Idaho GOP Sen. Jim Risch and 2^nd District GOP Congressman Mike Simpson have now chimed in with Gov. Butch Otter’s call for a state Republican Party central committee meeting on Aug. 2, one of two dueling dates that have been set for the party to figure out who’s in charge and what comes next.

Both Risch and Simpson said the party needs unity; in a joint statement from their re-election campaigns issued late Tuesday, Risch said party officials should “respect the date the Members have chosen and the selection of officers they make on that date,” and Simpson said, “Aug. 2^nd has been selected and I encourage all members of the Republican State Central Committee to convene in Boise to scrutinize each candidate’s qualifications and duly elect state party leaders.” You can read their joint statement here.

On Monday, embattled GOP Chairman Barry Peterson called on Otter to lead the party to unity by selecting a single date; Peterson had set a central committee meeting for Aug. 9, while his opponents, including several party delegations who petitioned for the meeting, set it for Aug. 2. Peterson said he'd chosen the Aug. 9 date because the Aug. 2 date interfered with a 40-year tradition in his family, but that another mutually agreeable date could be set. Peterson had maintained he was still the party chairman after the state GOP convention last month ended in disarray with no elections on leaders, resolutions or a party platform, but others said his term ended in June and the party was without a state chairman.