GOP Delegates Challenge Their Leadership

By Jill Kuraitis, 6-14-08

UPDATE:  Norm Semanko has defeated incumbent Kirk Sullivan for chair of the Idaho Republican Party.

Their central committee is suing the state of Idaho to close their primaries, but the state’s Republican delegates to their convention voted to keep them open.

It was a close one at 199-192, and it leaves the members of the central committee a predicament that could be controversial enough to feed the party rift beyond the convention. Should they do the top-down thing and keep the lawsuit alive, or listen to the grassroots and uphold their vote?

A passionate voice for closing primaries is former state senate Majority Leader Rod Beck. He’s been preaching his message of preventing Independents and Democrats from “crossing over” into Republican primaries in hopes of electing easier-to-challenge candidates. He’s been recruiting support for the closed-primary option with the intention of challenging the re-election of GOP chair Kirk Sullivan, but stepped aside this week in favor of a “compromise” challenger, lobbyist Norm Semanko.

Today’s vote probably means Sullivan will win re-election, but there could still be surprises.

Beck looked angry after the vote, and told reporter Heath Druzin of the Idaho Statesman, “This is the most manipulative delegate process the Republican Party has ever had,” he said.

Beck and supporters have maintained the central committee had stacked the deck with delegates who would stick with the party establishment, which includes Gov. Butch Otter.