What is the Rigged Red Card, and why does it matter?

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee is the official Republican Party organization for Kootenai County, Idaho. Its job is to run fair, neutral primary elections, facilitating a democratic process so Republican voters can choose their own candidates.

Rigging the Republican Primary

Instead, the KCRCC uses its official party machinery to campaign against Republicans it doesn't like, spending money to defeat Republicans in primaries, including distributing a red card telling voters which Republicans to vote for.

In 2016, the DNC used its institutional power to tilt its primary toward Hillary Clinton. Federal court records documented it. Republicans rightly criticized it. The KCRCC does the same thing: the official party apparatus, working against Republicans.

A voter may prefer one Republican over another. That is healthy democracy. But the party organization declaring that some Republicans are RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), and spending money to defeat them, is a party boss system dressed up as grassroots vetting.

Loyalty > Competence in Non-Partisan Races

The KCRCC also extends its endorsements into non-partisan races: school boards, library boards, water districts, fire districts. These positions exist specifically because competence should outweigh ideology. Party endorsements in these races replace qualifications with loyalty tests. The record of KCRCC-endorsed candidates in those offices speaks for itself.

This site documents the record. For the man behind the Red Card, the chairman who drove North Idaho College to the brink of losing accreditation, dissolved a 40-year library consortium, booked Matt Gaetz as Lincoln Day keynote and said he had no reason to read the Ethics Committee report, see Brent Regan: The Chairman.

How Rating & Vetting is Rigged

KCRCC's rated and vetted candidates aren't elected, they're selected.

• Regan's favorites win.
  Republicans who oppose him get campaigned against. The KCRCC has spent money to defeat sitting Republican incumbents. IFF score determines outcome.
• The process is secret.
  Subcommittee members sign NDAs. Criteria and deliberations are not public. In one cycle, 5 of 12 committee members weren't elected PCs. A candidate's endorsement logo was distributed to voters before the vote; the motion to remove it failed.
• A handful of insiders choose the winners.
  The endorsement goes to whoever gets 50%+1 of PCs who show up on vetting night. Many candidates on this site were picked by fewer than half of all elected precinct committeemen.
• Your neighbors don't decide.
  The whole county votes to endorse school board and library board candidates, including party members who don't live in those districts. Residents of the affected district can be outvoted by people who will never set foot in that school or library.
• It endorses non-partisan races.
  School boards, library boards, water districts. Non-partisan by design. Party endorsements replace qualifications with loyalty tests.
• Not everyone gets contacted.
  The process concludes before the official filing deadline, meaning some candidates are never evaluated. Multiple candidates have reported never being contacted or interviewed despite publicly available contact information.
• The Red Card drowns out everything else.
  Mailed to 100,000+ registered Republicans. In low-information races it is often the only ballot information a voter receives. Endorsed candidates win 4 out of 5 times.

The KCRCC says it vets candidates for competence and character. The Coeur d'Alene Press editorial board gave the process a solid F. Here is what the endorsed candidates have produced.

The Endorsement's Track Record

• Three KCRCC trustees nearly destroyed NIC's accreditation - full story
• A library board's restrictive policies ended a 40-year regional consortium, revoking 8,900 minor library cards
• An all-KCRCC school board placed its superintendent on administrative leave with no stated cause, paid through his contract
• A sheriff dragged a constituent from a town hall, faces $7.5 million in tort claims
• A state rep wrote a character letter for a convicted rapist on official legislative letterhead
• A state rep said students deserved the woodshed and called teachers criminals
• An Idaho legislator doxxed a rape victim, lied under oath, and was censured 49-19 by her own colleagues
• Chaos & documented corruption at the Assessor's Office
• A KCRCC insider endorsed for a city council seat with a battery arrest and federal court abuse testimony on his record
• Two KCRCC-swept library boards hired the same unqualified attorney at $275/hour, D-minus on relevant legal experience
• The KCRCC's own Treasurer signed checks to herself, prohibited under campaign finance rules. Both the KCRCC and the Idaho Freedom Caucus were fined by the Secretary of State.
• A KCRCC-backed candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction later became a school superintendent against the community's will. The board that hired him was overwhelmingly recalled.

Rigged Red Card Expensive to Taxpayers

The KCRCC campaigns on fiscal conservatism. Its endorsed candidates have produced the opposite. See the running total of Wasted Taxpayer Dollars documented on this site.

Sources: Idaho Ed News, Coeur d'Alene Press, Spokesman-Review. See individual candidate pages for documentation.

Rating & Vetting in the News

• KCRCC: Vetting, guide excluded candidates
  Coeur d'Alene Press · May 2026  (archive)
  • A sitting KCRCC precinct committeeman confirms: in 2026, the Recruitment Committee only invited incumbents to vetting, not all Republican candidates.
  • The Campaign Committee also excluded some candidates from the KCRCC Voter Guide.
  • First time in five years she had seen this; says it is verifiable by contacting the committee chairs directly.
• Kootenai County Republicans need new, more serious leadership
  Spokesman-Review · April 2026  (archive)
  • KCRCC backed a water district candidate whose voter guide statement was about the IRS sending money to the Bank of England; the candidate later said his opponent was "so much more qualified."
  • KCRCC recommended Fitzpatrick for governor despite posts about "Jewish billionaires" and calls to stop paying all taxes.
  • A KCRCC-endorsed school board trustee received two DUIs while in office; KCRCC never rescinded the recommendation.
• Republican voters deserve all the facts - not a biased list
  Coeur d'Alene Press · March 2026  (archive)
  • KCRCC vetting described as gatekeeping: "a small group decides which candidates voters are allowed to see, and which are left off the page entirely."
  • Argues voters need standardized, unfiltered candidate information beyond what the KCRCC's endorsed list provides.
• KCRCC: Do they really 'vet' candidates?
  Coeur d'Alene Press · May 2025  (archive)
  • A conservative Republican water district candidate was never contacted, sent a questionnaire, or interviewed.
  • Her contact information was publicly available; the KCRCC never reached out.
• Rating and vetting: a view from the inside
  Coeur d'Alene Press · September 2024  (archive)
  • A candidate's campaign literature arrived pre-printed with the official KCRCC endorsement logo.
  • It was distributed to committee members before the vote; the motion to remove it failed.
  • Subcommittee members sign NDAs.
• EDITORIAL: Rating system deserves a solid 'F'
  Coeur d'Alene Press · April 2024  (archive)
  • The CdA Press editorial board grades KCRCC's rating and vetting a solid 'F'.
  • Finding: opaque, unaccountable, designed to entrench existing leadership's preferred candidates.
• KCRCC's 'vetting' scam
  Coeur d'Alene Press · September 2023  (archive)
  • Former state senator Mary Souza's account of her vetting interview: church basement, single light.
  • Her opponent's pamphlets distributed to committee members before the vote.
  • Her 75-page candidate packet returned unopened.
• KCRCC's iron fist hurts GOP
  Coeur d'Alene Press · January 2022  (archive)
  • KCRCC endorsed a candidate facing charges of rape and child sexual abuse, and another who attended the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and posted antisemitic content.
  • Also endorsed a candidate with a federal tax evasion conviction and a trustee who left the state while drawing pay from a Kootenai County taxing board.
  • When given the opportunity to rescind embarrassing endorsements, the KCRCC refused.

What This Site Is, and Isn't

This site documents publicly available journalism, court records, and government documents about KCRCC-endorsed candidates. Every claim is linked to an independent, verifiable source.

We do not publish: anonymous accusations; allegations without independent journalism or primary source documentation.

If you believe we have made an error, or have documented sources about a candidate, please contact us.