Ex-Idaho GOP leader’s libel lawsuit dismissed

A libel lawsuit against The Spokesman-Review by the former chairman of Idaho’s Republican Party has been dismissed.

Trent Clark filed the lawsuit against the paper in 2003, alleging that reporter Thomas Clouse misquoted him in a Feb. 2, 2001, article.

Tuesday’s ruling by 1st District Judge Charles Hosack upheld a Magistrate Court decision that granted summary judgment in the newspaper’s favor. Hosack, though, dismissed the suit on different grounds than 1st District Judge Eugene Marano.

The 2001 article quoted Clark as saying: “You probably cannot find an African American male on the street in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t been arrested or convicted of a crime.”

A day later, Clark said he had actually said: “I know of no African American males in Washington, D.C., who don’t have at least a couple of friends who have been arrested or convicted of a felony.”

Marano had dismissed Clark’s claim on the grounds that there was no evidence of malice on the newspaper’s behalf. On appeal, Hosack found that the case should be dismissed because “the gist of the written quote and the gist of the alleged actual statement is substantially the same.”

Clark could not be reached for comment at his Soda Springs, Idaho, home on Tuesday afternoon.

Newspaper attorney Duane Swinton said the paper was pleased “that two different judges for different reasons have dismissed the case.”

Clark’s statement in the 2001 article resulted in him apologizing to the Idaho NAACP branch and others, including Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. The statement outraged members of the Republican party, and some local Democrats called for Clark’s resignation.

In 2001, Clark told The Spokesman-Review that he was trying to explain to Clouse why a person shouldn’t be judged based on the fact they knew someone in their past who was connected with drugs. In the original article, Clark was defending then-state Senate candidate Bob Nonini, now a state representative.

The newspaper had written an article about Nonini’s past arrest on a cocaine possession charge and his history as a drug informant.

Clark told former Spokesman-Review Editor Chris Peck in 2001 that he used the example of African Americans in Washington, D.C., to show why it was unfair to judge Nonini on his past associations.