Rankinites Moving Into Place
Ron Rankin cloned himself.
As moderate Kootenai County Republicans congratulate themselves for holding off a stiff primary challenge from the right, they should be concerned about a new generation of Rankinites. Without a heavy Democratic cross-over vote May 23, “Rankin, The Next Generation” would have captured another seat or two. Without two family emergencies and an illness, Rankinites also would have held on to the vice chairmanship of the county Republican Central Committee - and maybe taken the chairmanship away from Bob Nonini.
It was that close.
Amazingly, red-meat conservatives frightened the party’s Daddy Warbucks branch, without hands-on involvement of Commissioner Rankin. Sure, Rankin dispensed advice. But those who led the charge were Don Morgan, a Coeur d’Alene stock broker, Tina Jacobson, Kevin Krieg and Adam Fogerson.
And they, like Rankin, aren’t going away.
“You don’t lose by not winning,” Rankin said Friday. “Sometimes, your goal is to move the middle (of public opinion) your way. I’ve lost more elections than Lincoln. People thought I’d go away. But each time I lost I rose up again - like a phoenix.”
Although he admits he’s disappointed by the primary results, Rankin, 71, is thrilled his brand of conservatism will survive him. For most of his political career, he’s been a lone ranger, pushing for property tax relief by initiative and a long-shot run for governor. He’s also been a spoiler, running third-party Independents in three-way legislative races to knock off moderate Republicans, like Terry Sverdsten, Dean Haagenson and Frank Henderson.
This year’s primary shows he’s no longer alone.
Morgan used his post as chairman of the Citizens for Term Limits Idaho Campaign to help Fourth District Judge Daniel Eismann win a Supreme Court seat. Late in the campaign, he was accused by supporters of Justice Cathy Silak of masterminding a debatable push poll on Eismann’s behalf. In defiance, Morgan held a news conference at the Supreme Court building in Boise and said - correctly - that the First Amendment gave him the right to conduct the poll.
Rankin, who plays the media like the proverbial violin, must have been proud of Morgan’s publicity stunt.
Meanwhile, Krieg and Jacobson ran strong campaigns against better-known opponents. Krieg finished a solid second to Post Falls Mayor Gus Johnson in a four-way race for county commissioner. Jacobson fell by less than 400 votes to eight-term state Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls. Both also borrowed from Rankin’s bag of tricks, mailing out flyers that painted themselves as true Republicans and their opponents as closet Democrats.
Fogerson was involved in several losing campaigns of “Republican Republicans,” including those of Jacobson and Senate District 1 candidate Lisa Tanner. He wasn’t conciliatory after the tough losses, either: “On election day we saw that counterfeit Republican candidates can win even if their views deviate strongly from the party platform. This will not be the case forever.”
How close did the red-meat conservatives come to winning? Consider the numbers. Fogerson’s probably right that some 1,900 Kootenai County Democrats crossed over to vote for moderate Republicans. The Democrats had no races - or reason - to “stay home.” Sources say that Democrats opted to support moderate Republicans rather than take the chance of backing conservatives now with hopes of beating them in the fall election. Take those 1,900 votes away, and you might have seen a courthouse controlled by Rankin and Krieg - and Jacobson going to Boise.
The fight for control of the central committee was closer still. Nonini, the controversial chairman who publicly denounced a last-minute flyer circulated by conservatives, kept his seat by outpolling Jacobson by three votes. Former chairwoman Kathy Sims beat Rankin by one vote to become vice chair. And Morgan won the position of state committeeman easily. All this, with three conservative precinct committeemen absent.
In other words, the Rankinites have cleared the ramparts and now are fighting their way to the courthouse.
Nonini, the lightning-rod moderate, should be a perfect foil to keep the conservatives focused, fuming and attending central committee meetings. Rankin gives them a foothold in the courthouse. If she wins her House District 3 race this fall, Kris Ellis, a Christian conservative, will replace state Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden Lake, as their standard bearer at the Statehouse.
Some believe Rankin’s “young turks” have gone as far as they can. That Morgan & Co. will never hold power. But then, there were those who foolishly said Rankin would never win an election. He’s midway through his second term.