NEWS: Bonner County Commissioner Allegedly Moved, BCRCC to Nominate Candidates to Fill Vacancy

According to a November 8 post on Twitter by Scott Herndon, chairman of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, Commissioner Steven Bradshaw has “moved to Texas” and has not been attending meetings for the past month:

Bonner County commissioner Steve Bradshaw has moved to Texas and has not attended meetings in person for the last month. He refuses to resign but is no longer an Idaho resident. He has effectively vacated the position. The Bonner County Republican Party will meet to nominate his replacement on November 19 and will send 3 nominees to the governor.

In a followup post this morning, Herndon accused Bradshaw of “illegally milking the taxpayers” and only attending meetings via Zoom. He provided this set of screenshots from a recent meeting:

Commissioner Bradshaw has had an embattled relationship with his colleagues in Bonner County of late. After running in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2022, Bradshaw, who was also the pastor of Cocolalla Cowboy Church, was served with a restraining order by fellow commissioner Asia Williams.

According to Herndon, Bradshaw’s church and his home property have been sold. The website for the church appears to be taken down at this time, and a comment on the church’s Facebook page suggests that the church was not open for Sunday services last weekend.

According to Idaho Code § 59-901, definitions of “vacancy” includes “The incumbent ceasing to be a resident of the state, district or county in which the duties of his office are to be exercised, or for which he may have been elected.” If Bradshaw did indeed sell his home and move to Texas in a fashion that indicates a permanent change of domicile, then that would fit the legal definition.

Idaho Code § 59-906 says that it is up to the Republican county committee to send the names of three potential replacements to the governor in the case of a vacancy of a Republican county commissioner. Herndon has called for a meeting of the Bonner County GOP to nominate those three names on November 19. It is unknown if Bradshaw will attempt to contest Herndon’s declaration that he has moved out of his jurisdiction.