Justices nix GOP leaders' redistricting lawsuit

BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by state Republican leaders seeking to boot two redistricting commissioners, freeing the panel to reconvene without threat of interruption by a bitter internal GOP dispute.

State Republican chairman Norm Semanko and House Speaker Lawerence Denney had sought to fire Randy Hansen and Dolores Crow, levying accusations including that they’d insufficiently represented GOP interests by voting with Democrats in a unanimous 6-0 decision in October to approve new legislative maps.

The justices’ decision is a victory for Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, also Republicans, who fought Semanko and Denney’s bid on grounds they had no legal right to remove the commissioners.

“Counsel for (Semanko and Denney) failed to file a brief showing a clear right to relief sought under statute or Constitution of the state of Idaho,” the justices wrote in a terse, one-page ruling.

Denney said Wednesday he was unlikely to file a renewed complaint.

“If that’s their decision, we’ll just move ahead,” the Midvale Republican said.

Attempts to reach Semanko for comment were not immediately successful.

The redistricting commission, including Hansen, a former Twin Falls Republican House member, and Crow, a former Republican representative from Nampa, is due to reconvene Thursday in another bid to craft a plan that meets Supreme Court muster.

Justices last week ruled the plan the commission supported in October split too many counties to be constitutional.

Redistricting in Idaho — required every 10 years, to preserve one-person, one-vote principles after population changes — has been fraught with difficulty.

A first six-member commission made up of three Democrats and three Republicans last summer foundered on partisan bickering and adjourned without agreeing on a plan.

The replacement panel, which included Crow and Hansen, unanimously agreed on new maps after less than a month, but that immediately prompted two lawsuits.

The conflict intensified late last week, when Denney announced that House members were unhappy with Crow, his appointee, because she “gave too much away” to minority Democrats by approving the redistricting map that was later ruled unconstitutional.

That map, had it stood, put Denney five-way race with other incumbent GOP representatives in the May 15 primary. Minority Democrats pounced on the speaker, contending his attempted ouster of Crow was a bid to protect himself from challenges.

“The poisonous culture in our Statehouse is a direct result of this type of behavior, where the leader of the House goes against his own party members to make a decision for what appears to be his own personal gain,” Democratic Party Executive Director Shelley Landry said.

Following the decision, Hansen said he was “perplexed” by the suggestion that Republican commissioners should have protected party interests more aggressively.

“The only thing I know is what the speaker said, which was: ‘We were not political enough. We gave too much to the Democrats,”’ Hansen said. “That’s morally wrong, in my opinion, based upon the oath I took. According to the constitution, I cannot protect a particular party and I can’t protect particular representatives.”

This very public dispute, pitting GOP leader against GOP leader, touched off a nerve within the dominant Idaho political party’s inner circles.

In a guest editorial to Idaho newspapers, former Republican Gov. Phil Batt decried what he called Semanko’s and Denney’s efforts to replace Hansen and Crow with “hardline party loyalists.”

Denney had named former state Rep. Bob Forrey of Nampa, while Semanko picked GOP activist Angela Cross of Post Falls, as replacements.

“Our party leaders want to sully the reapportionment process for more political gain,” Batt wrote. “I guess they want 100 percent Republicans of their own variety.”

And House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, told reporters that some House members were doing their best to distance themselves from the fiasco.

If anyone had asked him if the party should go after Crow and Hansen, Bedke said he would have advised restraint.

“No, I was not consulted,” Bedke said, before the ruling. “If I had been, I would have expressed some reluctance about going down this road.”

The six-person, bipartisan commission also includes Republican Sheila Olsen and Democrats Ron Beitelspacher, Shauneen Grange and Elmer Martinez. 

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, never sought to replace Olsen, his appointee. Democratic leaders also stuck by their appointees.