Wanting no part of the state’s new open-primary law, leaders of the Idaho Republican Party successfully sued to keep their nominee-selection process closed to all non-GOP voters. Now, even though it was Republican legislators who changed the system in the first place, the party wants taxpayers to pay for the change.

 

During the closing days of the 2011 legislative session, GOP lawmakers used their majorities in both houses to push through a bill that authorizes the state government to pay the party’s $100,000 legal fees stemming from the lawsuit.

 

At the 2008 Republican state convention, a majority of the attendees voted against closing the GOP primary. But the party’s central committee refused to abide by this wish and instead filed a lawsuit against the state.

 

An exasperated Democratic senator, Eliot Werk of Boise, said, “I have to point out, we’re paying $100,000 for the Republican Party to sue the Republican Legislature, defended by the Republican secretary of state, in order to close primaries in Idaho. I just think this is so bad it’s comical.”

 

In fact, the legislation did not enjoy unanimous approval from all Republicans either; nine in the House and three in the Senate opposed it.

 

The GOP victory in court has resulted not only in keeping the party’s primary shuttered to outsiders, but also forced the state—which never before had party registration—to require all voters to declare their party affiliation before voting.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Public to Pay for GOP Suit (by Betsy Russell, Spokane Spokesman-Review)