Hari Heath, a Benewah County delegate to the tumultuous Idaho State Republican Party convention in Moscow last month, opines in an op-ed piece today about the convention, which ended in disarray with no votes on leadership, resolution or a party platform: “These are the growing pains of a revitalized party worthy of the public’s participation.” Adds Heath, “The Otters, Clarks, Rischs and Loebs of the elite have lost the heart and soul of the Republican Party because corruption and cronyism is no longer assembled. The assembled body of the Republican people has spoken.” The full op-ed piece, published in the Idaho Statesman today, is online here.

Heath and his wife, owners of logging and archery businesses in Santa, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in 1998 against the Idaho State Tax Commission after the Heaths failed to file or pay state income taxes in 1995 and 1996; they contended they lived in the “Republic of Idaho” and the Tax Commission had no authority over them. They lost; the state Court of Appeals rejected their appeal in 2000. Heath also went to court to mount a lengthy fight against charges of failure to purchase a driver’s license or register his car; a jury found him guilty and his appeals were unsuccessful. Heath's piece in the Statesman ran under the headline, "Integrity matters to Idaho Republicans, who stand firm."