Tea party helps dump Idaho Senate incumbents

BOISE - With the tea party's help, the Idaho Senate may turn more conservative after Tuesday's primary.

Right-leaning Republican candidates ejected four incumbents whose stances on issues including states' rights, taxes and even wolves put them at odds with newly active tea party voters eager to make their presence felt.

Sens. Chuck Coiner of Twin Falls, Mike Jorgenson of Hayden Lake, Gary Schroeder of Moscow, and Lee Heinrich of Cascade lost to rivals who are either tea party adherents or courted voters espousing the movement's limited-government, states-rights philosophy.

Tea party organizers contend this will force broader state GOP leaders like Gov. Butch Otter and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson to pay closer attention. Otter and Simpson both won Tuesday, but tea-party-backed rivals siphoned off votes; Rex Rammell won 25 percent off Otter, while Chick Heileson wounded Simpson, whose 58 percent was his poorest primary showing since 1998.

"They're going to have to think twice about how they cast their votes," said Rusty Satterwhite, a spokesman for the Twin Falls-based Tears of the Patriots group, on Wednesday. "If they do push that boundary, there will become a critical mass."

Lee Heider, a Twin Falls city councilman, beat Coiner. Steve Vick, a former Montana House member, beat Jorgenson. Neither faces a Democratic foe in November, so they're headed for Boise in 2011.

Meanwhile, Gresham Bouma of Moscow dumped Schroeder, a nine-term Republican, while Cottonwood bookkeeper Sheryl Nuxoll ousted Heinrich. Bouma and Nuxoll face Democratic general election rivals.

In March, Coiner was one of just three Senate Republicans who opposed a bill requiring Idaho to sue the federal government over President Obama's insurance reforms. Tea party groups backed Idaho's lawsuit - and Heider.

And Vick, who moved to Idaho several years ago, made hay of Jorgenson's support in 2009 for Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's proposed $174 million boost in gas taxes and vehicle registration fees to pay for road construction.

Vick said he's not a member of tea party groups, but he attended several functions where he promoted his Montana House record from 1995 to 2000 when he backed budget austerity - and fought speed limits as an insult to personal liberty.

Of course, it wasn't all tea party.

Jorgenson's sometimes-turbulent Senate tenure also took its toll. He'd become obsessed with punishing employers that hired illegal aliens, alienating business groups and some Senate colleagues with failed bills. And Jorgenson also sued to keep Vick off the primary ballot, something that may have won Vick sympathy.

"I got early press because of that," Vick said, adding when a local newspaper asked website readers to weigh in on Jorgenson's lawsuit, "60 percent said it looked like he was a crybaby."

Bouma, an ardent tea party adherent in northcentral Idaho's Latah County who would end federal education funding and expel wolves from the state, says Schroeder's acceptance of the predators - and opposition to cutting public school budgets this year - helped spur his downfall.

After 18 years in the Senate, Schroeder is barely even Republican anymore, Bouma said.

"The Republican Party gets punished when it fields candidates that don't really reflect its values," he said. "The electorate is waking up to examining its candidates more closely."

Heinrich, a former Valley County clerk, also supported Otter's proposed gas tax hike in 2009 to pay for roads; Nuxoll, who beat him, told District 8 voters from Valley, Clearwater, Idaho and Lewis counties she backs toll roads.

While she attended tea party meetings in Lewiston and Grangeville, Nuxoll said she doesn't formally belong.