8/18/2019 Otter PAC explanation letter

1/2

 

The Reason the Otter Pac was formed was to make BIG changes to what theIdaho Republican Party stands for!

For years we had arguments over various issues in the Idaho GOP, but Ibelieve the big divide we are feeling now started in 2006.

Butch said many times publicly he has been angry since we voted out "hischairman Kurk Sullivan"

Kurk Sullivan came to the 2006 convention with a rewritten platform , whichexcluded the name of God, the pro-life plank and all the moral issue planks, Icannot remember, but suspect other issues like the 2nd amendment, privateproperty rights, school choice etc were also taken out. Because this year in 2014Jedd Siddoway showed up with a very similar proposed platform very similar, tothe one Sullivan proposed in 2006.

In 2006, Sullivan was hell bent on getting that God-less platform passed. Hewent as far to eliminate from committees people from what he thought we moralissue counties. An example was Bonneville County was supposed to have 10 oftheir delegates on committees , instead their was 2 from that county. BecauseSullivan did not know most of the central committee as real people, heunderestimated how many "value voters" were there. At this convention, thedelegates were so angry at Sullivan that he had to apologies or there was athreat of him losing his chairmanship that year. Sullivan told me on a fewoccasions that his goal as chairman was to "get rid of all that God and moral issuestuff , because it makes us look like idiots"

Many things were passed at that convention, including 87% voted to close theIdaho primaries. Reason being that for the 2002, 2004, and 2006 election cyclethe democrat party were practicing organized efforts to vote in the Republicanprimary to choose the weakest, or most liberal candidate. I n many countiesfavorite Republican County commissioners were taken out and extremely liberaldemocrat leaning candidates were winning the primary. In 2006, the democratsorganized a statewide effort to affect a statewide race. We now know because ofa poll taken that a huge percent of democrat voters admit that they were votingin the Republican primary for the weakest, or most liberal candidate.

Because Sullivan ignored what was passed in 2006, and made a huge effort toundermine every single order of the central committee for the next 2 years, hewas voted out in 2008. It really had nothing to do with how many felt aboutOtter, but he took it very personally. Many of us were personally threatened byOtter, and his staff.

Otter held on his grudge , and in 2014 his operatives were given $100,000 toreplace long standing precinct committee members in the party. They

8/18/2019 Otter PAC explanation letter

2/2

concentrated their efforts in Ada , Elmore, Payette and Kootenai Counties. Theywere able to prevail in 3 , but it backfired in Kootenai

In Ada they were able to replace long time Republican citizen precinct peoplewith people who were government employees and lobbyists, and their associates.At the Ada County reorganization meeting in 2014, the newly elected Otterbots

refused to follow part rules, and would not allow long time central committeemembers, Russ and Kara Fulcher, Mike Moyle, John Vander Woude, Reed andGarAnne Demordaunt, Chrs Troupis , Rod Beck and 64 others to even beconsidered for a delegate position to the Moscow Convention. Instead theypresented a filled slate, with many names who, many who never even intended tobe at the convention, and others who would vote for IACI, and Otter's agenda.

Jeff Siddoway, brought the proposed platform changes, which I believe is thereal reason for the fight. I am including the Preamble of our Republican platform, the lines through it are the part Jeff Siddoway and the Otterbots wanted takenout. Other planks marked out were the support of the 2nd amendment, support

of private property rights, and school choice, and many others.