TheReasontheOtterPacwasformedwastomakeBIGchangestowhatthe

IdahoRepublicanPartystandsfor!

ForyearswehadargumentsovervariousissuesintheIdahoGOP,butI
believethebigdividewearefeelingnowstartedin2006.

Butchsaidmanytimespubliclyhehasbeenangrysincewevotedout"his
chairmanKurkSullivan"

KurkSullivancametothe2006conventionwitharewrittenplatform,which
excludedthenameofGod,theprolifeplankandallthemoralissueplanks,I
cannotremember,butsuspectotherissueslikethe2ndamendment,private
propertyrights,schoolchoiceetcwerealsotakenout.Becausethisyearin2014
JeddSiddowayshowedupwithaverysimilarproposedplatformverysimilar,to
theoneSullivanproposedin2006.

In2006,SullivanwashellbentongettingthatGodlessplatformpassed.He
wentasfartoeliminatefromcommitteespeoplefromwhathethoughtwemoral
issuecounties.AnexamplewasBonnevilleCountywassupposedtohave10of
theirdelegatesoncommittees,insteadtheirwas2fromthatcounty.Because
Sullivandidnotknowmostofthecentralcommitteeasrealpeople,he
underestimatedhowmany"valuevoters"werethere.Atthisconvention,the
delegatesweresoangryatSullivanthathehadtoapologiesortherewasa
threatofhimlosinghischairmanshipthatyear.Sullivantoldmeonafew
occasionsthathisgoalaschairmanwasto"getridofallthatGodandmoralissue
stuff,becauseitmakesuslooklikeidiots"

Manythingswerepassedatthatconvention,including87%votedtoclosethe
Idahoprimaries.Reasonbeingthatforthe2002,2004,and2006electioncycle
thedemocratpartywerepracticingorganizedeffortstovoteintheRepublican
primarytochoosetheweakest,ormostliberalcandidate.Inmanycounties
favoriteRepublicanCountycommissionersweretakenoutandextremelyliberal
democratleaningcandidateswerewinningtheprimary.In2006,thedemocrats
organizedastatewideefforttoaffectastatewiderace.Wenowknowbecauseof
apolltakenthatahugepercentofdemocratvotersadmitthattheywerevoting
intheRepublicanprimaryfortheweakest,ormostliberalcandidate.

BecauseSullivanignoredwhatwaspassedin2006,andmadeahugeeffortto
undermineeverysingleorderofthecentralcommitteeforthenext2years,he
wasvotedoutin2008.Itreallyhadnothingtodowithhowmanyfeltabout
Otter,buthetookitverypersonally.Manyofuswerepersonallythreatenedby
Otter,andhisstaff.

Otterheldonhisgrudge,andin2014hisoperativesweregiven$100,000to
replacelongstandingprecinctcommitteemembersintheparty.They

concentratedtheireffortsinAda,Elmore,PayetteandKootenaiCounties.They
wereabletoprevailin3,butitbackfiredinKootenai

InAdatheywereabletoreplacelongtimeRepublicancitizenprecinctpeople
withpeoplewhoweregovernmentemployeesandlobbyists,andtheirassociates.
AttheAdaCountyreorganizationmeetingin2014,thenewlyelectedOtterbots
refusedtofollowpartrules,andwouldnotallowlongtimecentralcommittee
members,RussandKaraFulcher,MikeMoyle,JohnVanderWoude,Reedand
GarAnneDemordaunt,ChrsTroupis,RodBeckand64otherstoevenbe
consideredforadelegatepositiontotheMoscowConvention.Insteadthey
presentedafilledslate,withmanynameswho,manywhoneverevenintendedto
beattheconvention,andotherswhowouldvoteforIACI,andOtter'sagenda.

JeffSiddoway,broughttheproposedplatformchanges,whichIbelieveisthe
realreasonforthefight.IamincludingthePreambleofourRepublicanplatform
,thelinesthroughitarethepartJeffSiddowayandtheOtterbotswantedtaken
out.Otherplanksmarkedoutwerethesupportofthe2ndamendment,support
ofprivatepropertyrights,andschoolchoice,andmanyothers.