Idaho GOP Says No to Vetting Candidates

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican leaders in Idaho rejected a plan calling for party officials to vet GOP primary election candidates. The proposal was dumped at the Republican Party Central Committee's meeting in McCall on Saturday.

It came from former Senate Majority Leader Rod Beck, as a way to pressure GOP candidates into adhering more to the wishes of their local party leaders.

But dozens of other Republicans including House Speaker Scott Bedke, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs objected to it. They said it would put decision-making in the hands of just a few people and disenfranchise broader GOP voters. Loebs urged Republicans to be vigilant of "bad ideas," saying it could return. Beck conceded the change was perhaps too big to make all at once, one year after the party closed its primary election.