Chairman Brad Corkill and the Kootenai County Republicans have been silent for too long in the ongoing e-mail scandal that has dogged the fifth term in office of Republican Prosecutor Bill Douglas.

For more than two years, county Republicans have remained mum as Douglas and former subordinate Marina Kalani fought to keep private hundreds of office e-mails exchanged between them.

An argument can be made that the silence was understandable as the matter worked its way through the courts. However, that silence smacks of uneasy support for a compromised partisan, once 300 of 900 e-mails had been released, revealing unacceptable online behavior between Douglas and Kalani.

Douglas knows the e-mails released by order of the Idaho Supreme Court this month didn’t create a furor for recall. Nor does it appear that he’s going to resign. It’s time for local Republicans to intervene. They should condemn the prosecutor’s actions and actively seek someone to run against Douglas should he seek a sixth term next year.

Unless, of course, the Republicans don’t take this scandal seriously.

At best, the e-mails reveal that Douglas and his former youth drug court director destroyed office morale and set a lousy example by chatting recklessly online, calling each other nicknames like “Coconut Willy” and “Uzi,” hinting that they might be involved in an affair. An office romance, in itself, isn’t enough to call for Douglas’ resignation, as this newspaper has done twice. However, the cozy relationship could be blamed for a $354,000 tort claim against the county, for Douglas’ poor judgment in promoting Rick Baughman briefly to his chief deputy prosecutor, for creating a climate that led to Baughman’s own trouble with e-mails and sexual harassment claims, and for creating a hostile work environment.

In August 2005, a probation officer alleged in her tort claim that she was verbally abused, harassed and intimidated by Douglas when she voiced concerns about the management of Kalani’s juvenile drug court. The claim also alleges that Douglas was having an affair with Kalani.

The relationship revealed by the e-mails, including Kalani’s regret that she couldn’t sleep with Douglas for a new laptop computer, may explain why Douglas defended Kalani against critics. In February 2005, he reacted harshly when Juvenile Detention Center manager J.T. Taylor blasted Kalani in a letter to a local magistrate for conduct that he described as “inappropriate, unprofessional, and unethical.” Douglas lashed back in a letter the following day that the memo “was highly inappropriate in that it unfairly disparaged the character and reputation of a dedicated and professional member of my staff.” His blind defense helped Kalani win her $69,150 settlement from the county after she quit her job with the youth court.

A boss involved in an office romance lacks judgment, acts unprofessionally, and makes himself or herself susceptible to blackmail.

Kootenai County Republicans have to ask themselves if this is the type of officeholder they can continue to support.