Ada County GOP choice for commissioner’s replacement rekindles internal party feud
On Tuesday night, leaders of the Ada County Republicans gathered at Julius Kleiner Park in Meridian to decide who they would nominate to Gov. Brad Little to fill the seat of Ada County Commissioner Rick Visser.
The sun shone on the grass, still wet at 7 p.m. from a shower that afternoon. A breeze chilled the air. The party leaders stood 6 feet away from each other to comply with Meridian Mayor Robert Simison’s coronavirus-caused social-distancing order.
But social distancing wasn’t all that was dividing the group.
Earlier that week, Ada County Republican Central Committee Chairman Ryan Davidson had sent out an email to a handful of the “trusted conservative/pro-liberty” precinct committee members who make up the group, urging them to align their votes behind Rod Beck, a former state senator and majority leader who served as state chair for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“He did that as a huge slap in the face to everybody else who is a precinct committeeman,” said Kent Goldthorpe, an Ada County Highway District commissioner and a former committeeman who considers himself a “mainstream” Republican.
Divide between libertarians, traditional conservatives
Goldthorpe doesn’t necessarily blame the libertarian faction for uniting votes behind a single nominee. His mainstream allies did the same when they controlled the party.
“Libertarians took it as a huge slap in the face when one or two people in the mainstream Republican Party would pass out a slate of people they wanted elected,” Goldthorpe said by phone. “But the difference is: The chairman would not have been involved at all. Now the chairman is trying to direct all that traffic, and that does no good as far as keeping peace in the family.”
Davidson’s move has created tension within the county party, further highlighting the divide between the party’s libertarian faction, which seized power in 2014, and its more traditionally conservative members, who say Tuesday’s meeting lacked transparency and shouldn’t have been rescheduled in light of the risk large group meetings pose for the party’s elderly members amid the coronavirus crisis.
The committee ultimately voted to submit Beck as its first choice to replace Visser, who is retiring March 31, eight months before his term ends, for undisclosed reasons. Beck was followed by Patrick Malloy and Kim Wickstrum. All three are running in the May 19 Republican primary for Visser’s spot on the commission.
Beck said the nomination process was fair.
“Ryan notified every person in the central committee who was an eligible voter that there was a change in the location and the purpose meeting, and he notified every person who had filed for county commissioner,” Beck said.
‘Political gamesmanship’ or fair process?
Under state law, the county political party to which a departing incumbent belongs must recommend three possible successors to the governor, who then chooses one. Whoever Gov. Brad Little appoints to fill Visser’s empty spot will be seen by Republicans as having an advantage in the primary.
“I am really saddened,” said Tommy Ahlquist in a phone interview. Ahlquist, the CEO of Meridian development firm Ball Ventures Ahlquist, ran for governor in the 2016 Republican primary. “I don’t appreciate the political gamesmanship that’s going into such a critical position in our community,” he said.
Beck doesn’t see it that way. “This is a political organization,” he said, adding that there was no rule in the central committee that would prevent Davidson from pushing a certain candidate.
Beck said he spent nearly four days on the phone, talking to as many people from the central committee as he could.
“I think that was reflected in the vote,” he said. “I would suggest our grassroots people are the mainstream of the Idaho Republican Party.”
Davidson, in response to multiple requests for comment for this story, sent back via text: “We were required to have a meeting under party rules and Idaho Code.” He did not respond to other questions or voicemails.
Davidson is running in the Republican primary for District 1 Commissioner, a post now held by Democrat Diana Lachiondo, who is also running for re-election.
Gov. Little to select from Republican nominees
Some Republicans say Little could overlook the county’s list of nominees and opt for someone else entirely.
“I believe the governor has the option to throw out the whole list,” Goldthorpe said.
He said he would like Little to appoint a “caretaker” to the seat — a Republican who has agreed not to run in the primary. State code, though, says that the governor must choose from one of the three names submitted by the county party.
Beck has not been well-regarded by some of the party’s traditionally conservative members in the past. In 2014, Republicans in District 15 named Beck as their No. 1 choice to fill a vacancy in the Idaho Legislature. But then-Gov. Butch Otter appointed the Republicans’ second choice, Patrick McDonald, instead.
Patrick Malloy, the first vice chair of the Ada County Republicans who is the group’s second choice, said the nominating effort was fair.
“Ryan’s not putting my name forward — the committee is,” he told the Statesman in a phone interview.
When further pressed about how the nominating process worked and how names had been chosen, Malloy told a Statesman reporter, “It seems like you’re on a fishing expedition to run Ryan over in some way. I wouldn’t want to have any discussion with anyone talking about a leaked email between a private communication between parties.” He then hung up the phone and did not respond to several further requests for comment.
Other candidates for commissioner say they were ‘excluded’
Two other Republicans running in the primary say they are disappointed with how the nominating process unfolded.
“I’ve been excluded from communications about the meeting,” said Mary McFarland, a former Eagle City Councilwoman. “If I’m one of the people that has put my name out on the line, I should at least have an opportunity to introduce myself. It doesn’t seem transparent.”
McFarland didn’t attend the meeting, out of concern for her health, but she’s not sure it would have changed anything.
“He doesn’t want me on that list,” she said, referring to Davidson.
Teri Murrison, another candidate in the Republican primary who previously served as a supervisor for Tuolumne County, California, said she called as many voting members of the party as she could before the meeting.
“I already had a pretty good idea that there was an end result that didn’t include me,” Murrison said. But she said she was glad to have an opportunity to present her platform.
“I’m still on the horse,” Murrison said. “I’m going ahead to May 19, appointment or not.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 4:12 PM.
