Critic of ‘fake Republicans’ is running as Democrat

COEUR d’ALENE — A man who decried a group of Republicans not affiliated with the local GOP as “fake Republicans” is running for a Democratic precinct captain position.

Coeur d’Alene resident Randy Neal was one of a handful of protesters at Wednesday’s news conference for North Idaho Republicans, a new group for Republicans who don’t feel represented by the Kootenai County GOP.

The group is comprised of around 100 founding members, including numerous former state legislators, sheriffs, mayors, county commissioners and other community leaders.

During the news conference, Neal stepped in front of the group, holding a sign that said “Fake Republicans.”

He initially refused to return to the audience.

In a phone interview Thursday with The Press, Neal described himself as “somewhat” affiliated with the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

He said he protested North Idaho Republicans because he believes the group is deceptive.

“There are a lot of groups that seek to create division and falsely represent themselves as one thing when they’re actually something else,” said Neal, who registered as a Democrat in order to run for a seat on that county party’s central committee.

Neal said he agreed to run after KCRCC Youth Chair Dan Bell recruited him.

“You guys know,” Neal told The Press. “You have a recording up on your website.”

The Press published in early March a recorded phone call between Kootenai County resident John Grimm and a person he identified as Bell.

In the call, Bell described a plan by the KCRCC to take control of the local Democratic Party by having its own candidates run for Democratic precinct captain positions.

“Long story short, we want to take over the Democrat Party,” Bell said during the call.

Listen to the 30-minute recording at cdapress.com.

“(Bell is) the one that contacted me,” Neal said. “I told him I didn’t want anything to do with the rest of it.”

That reportedly included plans to “get a majority” of Republican plants on the Democratic committee, though Neal said he didn’t remember all the details.

Neal said he agreed to participate in Bell’s plan because he believes local Democrats do the same thing and turnabout is fair play.

“Democrats register as Republicans to affect the Republican primary,” he said.

Idaho had an open primary system until 2011. Since then, some Democratic voters have changed their party affiliation to Republican in order to vote in GOP primaries.

Evan Koch, chair of the Kootenai Democrats, has said the local party discourages members from doing that.

“If anything, we encourage them to remain Democrats, because it doesn’t do us any good if they become Republicans,” he told The Press in March.

It’s unclear how many left-leaning voters have switched their party affiliation and if they have significantly impacted Republican primaries in Kootenai County.

Though Bell said KCRCC Chair Brent Regan was “totally on board” with the takeover plan, Regan has denied it and said Bell did not act in an official capacity as a member of the KCRCC.

Bell has not responded to requests for comment.

Neal said Thursday that he filed to run for a Democratic position in order to make a statement, not to influence the Kootenai Democrats.

“I don’t plan on being part of the Democrat Central Committee,” he said.

The Idaho Republican Platform defines what makes a “real” Republican in the Gem State, Neal said — and he doesn’t think North Idaho Republicans fits the definition.

“Maybe they do in some regards, but not on a lot of key issues where it counts,” he said, adding that he could not name a specific area where the new group diverged from the state party’s platform.

Sandy Patano, former vice chair of the Idaho State Republican Party and founding member of North Idaho Republicans, said Wednesday that the KCRCC is the group that has drifted away from traditional GOP values.

As a group, North Idaho Republicans advocates for the “big tent” that Ronald Reagan spoke of — the notion that there is room in the Republican Party for diverging views and that differences are a strength, not a weakness.

When Neal disrupted the news conference, former Idaho Lieutenant Gov. Jack Riggs pointed to his behavior as an example of what North Idaho Republicans opposes.

“We’re not here to do what this gentleman is doing,” Riggs told the crowd. “We’re here to represent what we believe are tens of thousands of Republicans who are good Republicans.”

Neal said he was badly treated when he interrupted Wednesday’s press conference.

“They tried to forcefully pull the sign out of my hand,” he said.

He also expressed doubts that The Press would treat him fairly.

“I really don’t even expect fair reporting out of this story,” he said. “I suspect that it’s going to be thrown out there as a hit piece on Dan Bell to try to frame him or myself in a negative light.”

Outbursts at public events like city council and school board meetings are rooted in feelings of frustration, Neal said.

When people feel unheard by elected officials, he said, they sometimes lash out.

“The only folks that have the capability of restoring faith and restoring decorum is the elected officials,” he said.

Neal said he believes there’s common ground, not just between Republican factions, but between Democrats and Republicans.

“We need to learn to coexist,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re all Americans.”