Op-Ed: Pot, Meet Kettle — Whats Going On With The Idaho Federation Of Republican Women?

Several of the woman listed on the Canyon County Republican Women executive board have expressed disappointment in the leadership of the Idaho GOP.  Some of these same women are also on the Idaho Federated Republican Women board, the IFRW for short.  Tracy Wasden is the President of the IFRW. 

I am the vice president of the Kootenai County Republican Women, which is a subgroup of the IFRW.  I want to express my disappointment with the executive board of the IFRW who are some of the women that are disappointed with the IDGOP executive board. 

The IFRW is denying an elected Republican senator of membership into the Nez Perce Republican Women Club.  That senator is Senator Cindy Carlson, an elected official.  They are also denying membership of other Republican women across the state that want to belong to the  Nez Perce Club.  The Nez Perce Republican Women Club has accepted the membership of Senator Cindy Carlson and other Republican women that want to join them; the IFRW is denying them membership. 

I have repeatedly called the National Federated Republican Woman’s Club NFRW and have complained over and over to them about this.  The NFRW oversees the state clubs.  My complaint to them is, “How can you allow the IFRW to deny membership to Republican women across the state of Idaho?  I know membership is important to any national club.”  Their response continually to me is that I need to address this with our state executive board, the IFRW.  I tell them the IFRW are the ones denying membership to the senator and these other women.  It is totally exasperating.

I was at the Challis IDGOP Summer Session.  I was in the Peanut Gallery; I didn’t have a vote.  I just watched the goings-on.  Brent Regan, the Chairman of the KCRCC, asked that the president of Nez Perce Heather Moore be allowed to talk without objection.  There was an objection from Tracy Wasden to having Heather Moore speak.  Brent Regan then made a motion that Heather Moore be allowed to speak.  It went to a vote and the body allowed Heather Moore to speak and tell what is happening in her Club.  Tracy Wasden was perfectly fine with attempting to silence Heather Moore.

I think the IFRW really needs to step back from the narrative that Republican women’s voices are being silenced by the IDGOP leadership when they themselves are silencing voices and denying memberships of Republican women throughout the state.

Another issue I am taking the IFRW to task is this:  The treasurer and secretary of the Nez Perce Republican Women Club closed the bank account of that club and took the $5,000 that was in the bank account.  The treasurer and secretary did this without telling the president and/or the general membership of the club.  As a matter of fact, they lied to the club and to me at their luncheon and said the bank account was “frozen” when they knew they had already closed the account.  I asked Darlene Simpson, the secretary of the club, why they were not accepting memberships.  Darlene said, “The bank account is frozen.”  It turns out that Darlene knew the bank account was closed several weeks earlier, but instead, she chose to falsely represent that the bank account was frozen.   

The $5,000 was returned after President Heather Moore demanded it be returned.  The money along with all the other treasurer’s notes and paperwork, which was in boxes, were dropped off on Heather Moore’s driveway.  Heather found all of this on her driveway when she got home.  She was not given notice that it was there.  Who knows how many hours it was sitting out there in the open for anyone to look at or to take?  Very irresponsible as far as I’m concerned.   

After all of this happened, the leadership of the IFRW, many of whom have expressed disappointment with the IDGOP leadership, are now insisting that the Nez Perce Republican Women reinstate this treasurer as treasurer of the Nez Perce Club.  This is the treasurer who closed the bank account without telling anyone. 

My belief is that the treasurer and anyone associated with closing that bank account should not be allowed anywhere near any executive position in our Club on a county level, a state level, or a national level.  This is just egregious behavior on behalf of the IFRW to want Nez Perce to reinstate this treasurer.   

My message here is the executive board of the IFRW is putting a lot of negatives on Republican women throughout the state.   I think they need to look at their own behavior as an executive board before they criticize the executive board of the IDGOP.