County Deputy Treasurer Laurie Thomas watches as Ruthie Johnson counts money at the Kootenai County Republican Women's Luncheon Thursday. (Duane Rasmussen photo special to Huckleberries)

There's a lot of rumors swirling around out there this morning re: the three names that will be forwarded by the Kootenai County GOP Central Committee to county commissioners to fill vacancy created when retiring Treasurer Tom Malzahn steps down. One unsubstantiated rumor claims that Malzahn won't resign unless competent Deputy Treasurer Laurie Thomas's name is among the three submitted to commissioners by the Central Committee. This addresses a recent rumor that some conservative hardliners had met last week to rig the system by submitting a list of three names without Laurie's on it. Malzahn has endorsed Laurie as his successor. Another rumor this morning claims that the commissioners already have the names from the Central Committee (which hasn't met). That rumor definitely isn't true. Huckleberries called Commissioner Dan Green moments ago. He said the commissioners haven't received any names -- and wondered whether they could at this point because Malzahn is still running his office. This is fun. Stay tuned ...

Question: Can the Kootenai County GOP Central Committee be taken seriously if they don't include the name of Laurie Thomas, the most qualified person for the job, among the list of three names it'll send to commissioners to fill treasurer vacancy?