Kootenai County Republicans split over decision to bring Matt Gaetz in as keynote speaker at Lincoln Day Dinner

For decades, the Lincoln Day Dinner at the Coeur d’Alene Resort has been a hallmark event for the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee and scores of conservatives in the region.

Brent Regan, the chairman of the KCRCC, said Saturday night is set to be a record event, as sales are up 20% from last year. He expects nearly 600 people to attend.

“We’ve got a great lineup of speakers,” Regan said. “We’ve got Commissioner (Bruce) Mattare from Kootenai County, Dorothy Moon, our Idaho State party chairman. We’ve got Congressman Russ Fulcher, Sen. Jim Risch and also Matt Gaetz.”

It’s the last person Regan mentioned, slated to be the keynote speaker, who’s drawn criticism from some KCRCC precinct committeemen.

Gaetz, who was nominated for the role of U.S. attorney general on Nov. 13, 2024, by President Donald Trump, had served in the Florida House of Representatives starting in 2010. He became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 and served until 2024.

During his tenure in Congress representing the Florida Panhandle, Gaetz was the subject of a House Ethics Committee report detailing a litany of allegations of illegal drug use and paying for sex, including $400 to a 17-year-old girl at a party in July 2017.

Regan acknowledged the KCRCC is paying Gaetz $20,000 to be the keynote speaker.

“Allegations are just allegations,” Regan said of the criticism of Gaetz. “The Department of Justice didn’t find them credible, and he’s never been charged with anything, and he’s not facing any civil suit, so it’s just talk.”

The controversy around Gaetz sparked in 2020 when investigators arrested Joel Greenberg, a then-friend of Gaetz, on charges of child sex trafficking. Greenberg pleaded guilty to six charges and is now serving an 11-year prison sentence.

Greenberg’s arrest led to two investigations, one by the Department of Justice and another by the House Ethics Committee, into any potential wrongdoing by Gaetz.

The House Ethics Committee released a report in December 2024 outlining “substantial evidence” against Gaetz. In the report, it said he “regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him” and “used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions” between 2017 and 2019.

Since 2021, Gaetz has vehemently denied allegations of sexual misconduct and federal prosecutors have not charged him with any crimes. In November 2024, Gaetz announced he would not rejoin Congress after withdrawing his name from consideration to be attorney general amid the torrent of allegations.

And while Regan is adamant that Gaetz is a fine pick to be the keynote speaker as one is innocent until proven guilty in the United States, other committeemen do not share the same sentiment.

“I am choosing not to go to that Lincoln Day Dinner because Mr. Gaetz does not represent my values,” said Marc Stewart, who represents Precinct 404 on the KCRCC committee. “I have no interest in hearing from him.”

Within the KCRCC, Stewart said it’s split between two factions. The North Idaho Republicans, which Stewart associates with, are in the minority, he said. Stewart filed a motion in November that would add an item to the agenda so that the selection of keynote speakers could be discussed. That motion failed, although it was “relatively close,” according to Stewart. There are 74 precinct committee officers on the KCRCC and Stewart believes the vote to reconsider was within 10 votes.

“In November one member of the central committee who is affiliated with the North Idaho ‘Republicans’ and is a frequent critic of the KCRCC, attempted to raise a motion to reconsider our speaker,” Regan posted on Facebook on Thursday. “This failed for several reasons; it wasn’t posted on the agenda, the committeeman had ample prior notice over several meetings that Gaetz was being considered, and that a legal contract had been already signed.”

There is a subcommittee of about eight individuals, Regan said, dedicated to planning out the entirety of the Lincoln Day Dinner. They chose Gaetz to be this year’s keynote speaker last October.

Pam Houser, who represents Precinct 502, is choosing not to attend Saturday’s event, not because of the allegations against Gaetz, but because of the $175 ticket price.

“My preference is that we have a speaker from Idaho, the governor, the assistant governor, senator, somebody that can not only talk maybe on the national level, but can talk about Idaho specifically,” she said. “So if I’m going to spend money for a ticket, I want to hear from someone who represents my state.”

When asked about the keynote speaker, she said “allegations are different than convictions, and so I really just don’t know.”

Similarly, Paul Wagner, the Precinct 511 officer for the past two years, said there are two reasons he’s not going this year. The first is that Saturday is his granddaughter’s senior night basketball game. The second reason is the cost of the ticket.

Wagner said he hasn’t really kept up with the allegations against Gaetz, although he does have “limited knowledge” because of blips he’s seen on the news.

“I don’t really have an opinion on him one way or another,” Wagner said. “However, being that he is controversial and the allegations against him are pretty serious, I think they could have made a better choice than Mr. Gaetz.”

The mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Dan Gookin, has chosen to pass on the Lincoln Day Dinner for the last three years because of a defamation lawsuit the KCRCC filed against him. He was sued over “some very, very mean tweets,” he said, that accused the committee’s rating and vetting process of being illegitimate. While Gookin maintains he was merely expressing an opinion, the KCRCC said in a statement, “when he makes the claims that the KCRCC committed criminal acts he crossed the line into defamation.”

Almost exactly a year ago, the lawsuit reached a settlement agreement when Gookin’s insurance company, State Farm, paid the committee $25,000.

“The Republican Party platform speaks to traditional values, family values that we do not abide by people who break the law, who do drugs, who engage in immoral activity, and I respect those values,” Gookin said. “That’s one reason that I associate with the Republican Party.”

While he did not specifically reference Gaetz in saying that, he said “a lot of people could draw that conclusion” and that he preferred to leave it up to the public to make a decision for themselves about the keynote speaker.

Jack Riggs is a former Idaho senator who served as the lieutenant attorney general from 2001 to 2003. He’s also a co-founder of the North Idaho Republicans, a group that came together about four years ago to “uphold traditional Republican values.”

What’s going on now is something that he would not support in any fashion, he said. When it comes to the KCRCC, he said it’s become a committee where there’s no discussion.

“You have to do what the committee does or you’re ostracized,” he said.

With many great Republicans across the country, Riggs said, he thinks “very plainly and clearly, they could have done better” with their selection of Gaetz.

“Essentially, he resigned from Congress under a pending ethics investigation,” he said. “I know there were many allegations, and I agree, he’s not gone to trial but it’s the appearance. Politics often is about appearance.”

Marc Eberlein, who presides over Precinct 512, is planning on attending Saturday’s events. He’s gone to many over the last 30 years and said sometimes they’re fun, while other times they’re boring. He’s waiting to see what Saturday will be.

When asked specifically about allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz, Eberlein said he didn’t know and that he’s never met Gaetz.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea, because I don’t stick my nose into that area,” he said.

He imagines there will be some boycotting and protesting outside of the event tomorrow. When a Spokesman-Review reporter mentioned a few Republican precinct committee officers, like Stewart, had elected not to attend the Lincoln Dinner, he said: “You want me to be blunt? They’re liberals.”