Public spat in Idaho GOP continues as Ada County Republicans rebuke Senate leader

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Ada County Republicans condemned the leader of the Idaho Senate this month, escalating a rift within the party between hardline conservatives and more traditional GOP members.

The Ada County Republican Central Committee in a resolution censured Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, after he stripped two senators of their committee positions in the Legislature and disciplined a third for recent public comments he thought were disparaging toward other senators.

All three senators — Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, and Scott Herndon, R-Sagle — are members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus, a group loosely associated with the House Freedom Caucus in Washington, D.C., which has pressed for deep cuts to federal social policy and hindered consensus around the election of a Republican House Speaker multiple times this year.

The county’s Republican leadership proclaimed its “strong disapproval” of Winder, who has served in the Senate for 15 years, and as a Senate leader since 2010. They also recommended that the Senate Ethics Committee take action against Winder, calling his decisions “unilateral punitive actions to bully and intimidate and harass members of the Idaho Senate who choose to speak out against issues and organizations supported by Sen. Chuck Winder,” according to a copy of the resolution posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Winder declined to comment. In his letters to the three senators, Winder said their public comments — some of which included cartoons of fellow lawmakers — were “degrading” and “disrespectful.”

“We have a tradition in the Senate, and that is, you debate the bills and not the person,” Winder previously told the Idaho Statesman, noting that he has never castigated two of his colleagues like this before. “There are consequences when you attack other people in your statements and you try to defame those other people.”

The resolution was brought to the committee less than two months after six top officials in the Ada County Republican Party abruptly resigned, saying that the state party led by Dorothy Moon had made it “impossible” to lead. The leaders who stepped down included Chairman Victor Miller, the three vice chairs and the committee’s treasurer. The half-dozen leaders kept their elected precinct committee positions, according to previous reporting.

New leadership was chosen in October and includes Chairman Thad Butterworth, First Vice Chairman Ryan Spoon, Second Vice Chairman Sue Gaston, Third Vice Chairman Scott Cleveland, Treasurer Sue Hoffer and State Committeewoman Cheryl Hurd, according to a news release.

Butterworth and Spoon ran as part of a slate in the 2022 race for the College of Western Idaho board on platforms that included cutting public school spending, according to previous Statesman reporting. Former Boise mayoral candidate Mike Masterson, who lost to Lauren McLean in November, returned a donation from Spoon after he made anti-gay online posts.

“The committee has requested the pro tem explain his statements and actions,” Butterworth told the Statesman by text. “And the committee awaits his response.”

The resolution also comes as former state Republican Party leaders have publicly criticized Moon’s leadership of the state party. Tom Luna and Trent Clark, who each previously chaired the party, said this month that the party has turned away from being an “inclusive big tent party” and needs a “course correction.” Moon responded that the course shift came in 2022, when she beat Luna in the vote as head of the party.