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Yet Another Unintended Political Consequence?

 August 6, 2012 ⋅  Post a comment

One of the GUARDIAN’s political junkie readers has come up with an interesting twist on the recent appointment of a Boise County prosecutor to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Dem Ron Twilegar, the itinerant lawyer who runs wherever he can find a vacancy.

Twilegar is running as a Democrat for Ada County PA. The Boise County Board chose Ian Gee, an attorney running as a Republican in the November general election over Robert Wallace, an Idaho City Democrat. The Boise County DEMOCRATIC Central Committee recommended the Republican over the Democrat.

“Kappa Ta” writes;
Idaho Statute 59-906 mandates that county elected seats be filled as follows:
“…the county central committee of the same political party, if any, of the former officer, whose office is vacant, shall submit a list of three nominations to the board of county commissioners within fifteen days from the day the office is vacated. The board of county commissioners shall fill the vacancy by appointment from the submitted list within fifteen days. The person selected shall be a person who possesses the same qualifications at the time of his appointment as those provided by law for election to the office…”

The law further states…”If the person who has vacated the office has not been affiliated with a political party, the vacancy shall be filled by the board of county commissioners by appointment of a person having the same qualifications at the time of his appointment as those provided by law for election to the office.” Ron Twilegar ran for Boise County PA as a Democrat.

The way I read the law, only a Democrat can be appointed to fill his seat until Janurary 2013, when a duly elected PA of whatever party takes his or her rightful seat. The Boise County Democrats may think they are doing the public a “favor,” but as someone previously affiliated wih Idaho legislative and county central committees, I question the decision based on the law. Doesn’t this open a can of worms? What if a Democrat was chosen to fill the remainder of Vern Bisterfeldt’s GOP seat? Isn’t the GOP in light of the “closed primary” decision adamant that only the GOP can select its candidates? The Governor, the Secretary of State and AG are all scratching their heads over board and commission appointees who said they were of one party or another or independent, but registered as Repubicans to vote in the GOP primary election.

I’m just saying…

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