Repub hanky-panky in Bonneville County

The local Repub Central Committee tried once again to impose itself into the long-standing tradition of Idaho Falls' nonpartisan city elections.

About a month ago, the CC announced they were seeking candidates to endorse for the upcoming City Council election, None of the incumbents seeking re-election responded, so the CC dug up a couple of new candidates; one is a member of the Central Committee, Alex Creek and the other, Barbara Ehardt, is completely unknown politically. She runs a local athletic club. Creek is running against Ida Hardcastle, a long-time Council member who has been elected 5 times, and Ehardt is opposing Karen Cornwell, a 1st term Council member and a well known city activist who works for the United Way.

This isn't the first time the Repub CC has tried to hang the elephant on a non-partisan election in hopes of furthering it's agenda, which is somewhere to the right of the Teabaggers. In 2005, they officially endorsed Larry Lyons, one of their own.

Lyons was elected to the Council in 2003 (I believe- I wasn't here then), and proved to be a stratospheric moonbat. He consistently voted against every proposal, good, bad or indifferent, was constantly disruptive and argumentative, and got into minor trouble with the law constantly, mostly over letting his dogs out to run loose. The cops were called a couple of times during domestic arguments, too.

Larry eventually sued the same council he held a seat in, and resigned his seat to run against another Council member who came up for re- election. He was badly thumped, drawing about 18% of the vote, and vanished shortly afterwards. While Idaho Falls is conservative, the voters aren't crazy, and dumped his ass.

After their recent announcement, which included a list of candidate questions straight from the rabid right handbook, the Central Committee met with heavy disapproval from all sides. Idaho Falls' citizens don't want partisanship in the city elections and never have. The truth is, most of the Council members are probably registered Republicans, but Idaho Falls has always elected them for their civic engagement and individual qualifications, not party affiliations.

As far as it goes, Hardcastle has a reputation of being conservative, and Cornwell's party isn't known- she has never mentioned it in public. Cornwell's largest concern has always been centered on the coummunity only.

Alex Creek's late father was a well-known civic booster who never sought election for anything, but served on many citizen's committees and was a member of the Rotarians and other community clubs. Alex has always been in his father's shadow, and I've knew him when we were kids- he was taciturn and humorless then, and thick as a brick. From all I've heard, he didn't change any when he grew up. Ehardt grew up in I.F., left for most of her life to go coach in several universities, then came back home a few years ago. Other than her endorsement, she is totally unknown as a civic activist. Both have lots of local Repub money behind them.

Time will tell, but it's obvious that the local Repubs running the party here aren't going to quit their monkey biz. A couple of the most prominent and long standing members of the party have written guest columns in the Post-Register, hinting at a far-right leadership coup.

Keep an eye on this one. It will be evidence of Idaho Falls' current political leanings very accurately. My bet is on both incumbents, but the times are sure volatile right now.