North Idaho Republicans

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

“Local control” sounds great until your local government makes a decision you strongly disagree with.

So when should the state step in, and when should it stay out?

That balance of power is the subject of this week’s Idaho Way. Where would you draw the line?

One of the most conservative ideas in government is also one of the simplest: decisions should be made as close to the people as reasonably possible.

09/11/2026

It’s been a year since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. This one-year-old piece still feels painfully relevant. Political disagreement is inevitable. Political hatred is not.

We can fight hard for what we believe without treating our neighbors as enemies. When politics turns to violence, or when our rhetoric starts making violence easier to justify, we all lose.

Guest Editorial by Becky Funk

09/04/2026

Winning an election is only the beginning. Governing requires judgment, competence, restraint, and remembering who you work for.

Campaigning rewards passion and the occasional well-placed sharp rhetorical elbow. Governing requires judgment, restraint, competence, and remembering that the institution you oversee doesn’t belong to you.

08/14/2026

Peter Erbland was the best of us. He led quietly, by example, with integrity, kindness and a steady conviction that earned respect even from those who disagreed with him.

His loss leaves a hole in our community and in the lives of the many people fortunate enough to call him a friend.

This week’s column is for Peter.

Rest well, dear friend. You will be missed.

Our community lost Peter almost two weeks ago, and those of us fortunate enough to call him a friend are discovering just how difficult it is to describe the space he leaves behind.

08/12/2026

RSVP text 208.964.0410

08/07/2026

The Idaho Legislature went home on April 2, but most of the laws it passed didn’t take effect until July 1. Now those laws are becoming real and Idahoans are beginning to see what they actually mean in everyday life.

This is the first in a series looking at new Idaho laws, what they were intended to do, and how they may affect you.

This week, we’re looking at five. What do you think? Do any of them affect you or your family? Let us know in the comments.

Good government does not require us to agree with every decision. It requires lawmakers to act within their proper role, explain their choices, and remain accountable for the results.

08/05/2026

“Theo of Golden” was never meant to be published according the author, Allen Levi. It was intended to be an exercise to see if he had the discipline to write a full length novel. Some friends who knew he was writing asked to read it and encouraged him to publish the novel that has become one of the most influential books of our era.

Here are five lessons from Theo of Golden.

The small picture requires us to look closely at the individual crossing our path and to risk being vulnerable ourselves, because true connection begins when both people feel seen.

08/02/2026

Our hearts are with every family and community affected by this weekend’s tragedies.

We are grateful for the courage of law enforcement, firefighters, EMS personnel, and ordinary citizens who have risked their own safety to protect others. North Idaho Republicans extend our prayers to those grieving, those displaced by wildfires, and everyone working toward recovery.

If you would like to help families displaced by the wildfires, please consider supporting the American Red Cross:
redcross.org/donate/dr/washington-wildfires-2026

05/18/2026

Every juggler knows the act only works until it doesn't. Brent Regan has been spinning plates in Kootenai County for nearly a decade, and the cracks are showing.

Regan has never held public office. Voters rejected him the one time he tried, losing a 2013 school board race to Christa Hazel by 600 votes. He figured out he was not a politician. He was a puppet master. Instead of earning power through voters, he built a machine to seize it from behind the scenes. A journalist once called him "the sugar daddy of the hard right and the godfather of North Idaho politics." He is an extremist who operates as a puppet master, accumulating control over institutions that were never meant to belong to one person.

He chairs the KCRCC, the organization that is supposed to represent all Kootenai County Republicans. He simultaneously chairs the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian organization that hired and refused to disavow a documented white nationalist, even after 30 faith leaders and elected officials demanded accountability. He controls the Rating and Vetting process through a secret committee whose members sign NDAs, meaning a small group of handpicked insiders, accountable to no one, decides which Republicans voters are allowed to see on their endorsement list.

Then there is Matt Gaetz. The KCRCC paid about $20,000 to book Gaetz as their Lincoln Day headliner, after the House Ethics Committee found substantial evidence he paid a 17-year-old girl for acts that this platform won't let us describe. When asked about the House Ethics Committee report, Regan said he had no reason to read it.

Brent Regan sued a city councilman for social media posts calling the vetting process rigged. Under oath, Regan admitted he took the rating and vetting ballots home himself to count. That was exactly what the posts alleged.

Most recently, the KCRCC voted to transfer $17,418 of party money to the Kootenai Freedom Caucus PAC, which is running Regan's own slate of candidates. Incumbents voted themselves campaign funds from the party treasury. Regan did not want to say what the money was for, and when pressed, he stonewalled.

This is a man juggling the John Birch Society, white nationalist ties, multiple lawsuits, secret committees, about $20,000 to book Matt Gaetz, and a party treasury he treats as his personal campaign fund. Some of those plates are already broken on the floor.

Running a county party should require focus, transparency, and accountability to voters. Brent Regan is too busy keeping all his plates in the air to offer those things. On May 19th, let's do Regan and North Idaho a favor by voting in new KCRCC leadership.