MOSCOW — Bogged down by infighting over the qualifications of delegates and squabbles over Robert's Rules of Order, the Idaho Republican Convention came to a grinding halt Saturday afternoon. There was no election for state GOP chairman or adoption of a new Republican state platform.

    Pocatello resident and chief executive officer of Premier Technology in Blackfoot, Doug Sayer, was a candidate for Idaho GOP chairman along with Blackfoot rancher, Mike Duff, and incumbent Barry Peterson. With the convention suspended, Peterson will remain chairman.

    "A special committee will convene and there's a process in place to hold an election," Sayer said.

    Before state convention chairman and Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador called for adjournment Saturday afternoon, Bannock County's entire 15-member delegation had been unseated. Efforts to do the same with the delegations from Ada and Twin Falls counties were underway.

    “I had a hint going into it we were going to run into trouble,” said Bannock County GOP Chairman Tony Madsen.

    When the 15 people selected to represent Bannock County arrived in Moscow, eight other county residents were already at the convention claiming the delegate selection process in Bannock County was flawed. Similar challenges were filed against the Ada County Republicans and its delegation. Madsen said this led to lengthy debates within the credentials committee.

    Madsen said complaints were filed by a group of Bannock County Republicans claiming the county party leadership had ignored their input and did not hold proper elections to select delegates for the state convention.

    When the dust settled, Bannock County's entire delegation had been unseated.

    “It was quite surprising,” Madsen said. “It was a nuclear option in my opinion.”

    Similar disagreements between the libertarian/tea party Republicans and establishment Republicans cropped up in other Idaho counties and eventually about a fifth of the delegates attending the convention were unseated.

    “We need to stop hauling our dirty laundry out in public,” Madsen said.

    Bingham County GOP Chairman Dan Cravens said the disagreements with the Republican Party are not helping with the main goal of the party — to get Republicans elected. Republicans currently hold every statewide office in Idaho and 80 percent of the seats in the Idaho Legislature.

    “It was a unique experience,” Cravens said about the shortened convention. “It was frustrating.”

    Cravens said the Bingham County delegation could see no legitimate reason for the Bannock County delegation to be unseated, but the Bonneville County delegation voted unanimously to unseat their GOP counterparts from Bannock.

    “We failed to move toward party unity,” Cravens said.

    As for Labrador's ability to lead the convention, Cravens said, “I think he had a tough job. It was a very difficult meeting for him to manage.”

    Sayer said the convention was an important one.

    "At some point the party has to say 'no more,'" Sayer said. "We've got to have respect for the rules, the procedures and each other."