Prominent Roman senator and philosopher Cicero championed the ideals of justice, integrity, and the rule of law. Renowned for his writings and oratory he clashed with the likes of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, the latter responsible for his brutal death. His unwavering stance against corruption and his support for the Republic made him enemies among the rising autocrats. Cicero’s demise underscored the dangers of opposing entrenched power, yet his legacy as a defender of republican values and moral governance resonates with those of us dedicated to bringing integrity to the operation of government and political parties.
You know them as “Republicans In Name Only,” or RINOs, a term popularized by President Trump dozens of times to call out those who betray the Republican Party’s core identity. Within the Party, they are a malignancy—a cancer, a sickness, a disorder. Merriam-Webster defines cancer as “something evil or malignant,” and we have just such a cancer festering within the Idaho Republican Party for anyone brave enough to see it. The term RINO itself implies deceit and a deliberate misrepresentation designed to trick others into believing a lie.
A glaring example of this deception exists in our own Idaho Legislature, where 37% of Republican members openly defy the Idaho Republican Party Platform, its principles, and its values. These individuals do not belong in the Party or as its representatives in the legislature—they are impostors and frauds.
Affiliating with the Idaho Republican Party constitutes a contractual obligation, a basic principle of contract law familiar to any first-year law student. By adopting the Party’s name and branding, members are expected to uphold its rules and champion its platform in return for the benefits of Party membership in the association. More on this subject here and here.
Those who exploit this affiliation to win elections, while disregarding their commitment, are guilty of “party affiliation fraud.” Such offenders should face expulsion from the Party and lose all associated privileges—starting with the use of its name and branding—for at least a minimum of five years if not permanently. This punitive measure serves not only as justice but as a deterrent to others tempted to follow the same dishonest path.
Following the rule of law means adhering to a system where everyone—individuals, organizations, and governments—is accountable to laws that are clear, fair, and applied consistently. It’s about ensuring that no one is above the law, and that legal principles, rather than arbitrary power, govern.
In practice, it’s the difference between a society where decisions are predictable and based on established rules, versus one where they’re subject to whims or corruption. In an organization, the rule of law has every bit as much importance as anywhere else. In the Idaho Republican Party association it has its own laws, or rules, that are its constitution or bylaws. Following the rule of law is an important concept and doctrine that hardly a day goes by that President Trump does not mention following the rule of law.
However, lest we forget, the rule of law also applies to contracts, from the least auspicious to the most solemn contracts. The principle that a contract is the "law between the parties" commanding the parties to the contract be every bit as conscious about following that law as any other law. Those who fail to abide by the laws and rules of the Idaho Republican Party association are just as guilty as those who Trump points to who failed to guard our borders and allowed illegal entry into the country and aided and abetted an invasion.
Today, in the Idaho Republican Party there are 33 current members who have failed to follow the "rule of law" between the Party and each of these 33, who have breached the law of the contract between themselves and the Party. This is no trifling matter, as these Republican legislators hold important seats of power and trust, and have tossed this contract aside to follow their own agendas.
Perhaps it's time to drag out and dust off that little used ten-dollar word "ignominious” to describe what is nothing short of a disgrace or shame, and ultimately something deplored as being dishonorable, to say the least. Nothing could be more disgraceful, more shameful than legislators calling themselves Idaho Republicans, appearing more like an insurgency working tirelessly to overthrow the Idaho Republican Party from within, acting out every bit of Vladmir Lenin’s ungodly Marxist philosophy: do whatever one needs to do to get in a seat of power, never disclosing one’s true political character, never debating your true philosophy, just get in by any means possible, and once in do whatever you want. Never mind that one ran under a certain banner and conned people to believe a lie.
It is clearly evidenced that 33 Idaho Republican legislators did just that, and conned voters and fellow Republicans and others to cast their precious vote for them, and in reality stole seats meant to promote the purposes of the state's Republican Party in the Idaho Statehouse!
Stolen seats within the Idaho legislature in both the House and Senate is not hyperbole when the end result is to deny an honest candidate the possibility of being elected to a seat in the Statehouse that would receive faithful representation for the Idaho Republican Party. Utilizing the cheap but effective trick of party affiliation fraud is a con that allows one to deceive voters, mostly fellow Party members, who place a lot of importance in the (R) next to the name along with any accompanying Party branding, as a powerful stamp of Party approval.
33 "F" rated Republican legislators in the Statehouse, and every single one was an incumbent running for re-election in last November's 2024 election:
YES!...33 Idaho Republican legislators show they all vote quite regularly and philosophically with the legislature's liberal Democrats--who are at least, as Democrats go, honorable enough to tell us who they really are. These 33 are directly responsible for the passage of bad legislation, and good legislation failing to pass, in effect a voting bloc against the Party's Platform when aligned with our 15 Dems.
It is past time for the Idaho Republican Party to end the hypocrisy that there is unity in the Party when there is not! That itself is a fraud, and is inexcusable on the part of the SCC Party leadership. It is time to expel these 33 dishonest Republicans from the Party, and with courage allow the chips to fall where they may, to act as a strong deterrent to others not to partake in such unethical RINO conduct.
The Idaho Republican Party lacks unity when 33 legislators, masquerading as Republicans, hold seats gained through party affiliation fraud—yet face no consequences and retain the valuable status of appearing in "good standing." These impostors reveal their true colors when the fruit they bear is in the form of ruinous grades from four different conservative rating organizations revealing just how far-left their political philosophy is.
