• Originally posted at 10:08 p.m. Tuesday
  

On a narrow vote, county Republican chairwoman Tina Jacobson and other fans of Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, held off trying to oust state committeeman Matt Roetter until after the general election Tuesday. Also, the Republicans appointed a committee to watch future comments by executive committee members and elected precinct leaders in the media. In a well-orchestrated meeting, a motion was made and passed 35-30 to delay the vote on Roetter until the next Central Committee meeting in November at the earliest. As a result of the vote, the packed crowd at Republicans headquarters was denied the chance to discuss the attempt to oust Roetter because he refuses to support Hart, whom he considers a tax dodger and timber thief. In a related move, the Central Committee voted that elected executive members and precinct leaders must support all primary winners, without exception. More below.

Question: What do you think of the gambit used by local GOP leaders to avoid a showdown over the Matt Roetter-Phil Hart question before the election?

Roetter has lobbied to allow write-in candidate Howard Griffiths material to be included at a table with other Republicans at a Tea Party event at the Greyhound Park earlier this summer. Prior to appointing the censorship -- my word, not theirs -- to monitor media comments that might embarrass local Republicans, Central Committee leadership circulated copies of the Coeur d'Alene Press that reported the local party is fracturing.

Also: Coeur d'Alene Press story.