Ada official asked commissioners not to name Cole to health board. They did. He quit
An Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission member has resigned in protest of the Ada County Commission’s controversial appointment of Dr. Ryan Cole to the local health board.
The Ada County Commission voted Aug. 17 by a 2-1 vote to appoint Cole, a pathologist who owns a medical testing laboratory, to the Central District Health board. That decision has come under fire because of misinformation spread by Cole regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
Two days later, Paul Hilding, a retired lawyer serving on the volunteer commission, said he could no longer be associated with a county government whose leadership could make such a decision. He specifically lamented the votes cast by Commissioners Ryan Davidson and Rod Beck in favor of Cole. He had written a letter urging them to vote against Cole before commissioners voted.
“It appears to me that the two commissioners who voted for Dr. Cole did so either because they are unforgivably ignorant about the nature and scope of the public health emergency facing Idaho at this time, or even worse, out of craven self‐interest,” he wrote in his resignation letter, obtained through a public records request.
Beck and Davidson did not return requests for comment.
In his letter, Hilding referred to statements made by Cole in which he called the COVID-19 vaccine “needle rape.”
In recent months, Cole has become well-known in the anti-vaccine movement. He’s claimed that the vaccine has killed thousands and also promoted alternative treatments to COVID-19, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. The Food and Drug Administration has said people should avoid using either medication to treat COVID-19.
Thousands wrote to the commission in favor of Cole’s appointment, in part because of organizing by the Ada County Republican Party, but local doctors and the Idaho Medical Association advocated against it.
Hilding, who lives in Boise, said in a phone interview Thursday that he had hoped others on the commission would follow him in resigning, but that he ended up doing so alone. However, he added that volunteering his time on the seven-member Planning and Zoning Commission was no longer feasible after the decision.
“It was painful to think about going to meetings at the Ada County Courthouse and thinking about who was in charge,” he said.
Other county commissions in the four-county Central District Health are still in the process of ratifying Cole’s appointment. The last vote is scheduled by Elmore County on Friday, Sept. 3.
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
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