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| State chairman Floyd Whitley (standing at podium) speaks at the Idaho Constitution Party convention in Mountain Home |
by Gretel Kauffman, MAGICVALLEY.COM
MOUNTAIN HOME — The
Constitution Party of Idaho voted to break off from the national
Constitution Party Saturday following several years of contentious
relations between the two organizations.
Turnout
for the state party’s annual convention in Mountain Home was modest,
but leaders spoke optimistically of party growth, particularly among
young voters.
There are 2,946 registered Constitution Party members in Idaho in 2018, up substantially from 395 in 2012.
Delegates
said they hoped opening up their presidential primary to independent
voters would help grow the party further. Those in attendance voted
unanimously Saturday to open up the primary in 2020.
“It
could give us that potential for name recognition,” said Anthony
Tompkins, a delegate from Twin Falls and candidate for the state
legislature in District 24. “They’ll see that name and they’ll possibly
get behind that name.”
A more controversial question — whether to disaffiliate from the national Constitution Party — was also decided unanimously.
A
longstanding dispute between the state and national parties stemmed
from disagreement over the best method for selecting national party
nominees, state chairman Floyd Whitley said. The national party relies
on a proxy voting system through a selection committee.
Whitley
and other delegates at the convention said they are opposed to proxies
and feel that national candidates should be chosen by the voters with
direct citizen ballots.
“What
the national party is attempting to orchestrate is a theocracy, a
flat-out theocracy,” Whitley said in an interview after the vote. “They
believe that they are ordained and they believe they can rule by their
own conscience.”..
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