Removing Lawfully Elected Precinct Committeeman?

2025-06-19. Volume XI

Buckle up for a wild ride through the Idaho Republican Party’s proposed Rule 2025-28, “Party Integrity Enforcement,” a dazzling display of wannabe courtroom drama penned by Legislative District 2’s own Hari Heath, who’s clearly auditioning for Law & Order: Boise Edition. This rule is less about unity and more about swinging a vague, oversized gavel at anyone who dares think differently. Enter 1984.

The Facts

Hari Heath’s Rule 2025-28 lets the Idaho GOP boot or slap members—voters, elected officials, or party officers—for straying from the party platform or indulging in “defamatory” or “damaging” conduct. Here’s the story:

A petition from 20% of State or County Central Committee members triggers an “order to show cause” hearing, where the accused faces a five-year expulsion or censure.
Expulsion needs a 60% committee vote; appeals go to the State Executive Committee.
Expelled members can’t call themselves Republicans and face liability for using party logos.
Hearings are scheduled within 20–45 days, with notice attempted within seven days.
The rule targets “substantial” platform violations or conduct harming “party integrity,” but those terms are as clear as Idaho fog.

Why This Is a Terrible Idea

This rule is a masterclass in how to tank a party while pretending it’s “discipline”:

Vague as a Campaign Slogan: “Substantial” violations? “Defamatory” conduct? It’s so blurry you could expel someone for picking the wrong spud. No clear standards make it a weapon for squashing dissenters.
1st Amendment Speech Slaughter: Punishing folks for straying from the platform or saying something “damaging” (define that, Hari) buries open debate, turning the GOP into a one-note choir.
Kangaroo Court Central: A 20% petition and 60% vote can exile someone for half a decade, with flimsy due process? Appeals to the State Executive Committee? That’s like asking the wolf to judge the sheep.
Voter Turn-Off: Precinct committee officers are literally elected by primary election voters. Who is Hari Heath to tell voters that they are wrong? That doesn't say "business of the people" it sounds more "We know more than the people".
It's Outrageous - I can't think of a better way to stack a committee with like-minded friends than throwing dissenting voices out. By the way, in some small counties, 20% could be 1 or 2 precinct committeemen. The math is gross, 1 or 2 Party Insiders > Voters. No thanks, we prefer to stay a Republic, not communist.

The Scuttlebutt

The buzz is this rule’s less about “integrity” and more about purging anyone who dares think outside the GOP box. It’s serving Stalinist vibes with a side of cowboy boots:

Thought Police: Universities fire professors for “alleged” wrongthink under vague “conduct” rules. It’s Idaho’s purge plan with a syllabus, stomping dissent in the name of “values.”
China’s CCP Purge-a-Thon: Beijing’s Communist Party kicks “disloyal” members to the curb faster than you can say “socialist utopia.” It’s the kind of control-freakery that’d make Hari’s “prosecute” obsession swoon.
Stalinist Purges in the Soviet Union (1930s): Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge targeted Communist Party members, intellectuals, and others for perceived ideological deviations, resulting in mass executions and gulag imprisonments. While far more extreme, this historical example shares the Idaho rule’s logic of enforcing ideological purity through expulsion.

This global purge fest—socialist, nationalist, or just plain nuts—screams conformity over freedom. Idaho’s GOP is itching to join the club.

Cue Hari Heath, our wannabe courtroom cowboy, whose love for legal jargon—“prosecute,” “alleged,” “order to show cause”—makes this rule read like a Law & Order script rejected for being too ridiculous. Why bother with plain talk when you can prosecute an alleged platform violation with an order to show cause? Hari, if you’re this hung up on legal lingo, saddle up for the University of Idaho Law School—Moscow’s got your name on a desk!

This rule’s so vague it could expel someone for choosing fries over tater tots, and its purge-happy nonsense turns the Idaho GOP into a punchline. Let’s laugh this fiasco off the stage and demand real debate, not a bad Hari Heath screenplay.

Sincerely-

Party Watch