<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Hmmm.</div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of today's (July 22, 2017) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>----------------------------------</div><div><h1 class="f2 f1-l serif mt0 mb2" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 3rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; font-family: georgia, times, serif; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'dlig' 1; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Idaho GOP drops ‘loyalty pledge’ proposal for new candidates</h1><div> </div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">COUER D’ALENE – The Idaho Republican Party quashed a proposal Friday that would have required Republican candidates in the state to declare their commitment to upholding the state party platform, a requirement some said amounted to a loyalty oath.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">During the summer session of the Idaho GOP’s Standing Rules Committee, Bonneville County Chairman Doyle Beck, who introduced the measure, said his county has struggled with what he described as Democrats running as Republican candidates.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’ve had a problem in Bonneville County for as long as I can remember,” he said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Beck said that the Bonneville County Republicans currently use the proposed process to verify a candidate’s beliefs, to which he has attributed the refusal of some liberal Republican candidates to run in Republican primaries.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Additionally, Beck denied that the new rule would constitute a loyalty oath, though several members of the committee continued to use that term to describe it during discussions.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Some of my liberal friends in the press, and some of my liberal friends even in the party, may refer to this as the loyalty oath. This is not a loyalty oath,” Beck said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Several members of the Rules Committee voiced their opposition to such a measure, citing reasons both political and logistical.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Bannock County Chairman Lance Kolbet said that while his county came “within a breath” of electing a candidate whom they believed to secretly be a Democrat, it was because his county party failed to do its homework, he said. By instituting a measure like the one proposed, he said, it would put the party at risk of “getting a black eye” by giving their seal of approval to candidates who can’t necessarily be vetted thoroughly. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Any kind of loyalty oath in the hands of an honest man is pointless,” Kootenai County Chairman Brent Regan said, to laughter from the committee. “In the hands of a liar, meaningless.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Regan emphasized that regardless of any oath, the Republican Party has a vested interested in protecting the integrity of its brand. While the party may lack the resources to monitor candidates and take steps to punish those who seemingly fail to uphold the party’s platform, it necessarily has a duty to do so for any candidate “who carries an R by their name,” he said. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs and John Duvall, the Washington County chairman and Rules Committee vice chair, both said they’ve seen loyalty oaths proposed in committee for years, and that they always fail for the same reasons.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Apart from the difficulty of amassing the resources to investigate candidates and punish those thought to be unfaithful to the party platform in the press, a loyalty oath serves to do little beside provide Democratic opponents with ammunition, said Loebs.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After the committee failed to pass the rule change, former Idaho Republican Party Chair Trent Clark suggested that in the future, proposers like Doyle Beck “bring a carrot, not a stick” in trying to support candidates who will uphold the party platform.</span></p></div><div>----------------------------------</div><div><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>