Gookin Backing Drives Off Rasmussen

Duane Rasmussen told HBO Central moments ago that he’s resigned from the Reagan Republicans because they plan to endorse Dan Gookin along with Jim Brannon and Steve Adams in the Coeur d’Alene City Council elections. Rasmussen said he attended a meeting in which Gookin told two other county Republican officials that he wasn’t a Republican and didn’t want to be branded as one. Rasmussen, the county GOP Central Committee vice chairman, said he doesn’t agree with Deanna Goodlander’s political outlook. But said she attends Republican meetings, such as the county Pachyderm Club, and is a Republican. Rasmussen said he won’t belong to a group that endorses someone who doesn’t want to be a Republican over someone who is.