Idaho candidate’s legal issues reemerge. He blames ‘leftist courts,’ ‘bitter ex,’ media
.png "Idaho state superintendent candidate Branden Durst is running in the Republican primary on May 17.")
Idaho superintendent of public instruction candidate Branden Durst has a history of allegations relating to domestic abuse and harassment, which have resurfaced as he runs to be the top education official in the state.
In the past 10 years, Durst, a child custody mediator and former state legislator, has been accused of allowing child abuse against his son, had a temporary domestic violence protection order filed against him, and was found to be in contempt of court over his parenting agreement with his ex-wife.
Durst is running in the May 17 Republican primary against Debbie Critchfield and incumbent Sherri Ybarra. Durst’s campaign has denied the allegations against him and has cast a wide net of blame.
“These allegations are what happens when the liberal media (like the Idaho Statesman), leftist courts, a bitter ex-wife and a desperate political opponent work together to try to discredit a conservative candidate,” Durst’s campaign wrote in an email to the Statesman. “It is an old tired playbook conservatives have seen over and over. We know that the allegations are baseless.”
The campaign of Ybarra, who has held the post since winning election in 2014, declined to comment and said the superintendent has no personal knowledge about any of the allegations. Critchfield pointed to the allegations as a pattern.
“It appears there is a pattern of issues from Brandon’s (sic) past surfacing and piling up,” representatives from Critchfield’s campaign said in an email. “These issues should speak for themselves, and I’m confident Idaho voters can discern if Brandon (sic) is the right person to support Idaho’s children and lead our schools.”
Durst, who served in the Idaho House and Senate between 2006 and 2013, and has run for various offices in Washington state and Idaho, has tried to build his campaign as being the outsider candidate. He has run on a series of hot-button issues, such as promising to root out critical race theory, opposing mask mandates and other COVID-19 public health measures in classrooms, and supporting school choice that would allow public money to follow students who want to attend private or alternative schools.
Durst’s domestic violence, child abuse allegations
Earlier this year, Durst’s wife, Cheri Durst, was charged with misdemeanor injury to a child after she was accused of abusing one of the children of Durst and his ex-wife. The allegation was first reported by Idaho Reports.
Durst was not charged in the incident, but in a petition for a protection order filed in Thurston County, Washington, Jaime Charles — Durst’s ex-wife — said Cheri Durst physically abused their 14-year-old son, and Durst “not only watched and did nothing to stop it,” but “actively encouraged his wife to beat our son.”
Charles also claimed there was a history of domestic violence, intimidation, harassment and verbal abuse in her relationship with Durst.
In Charles’ petition, she said that she was told by her daughter that the 14-year-old had been held down and beaten with a wooden spoon by Cheri Durst for refusing to do laundry, and that after the children returned to Washington state, Charles said she noticed two large bruises on her son’s thigh.
A temporary order of protection was issued in Thurston County in February and then extended through July 27. Under the order, Durst isn’t allowed any in-person visits with his children “unless otherwise ordered under the parenting plan cause number in King Co.,” referring to King County Superior Court in Washington. The children can text, call or have video chats with Durst, but he can’t initiate contact, according to the order.
Cheri Durst is not allowed to have any contact with the children under the order.
Durst denied that he encouraged his wife during the alleged abuse, according to documents.
A report from the Ada County Sheriff’s Office said a detective contacted Durst, who said he had no knowledge of a bruise. When asked initially whether he knew anything about the incident, Durst said, “not specifically that I’d want to state right now,” according to the report. In Idaho, a parent or guardian may not use discipline in which a bruise or mark is left on a child.
Durst admitted that he was home and later said he found it “hard to believe” his wife had spanked his child hard enough to leave a bruise, according to the report. He said his son was disciplined for not doing as he was told.
According to the sheriff’s report, Durst’s wife said she hit the boy with a wooden spoon when he was sitting in a chair, including striking him twice on the thigh. She said her husband was around and told her that she “ruined Christmas,” according to the report, and she indicated that Durst wasn’t supportive of disciplining the children when they were in Idaho for such a short amount of time.
Durst found in contempt of court
In an order filed in King County Superior Court in Washington on April 22, Durst was found in contempt of court in connection with his parenting plan with Charles. The order was first reported by the Idaho Capital Sun.
Durst was found in violation after he failed to return his children to his ex-wife at the appropriate time, and also did not tell her about the children’s exposure to COVID-19. Durst’s children were exposed to the virus in November 2021, according to court documents, but he said he didn’t need to notify his ex-wife about the exposure because the children had been vaccinated.
The documents also said Durst insisted that his children fly after Charles and their son tested positive for COVID-19, and were told by Thurston County Public Health in Olympia, Washington, to isolate and quarantine the whole family. Their daughter later tested positive as well.
“Branden was so insistent that the children fly, even while COVID positive, that the Thurston County Public Health took it upon themselves to contact the CDC,” stated a declaration from Charles in support of the motion for contempt.
Charles reported that she received letters saying the children had been placed on a federal public “Lookout” and “Do not board” list that would keep them from flying during their quarantines.
Durst was ordered to pay his ex-wife’s lawyer fees and expenses, totaling around $4,000. The order indicates the contempt could be purged if Durst complies with the parenting plan for the next six months and pays in full the money ordered in that same time frame. The parenting plan specifies when the children will be with each parent.
Ex-wife alleged threats from Durst
Allegations against Durst also arose during previous failed runs for office, to be a state representative in Washington and a school board member in Boise.
In November 2013, a temporary domestic violence protection order for Charles, then his wife, was in place, up until the time they finalized their divorce in 2014.
At the time, Charles claimed in a petition that threats of violence began during the 2010-11 school year. She accused Durst of hitting doors and breaking things, attacking her and wrestling her to the ground, tackling one of her children, threatening to take the children and not tell her where they were, and verbally threatening her and her mom.
In March 2015, Charles sought and was granted a temporary anti-harassment protection order against Durst after she said he broke into her home and sent disturbing messages to her.
When Durst ran for office in Washington state in 2016, his opponent, Democratic Rep. David Sawyer, put on a website and in a mailer that Durst “frightens his own family” and cited the temporary domestic violence protection order, The News Tribune in Tacoma reported.
Durst announced another run for the Washington House in 2018. A Tacoma City Council member pulled an endorsement of Durst after learning about the protection orders, according to The News Tribune. Durst never actually filed to enter that race.
In 2018, Durst ran for a spot on the Boise School District’s board. A Boise City Council member posted online and then deleted an endorsement and told the Statesman that issues had come up that the member wasn’t aware of. Durst finished a distant fifth out of six candidates in that race, with the top three being elected.
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
