Far-right has either failed to win or failed to govern in Idaho. That could change | Opinion
Idaho’s far-right coalition hasn’t recently had a true governing majority on the statewide level, but that could change.
The two historical fates of Idaho’s far-right coalition — and the consequences that follow for the broader community — are currently on display in Bonneville and Kootenai counties, and particularly at their community colleges.
At the College of Eastern Idaho, it’s business as usual. Local high school students get a head start toward college by taking dual-credit classes. Young adults work toward two-year degrees as a first step to a bachelor’s degree. Technical programs train older adults to move into high-paying blue-collar jobs at Idaho National Laboratory and businesses that crop up around it.
But at North Idaho College, no one will be shocked in the next few weeks if accreditation is revoked — removing the possibility of earning meaningful credentials for further education or employment. The suspended president is suing the far-right board that (probably illegally) put him on administrative leave for refusing to sign a (probably illegal) contract. And the former Coeur d’Alene city attorney is suing the board for breaking contracting and open meeting laws, as Kaye Thornbrugh of the Coeur d’Alene Press reported. Recent board meetings have been utter chaos.
The stark contrast between the two stems from politics. Both Bonneville County, home to CEI, and Kooentai County, home to NIC, are overwhelmingly Republican. And the Republican central committees in both counties have long been dominated by the far-right.
But in Bonneville County, control of the party infrastructure hasn’t translated to significant electoral success.
The Bonneville GOP fought tooth and nail against establishing the College of Eastern Idaho, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2017. The single attempt to put a member of the far-right on the college’s board this year failed miserably, and a mix of relative political moderates continue to successfully govern the college in a professional manner.
And the eastern part of the state was where the far-right faced its largest setbacks last election cycle, with lawmakers including Rep. Ron Nate, Rep. Karey Hanks and Rep. Chad Christensen sent packing.
That contrasts sharply with North Idaho. There the far-right first won control of NIC in 2020. Soon, the college president was fired without cause and replaced with a wrestling coach, the college nearly lost accreditation and the board self-destructed.
This year, the far-right won control again, and it is in the midst of its second self-destruction. As Thornbrugh reported, the college’s former lawyer has warned its board that “cataclysmic damage to the institution” is taking place, and it is at serious risk of losing accreditation.
This is what it looks like so far when the far-right does win elections: a damn circus.
But there’s another concerning development. The Kootenai GOP’s electoral success at NIC has been helped along by some new friends, it seems.
Daniel Walters of the Inlander has compiled convincing evidence of the involvement of the alt-right movement — the variety of fascists who marched around Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 carrying tiki torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us” — in the efforts to take over at NIC.
In Bonneville County, the far-right can’t win, so it doesn’t govern. Things function well.
In Kootenai County, the far-right has won, but it is too incompetent to govern.
The involvement of the alt-right in NIC elections should be a gut check for every Idahoan with some semblance of a conscience. It raises the threat of a third possibility for the far-right: neither unable to win nor incompetent, but capable of taking concrete steps toward implementing the dark vision of those men marching with torches.
The time to beat back that possibility is now.
This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 4:00 AM.