Vote expressed BCRCC's dissatisfaction

Vote expressed BCRCC's dissatisfaction

When the Bonner County Republican Central Committee recently issued a vote of no confidence in Representative Mark Sauter, the key to our decision was whether members of the BCRCC have confidence that Representative Sauter will support the most significant and key principles of the Idaho Republican Party’s platform.

Members of the BCRCC are elected by voters at the May Republican primary election every two years. County party representatives are called precinct committeemen. PCs are the most local representatives of the Republican party and are the most grassroots aspect of the party.

There are 30 PCSs on the BCRCC because there are 30 voting precincts in Bonner County. PCs literally serve as representatives of local Republican voters and help determine what it means to be Team Republican. Being Republican means that we share a set of core values. Of course, Republicans don’t agree on everything, but we have worked together over the years to find common ground on key issues. That common ground is expressed in the Idaho Republican Party platform.

The platform is literally the foundation of principles and values upon which we stand. It is our expression in writing of our core, shared values, and it is developed and re-visited every two years by the grassroots of the party at the Idaho Republican Party convention.

After the May primary election every two years, the BCRCC holds its reorganization meeting, meaning we reconstitute the committee for the next two-year cycle based on the most current election results. It was at our last reorganization that I was chosen to be the chairman of the committee by the PCs. We then chose our delegates to the state party convention. These delegates often include many active, local Republicans, all from Bonner County.

In July 2022, over 770 delegates from around the state, chosen by their county parties, converged in Twin Falls to continue work on our platform and principles.

All delegates can propose changes to the platform, can argue for or against the platform principles and get the right to vote on the platform. The platform is our collective thought and defines what it means to be Republican in the state of Idaho.

When I returned from this last legislative session as District 1’s senator and resumed my role as chair of the BCRCC, it was the committee that wanted to express their dissatisfaction with Representative Sauter’s conformance to the party’s platform. The BCRCC is filled with active Republican party volunteers and workers who care about Idaho and the party’s values. They are each independent and thoughtful. They voluntarily work together because they know that coordinating as a Republican team will help advance in politics and the culture our shared values.

My job as chair is to facilitate the work of the committee, not the other way around. It is strange that Mr. Sauter’s response to the BCRCC’s lack of confidence in him is to point a finger at me personally or to cast aspersions on the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

The members of the BCRCC are not the IFF, and we never made a reference to the IFF. We don’t expect our locally elected Republicans to agree with 100% of the Republican party platform. But if the officials don’t substantially agree, then what does Republican party affiliation even mean? After all, it is Representative Sauter who identifies himself as Republican.

Is the BCRCC looking for 51% or 75% conformance to the platform? We are simply looking for agreement on the most substantial and core issues. I have been working in the grassroots of the party’s organization for only the last several years before I became a senator. I have attended the last three state party conventions as a delegate and have participated in the platform development process.

I have never seen Mr. Sauter involved in the actual work of the Idaho Republican Party. Our BCRCC vote of no confidence was simply the public statement of 30 actively engaged, local, Bonner County Republican party members that at this moment we lack confidence, based on his actual legislative voting record, that Mr. Sauter will advance a multitude of our core values as expressed in the platform.

We invite him to work with us as a team. We also invite all Bonner County Republican voters to participate in the work of our county party and to attend our monthly meetings at 6:30 p.m. every third Tuesday of the month at the Ponderay Events Center. Our website is BonnerGOP.org.