Mack's Idaho saga takes a southern twist

IDAHO FALLS —  Bonneville County is hard-line conservative speaker Richard Mack’s latest on-again, off-again suitor in Idaho.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Bonneville County’s commitment to Mack was off – for now. Mack had been scheduled to speak March 29 at a $15-per-ticket fundraiser for the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee and Republican women of both Jefferson and Fremont counties.

But the groups canceled the event. Don Schanz, head of the Bonneville County Republicans, said the cancellation was not related to any controversy over Mack, but rather the difficulty of preparing for his appearance so soon after last week’s caucus.

“In fact, I talked to a number of people who were excited about (the event),” Schanz said. “I didn’t even know that there was anyone that would resist it.”

The agenda for the committee’s Thursday meeting included a note from Schanz claiming the cancellation was due to Mack’s campaign for Congress. On March 7, Mack filed as a candidate for U.S. Representative in Texas’ 21st district.

Mack, a former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., is one of the country’s most notable – in some circles, notorious – conservatives. He is a member of the board of directors for Oath Keepers, a group whose philosophy includes a list of 10 orders – many of which likely would come from the federal government – its members refuse to follow.

Mack also wrote the foreword to a book by Randy Weaver, a white supremacist who, with his family, engaged in a 1992 standoff against U.S. Marshals in northern Idaho. Contrary to several media reports, Mack denied having connections to right-wing militia groups.

“I have had no contact with any militia group and have never been a member of any militia,” he wrote in a post on the Oath Keepers website.

As a sheriff in the 1990s, however, Mack said he would employ, if necessary, an already-assembled citizen posse to resist federal authorities in his county, according to a 1995 report by the Los Angeles Times.

The Bonneville County Republicans originally scheduled Mack to appear here early in the year. But conflicts in his schedule caused the party to postpone the event. Schanz said he hopes to reschedule a Mack appearance later this year.

In recent weeks, Mack has been at the center of controversy in northern Idaho. There, Republicans invited him to appear at a March 24 Lincoln Day dinner. In late February, 14 members of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee signed a letter opposing Mack’s scheduled appearance at the party’s signature fundraising event.

The letter did not mention Mack’s extremist reputation. Instead, it focused on his ties to and support for other political parties, including the Democratic Party, with which he aligned himself as a sheriff.

“We feel such a speaker would be a slap in the face to Republican activists, contributors, officeholder(s) and candidates who work so hard to elect Republicans,” the letter said.

On Feb. 28, members of the Kootenai County Republicans appeared to have voted 31-30 to rescind Mack’s invitation, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported. But a private investigator determined one of the votes in favor of canceling the invitation was forged, according to the Coeur d’Alene Press.

That meant the attempt to stop Mack’s appearance had failed because of a tie, and his Lincoln Day appearance is back on the schedule.

The Spokane County, Wash., Republican Party also has scheduled an appearance for its own Lincoln Day event March 23. Not all of the county’s Republicans necessarily agree with Mack’s political positions, Chairman Matthew Pederson said.

“It’s an education to look at that perspective. We have a wide range of Republicans in our county…with various viewpoints,” Pederson said. “This is an educational opportunity for more mainstream Republicans to see and hear the concerns of a far-right speaker who, in the end, has many of the same goals.”

Editor's note: This story was republished with special permission by the Post Register.