Mattare accused of 'doxxing'

COEUR d’ALENE — A candidate running for the Board of County Commissioners reportedly posted a photo of a Kootenai County resident’s yard on his campaign Facebook page in response to a critical comment.

Bruce Mattare is running in the Republican primary race for District 2 County Commissioner.

Teresa Borrenpohl, a Post Falls resident and Democratic candidate for the District 5B seat in the Idaho Legislature, said Mattare violated her privacy April 15 when he publicly posted a photo of her home.

The online exchange took place after Mattare shared a recording of a recent candidate forum at the Mica Flats Grange, where he and several other candidates for local office appeared.

Though she is a Democrat and can’t vote in the Republican primary election, Borrenpohl said she follows local races, regardless of party affiliation.

“It’s important to me that we have quality leadership at every level,” she said.

Borrenpohl said she was disappointed by what she saw as a lack of preparedness from Mattare during two recent candidate forums.

She said Mattare was unable to answer questions about water quality and other county issues, so she left a comment on his post about the Mica Flats Grange forum.

“I was letting him know that, if he intends to lead our county, he needs to be prepared, and he’s simply not prepared,” she said.

Her initial comment read: “This community exists because of our access to water. This is your second debate without being able to answer questions about the health of our waterways. Sound bites fall short when you don’t know the basics. Please be prepared next time — this is a job interview and impacts the future of our community.”

Mattare suggested Borrenpohl was not acting in good faith.

“Given you are a democrat and have my opponent’s sign on your yard it would make sense why you’re making this statement,” he wrote in part. “Because you already support my opponent you will never be open to my approach on this issue.”

Attached to the comment was a photo of Borrenpohl’s yard, which had a sign for Mattare’s opponent in the Republican primary race, incumbent Chris Fillios.

A vehicle and street sign were visible.

“That picture is not mine but was forwarded to me by your neighbor,” Mattare wrote.

In a phone interview Monday with The Press, Mattare asserted that the photo contained no identifiable information.

“I couldn’t tell if that was (Borrenphol’s) house or not,” he said.

The post disappeared from Mattare’s campaign page on Monday.

He said he removed the post because Borrenpohl’s husband, Craig, contacted him by phone and asked him to take it down.

“We agreed that it should come down,” Mattare said.

In a blog post describing the interaction, Mattare said a “legion of online trolls” descended on his post.

A total of six people commented on the post before Mattare deleted it, including Borrenpohl and Mattare.

Borrenpohl said the photo had circulated on Telegram, an online messaging app, before Mattare posted it on his Facebook page.

It’s not the first time Borrenpohl has been doxxed, she said, but it’s the first time someone vying for elected office has publicly posted a photo of her home.

Doxxing is the practice of publishing private or identifying information about a particular person on the internet, typically with malicious intent.

“My immediate thought was that he was acting in a predatory way,” Borrenpohl said Monday. “There is no reason in that exchange to post a picture of my home.”

She questioned why a candidate would “default to an attack” rather than have a conversation.

“It says a lot about how they intend to lead and serve,” she said.

Mattare criticized Borrenpohl for “inserting herself in the Republican primary.”

He said Borrenpohl “portrayed herself as a Republican voter” when she approached him to discuss water quality issues after the candidate forum and later posted on his Facebook page.

He acknowledged that Borrenpohl never claimed to be a Republican voter, however.

Still, he said he believes people have an obligation to share their political affiliation and ties when discussing political subjects in public spaces.

“People don’t disclose who they are when they write these things,” he said. “It comes across as if they are an engaged, concerned Republican voter when the reality is different.”

In addition to running for the Idaho House of Representatives, Borrenpohl has also filed to run as a Democratic Party precinct captain.

She said knocking on doors and speaking one-on-one with potential constituents has given her a unique perspective of what people in North Idaho want from their elected leaders — and what they don’t want.

“People are tired of the meanness,” she said. “They’re tired of the targeting. They’re tired of not being able to have a conversation. I think what (Mattare) did embodied that consistent message that I hear.”