Idaho GOP chairman faces challenge

BOISE – The battle to lead the Idaho Republican Party has been joined, with Rod Beck officially declaring his candidacy against Chairman Kirk Sullivan.

Beck, a former Idaho state senator and majority leader, is at odds with Sullivan over an effort to close the state’s currently open primary, where voters have the choice of ballot, regardless of their party affiliation.

Beck wants to close the GOP election, arguing the existing system allows ballot-hopping Democrats and independents to elect more moderate candidates who aren’t committed to Republican ideals. He accuses Sullivan of not faithfully carrying out a state Republican Party resolution to close the primary.

Beck said he’d originally planned to support former U.S. House candidate Norm Semanko at the GOP convention in Sandpoint from June 12-14. But now, Semanko says he’ll run for party chairman only if Sullivan doesn’t have the votes for a third two-year term.

“I was more than happy to support Norm Semanko,” Beck said. “But if he’s not a candidate, I’m going to make sure there is a candidate in opposition. We’re going to have a vote, and I expect to win.”

Sullivan, contacted after Beck made his announcement, said he’s received letters of support from Gov. Butch Otter, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch and other statewide elected officials. “I’m going to work very, very hard to get re-elected,” he said.

Beck, ranked by the conservative Idaho blog Liberty Spuds as one of the state’s three most conservative political figures, said Sullivan has “completely ignored the wishes of the central committee” that in January directed the Idaho Republican Party to sue the state if the 2008 Legislature failed to close the open primary.

The party sued in April, but didn’t serve the lawsuit on Secretary of State Ben Ysursa. Beck said that shows Sullivan is being deceptive and is stalling.

“We’re at a crossroads here,” Beck said. “Are we going to have a Republican Party run by the grass roots of the party, or are we going to have a party that’s run by the politicians of the party?”

Semanko, a party activist and executive director of the Idaho Water Users Association, has been entertaining the idea of running as an alternative to Beck or Sullivan.

But in a letter obtained by the Associated Press that Semanko sent to supporters within the party, he described how Otter told him that Sullivan should remain in the post.

“When I met with the governor a few weeks ago, and the chairman just a few days before that, I promised both of them that I would not run if the chairman had enough votes to win in a head-to-head contest with his presumed opponent, Rod Beck,” according to the letter.

When contacted, Semanko said the letter stands for itself.