From Henry Kulczyk

When there is a public debate on an issue I begin my decision making process by
asking a few fundamental questions. Consider my view of the recent debate on
closed primary elections.

To begin with, what is the purpose of a primary election? That is simple; the
purpose is for political parties to select their best candidates to run in the
general election. It seems bizarre that anyone, not being a member of a
particular political party would be allowed to vote, or want to vote in another
parties primary. To use a sports example, should BSU have allowed Oklahoma pick
the starting line up?

One of the first things always brought up when discussing a closed primary is,
will there now be a litmus test for candidates? Well there should be a litmus
test. That test should be the party platform. The purpose of a political party
is to have like-minded people come together, and then decide what issues they
support or oppose, then elect people to represent them and their platform.

It is common knowledge that democrats routinely vote in republican primaries.
Do you believe they are voting to help pick the strongest republican candidate,
or could they be up to a little mischief? In a strong republican District where
a democrat would not be able to win election, a democrat will file as a
republican. Democrats, in an open primary, then cross over to defeat a
republican with a democrat in the republican primary.

Having open primaries, which allow anyone to vote in any party primary defeats
the purpose of the primary election. The primary is for party members to select
their best candidates to represent their party in the general election. Maybe we
should consider eliminating the primary and parties altogether by allowing all
candidates to run in the general election.

For 12 years Idaho has had a super majority of republicans in the legislature
with a republican Governor. You would think that the republican platform would
be Idaho code. Not so. In fact, I have been lobbying for a particular plank,
Education Opportunity Tax Credits, for ten years now. In my lobbying efforts I
once showed a republican legislator the republican platform supporting this
exact legislation. Without any discussion on the merits of the bill, he
dismissed the platform by saying “Henry, that is a cute lobbying trick.”

The interesting thing about the closed primary debate is how republican
leadership is fighting those who elected them. In a decisive vote the
Republican Party faithful voted to close the primary. Twice. When the Idaho
legislature failed to implement a closed primary, many rank and file
republicans took the matter into their own hands and filed suit.

The State Chairman of the republican party not only refuses to support the
members of his party in implementing a plank of the republican platform, but he has
come out in open opposition to them.

In our current open primary elections we have democrats running as republicans
because that is the only way they can get elected. We have a super-majority of
republicans and cannot seem to implement the party platform and we have
republican leadership opposing the rank and file republicans when they do try
to implement a plank of the platform.

It seems the Republican Party has been reduced to another social club and the
platform is a “cute lobbying trick”. It is time to close the primary and
elect republican leaders that will support the republican platform.

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