Library trustees sue over campaign letters

COEUR d’ALENE — Two Community Library Network trustees have filed a lawsuit against three Kootenai County residents who distributed letters accusing them of committing crimes against children.

“We will not sit by while being falsely accused ... by people who want to try and hide behind the First Amendment,” said Judy Meyer and Regina McCrea in a statement shared Thursday with the Coeur d’Alene Press.

Meyer and McCrea are seeking reelection to the Community Library Network Board of Trustees. They said they decided to file the civil suit to take a stand against political mudslinging in North Idaho.

“That not only hurts, it’s inaccurate,” Meyer said Thursday. “It’s not civil. It’s dishonest and it’s destructive. The last thing we need in our community is destructive dialogue.”

The lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $10,000, alleges that Janice Camarena, Anita Dupzyk and Marjorie Desgrosseilliers distributed defamatory letters to hundreds of Kootenai County households in early May.

The three women, who identified themselves as members of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, reportedly left campaign literature packets at the doorsteps of people in their precincts. The packets included signed letters with information about the library board races.

The letters, which encourage people to vote for Meyer and McCrea’s opponents, do not state who paid for them, as required by Idaho campaign finance law. The letters are on Kootenai County GOP letterhead bearing the KCRCC’s brand.

Camarena and Desgrosseilliers both represent precincts in Coeur d’Alene where the Community Library Network trustee race is not on the ballot, because Coeur d’Alene has its own public library and is not part of the regional network.

Though Dupzyk said she represents precinct 308 and provided a Kootenai County GOP email address in the letter, the central committee’s website lists that precinct as vacant.

Camarena confirmed Thursday that she delivered the letters throughout her precinct but was unavailable to answer more questions. Dupzyk and Desgrosseilliers did not immediately return requests for comment.

“Many of the good people in our community have been shocked to learn that sexually explicit books are on display in the children’s section of our libraries,” the letters said in part. “These books are so explicit that if you were to give them to a child, you would be committing a crime.”

The letters said Meyer and McCrea “allowed graphic books with text and pictures describing every imaginable sex act to be purchased and displayed to children.”

No specific books were named. It’s unclear what books the letters may have referred to or if they’re on shelves in the Community Library Network.

The lawsuit contends that Camarena, Dupzyk and Desgrosseilliers knew their claims were false when they signed and distributed the letters.

In Kootenai County, across Idaho and nationwide, communities have hotly debated what kinds of materials should be available in public libraries. This has led to a contentious local race for seats on the nonpartisan Community Library Network board.

As an attorney who does trial work, McCrea said she’s developed a thick skin. But nothing could have prepared her for the personal attacks she’s faced during this campaign.

She said detractors have painted her as evil and even called for her to be jailed over crimes she didn’t commit.

“I am hearing from people I haven’t heard from in years, asking if it’s true that I’m pushing porn onto children,” McCrea said, fighting back tears. “I am a person and I am trying to do the best job I can for the community. To see this hateful rhetoric that has reached a fever pitch, it’s very difficult to cope.”

Tim Plass and Tom Hanley, also vying for trustee positions, have campaigned on claims that local libraries make obscene material available to children. Plass has promised to reclassify books he calls objectionable and make them physically inaccessible to anyone under 18.

Minors can’t obtain library cards without parental permission. The library board recently adopted a policy that gives parents the ability to decide what books their kids can check out based on age level.

“That’s a choice that should be made by parents,” Meyer said.

The library system uses several criteria to determine which items to add to the collection, including usefulness or lasting value, popularity and user demand and representation of trends, subjects or genres of local or national interest.

“These are local libraries, but folks want and should have access to lots of different ideas,” Meyer said.

Library trustees don’t choose what material is acquired. Instead, librarians use information from publishers, trade journals, reviewers and other sources to help them decide which books to purchase.

Collections are actively curated. Some books that are never checked out are eventually removed due to lack of interest, while books that are frequently borrowed tend to stick around.

Meyer said books that address serious topics like sexual abuse and mental illness can be lifelines for people who’ve experienced those issues. She said she’s heard from community members who wished they’d had access to such material when they were growing up.

“People have said, ‘I didn’t understand what was happening to me because I didn’t know anything else,’” Meyer said. “With what we see around the country with issues of suicide and mental health, how dare we not try to make available everything we can?”

Community members can request that books be reconsidered. The book or books would then be reviewed by library staff, who read it in full, research it and consider whether it meets the library’s material selection policy.