Unity obsessed Abraham Lincoln, a figure the Idaho GOP honors through annual Lincoln Day celebrations that commemorate his leadership and commitment to cohesion, principles, and the Party’s roots. Lincoln acted decisively against disunity, imprisoning secessionists to thwart foreign powers—like France and England—who sought a fractured America for their own gain.
Why, then, do Idaho’s leaders tolerate a divided Party, risking a weakened “purple” state that is unable to stay within the bounds of the proper role of government to only protect the people in their rights and no more? By ignoring this cancer and failing to expose these deceitful legislators, the Party perpetuates a lie through omission—a failure too grave to dismiss their fraud as “just politics.” It is time to face reality and act.
Abraham Lincoln didn’t fight a civil war for who would control the seat of power. Instead he fought a war to end a rebellion that was meant to preserve the Union against the South’s secessionist bid that would play into the hands of outside forces.
Foreign powers, like France and England, envied America’s rising strength and hoped a split would diminish its future dominance, a threat Lincoln understood well. To counter this, he took bold action—jailing critics, silencing pro-rebellion voices, suspending habeas corpus, and leveraging constitutional powers to crush the insurrection and safeguard unity.
A nation falters under rebellion, which is why the Constitution addresses it. It is hypocrisy for the Idaho Republican Party to claim the Constitution to be its guiding light and an essential component of its Party Platform and then make allowance for traitors within the Party who undermine and weaken it and keep it from fulfilling its purpose.
Expelling these 33 fraudulent legislators from the Idaho Republican Party is the decisive remedy needed to excise this internal rebellion within the Party and restore unity. It is time to live up to the example a courageous and bold leader Like Lincoln gave all of us to follow. We should heed his vision that pressed him into making tough decisions.
The constitution for the Idaho Republican Party is its Party Rules, which encompasses the policies and decisions of the Party. Everything needed to correct the problem is in reach of the Idaho Republican Party State Central Committee as leadership of the Party.
Who is it that wants to keep the Party weak and ineffectual and are afraid that it should become strong and united in following its principles and values unhindered?
The Idaho Republican Party stands at a crossroads: tolerate the cancer of party affiliation fraud and watch unity erode, or act decisively to restore integrity as Lincoln did against rebellion. The 33 legislators who exploited the Party’s name for power, defying its platform and values, weaken Idaho’s GOP just as secessionists threatened the Union.
Expelling these frauds—stripping them of Party privileges for at least five years—is not mere punishment but a necessary step to deter deceit and reaffirm the Party’s principles. Inspired by Lincoln’s resolve and Trump’s call to root out RINOs, the Idaho GOP must reject complacency, confront this internal revolt, and unite under its true banner—or risk becoming a fractured, impotent relic.
The Idaho Republican Party faces an urgent crisis: 33 sitting legislators, elected under the Party’s banner, stand in open rebellion against its Platform, principles, and values, undermining unity and integrity through what can only be called party affiliation fraud. A summary show cause hearing offers the swiftest, most effective remedy to this betrayal, bypassing the cumbersome formal judicial process within the Party’s rules—a process too slow and rigid to confront this immediate threat.
The Party’s association holds the inherent authority to suspend its own inadequate rules when survival is at stake, just as Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to preserve the Union. In a summary hearing, each of these 33 must face the music—compelled to explain why they should not be summarily expelled for cause, their deceit laid bare before the Party.
This is not about legalistic delay or endless debate; it’s about decisive action to excise a cancer that risks turning Idaho’s GOP into a fractured, impotent shell. A formal process, with its layers of procedure, only emboldens those in rebellion, shielding them behind Party bureaucracy and wholly inadequate disciplinary rules and procedures while the Party bleeds. Speed and clarity are paramount: a show cause hearing cuts through the noise, holds the guilty accountable, and restores trust—now, not later—before more damage is done in the Party's pursuit of good conservative constitutional government in harmony with God's laws.
It is up to the State Central Committee to move for a meeting of the Committee to "suspend" existing Party Rules concerning discipline, and move for a summary procedure summoning each of the 33 individually to show cause why they should not immediately be expelled from the Party for cause, as necessary to deal with rooting out the cancer that sorely impacts the Party in its efforts.
The basis of this petition is fact that 33 Republican members of the 2025-2026 Idaho Legislature are conclusively shown to have obtained their seats by fraudulent means. The following quote sums up the findings of four well-known conservative legislator rating organizations:
Such constitutes an emergency that cannot be tolerated without substantial harm to the name and branding of the Party, and above all else its purpose for existence: to instill conservative republicanism into Idaho government. This is set forth in our party platform, which acts as the standard and final arbiter of one’s adherence or not to the values and principles of conservative republicanism espoused therein.
The integrity and work of the Idaho Republican Party is being trampled by these certain legislators who deceive the public by pretending to be Republican.
As a member of the State Central Committee, I hereby petition the committee to regard this matter as an emergency necessitating immediate attention, and call for a special meeting to be held without delay to establish a plan of action to avert this Party Identity Fraud crisis which is in such direct defiance to our Party unity.
Your Petition will be submitted to the Idaho Republican Party State Central Committee Chair with a formal request to act.
PRIVACY: Petitions are confidential and private, and are collected and submitted to Party leadership under the Idaho Republican Party Rules.
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