. They could not handle being in the same party as Trump, and today they work with the Democrats to undermine everything they once claimed to stand for.

If you cannot handle being in the same party that elected Dorothy Moon as State Chair, that nominated Raúl Labrador for Attorney General, that unapologetically supports the right to life for the unborn in its platform, then you are welcome to disaffiliate from the Idaho Republican Party. Perhaps the Democrats would be a more welcoming place for you and your views. Or you could go it alone, as Ammon Bundy has decided to do.

Tom Luna was absolutely right when he said in his concession speech that, “You can’t congratulate the people for doing the right thing when they elect you, and then have bad feelings about them when those same people choose that it’s time to move on. So I respect the will of the people, this is how we do this business.”

All of us, no matter which side of the party we are on, must take this lesson to heart. I hope that those who are angry or disappointed that Dorothy Moon is now the leader of the Idaho Republican Party take a deep breath, read through our platform, and remember what they are fighting for. The same goes for the liberty wing - as much as we might disagree with some of the actions of Governor Little, future Lt. Governor Bedke, or anyone else we consider to be part of the establishment, they are still light-years better than anyone the Democrats have to offer.

It is time for those who preach unity to practice unity. If you find yourself attacking fellow Republicans with more ardor than you fight the Democrats, then perhaps you’re in the wrong party.