BLACKFOOT — Idaho Republicans should know by the end of next week whether or not Dorothy Moon will be able to force a new election for leadership of the Bingham County Republican Central Committee before a civil suit is resolved.

At a Thursday court hearing Seventh District Judge Darren B. Simpson heard oral arguments on a motion for a preliminary injunction that would prevent Moon, chairwoman of the Idaho GOP, from holding a meeting to elect new leadership for the Bingham County Republican Central Committee, or BCRCC.

The hearing was the result of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the BCRCC’s current chairman against the state GOP to block the leadership election meeting from occurring until the state GOP rules on the BCRCC’s appeal aimed at nixing Moon’s plan to hold the election.

Caldwell attorney Greg Chaney, a former state lawmaker, is representing the BCRCC and its current chairman Matt Thompson, who filed the lawsuit on Sept. 15 in a last ditch effort to prevent a Sept. 18 meeting Moon had scheduled to host the new BCRCC leadership election after she had invalidated the previous election.

Attorney Bryan Smith, the national committeeman for the Idaho GOP and a former congressional candidate, is representing the Idaho Republican Party in the lawsuit.

The Thursday hearing was held via Zoom and broadcast on televisions to about a dozen people seated inside Simpson’s courtroom at the Bingham County Courthouse in Blackfoot and ultimately ended with Simpson electing to take the matter under advisement.

The preliminary injunction hearing comes on the heels of Simpson issuing a temporary restraining order on Sept. 15 that blocked Moon’s planned Sept. 18 BCRCC leadership election meeting after Chaney filed the lawsuit on Sept. 14.

The contention is centered around a BCRCC leadership election held on July 20 that Moon has invalidated on the grounds that it allegedly violated Idaho law as well as the bylaws of the Idaho Republican Party, primarily because the outgoing BCRCC chairman, Dan Cravens, had announced in June that he was resigning effective Aug. 1 and therefore no chairman vacancy existed at the time of the July 20 election.

The election resulted in then-BCRCC state committeeman and first vice chairman Matt Thompson being elected to become the new Bingham GOP chairman, Jordan Johns becoming the first vice chair, Ben Fuhriman being elected as the state committeeman and Jedediah Russell becoming the youth committee person.

Chaney, in the lawsuit, contends the BCRCC appealed Moon’s decision to hold another BCRCC election to the state GOP, filing the appeal with Idaho Republican Party Vice Chair Daniel Silver, which should have put the kibosh on the Sept. 18 meeting to host a new election until the appeal was heard.

However, Moon refused to allow the appeal process to play out and planned to move forward with the Sept. 18 meeting anyway.

As of now, the BCRCC appeal is set to be heard by the sate GOP Executive Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting in January.

During the hearing Thursday, Chaney argued that the BCRCC both provided proper notice of the July 20 hearing, a meeting that requires at least seven days notice, to host the leadership election and that members of the BCRCC followed Idaho law and the bylaws of the Idaho GOP in hosting the election before there was an official vacancy.

Chaney also argued that “the record is abundant with efforts” that he took to ensure the Idaho GOP was aware of the BCRCC appeal before filing the lawsuit and that the state Republican Party has “endeavored to rewire history” in its attempts to claim Moon never saw the appeal before the suit was filed.

Chaney argues the BCRCC and Thompson would suffer irreparable harm if Moon is not prevented from forcing a new leadership election before the lawsuit is settled.

In previous court filings, Chaney described Moon’s purpose for hosting a new BCRCC leadership election as “a continuation of a systematic conspiracy” to void certain county central committee elections and reconduct them “under circumstances carefully manipulated and choreographed to elect persons sympathetic to Moon and her aims.”

Arguing on behalf of the Idaho GOP, Smith contends Moon never saw the BCRCC appeal prior to the lawsuit being filed because it was filed with Silver, who in addition to being the state Republican Party vice chair is also chairman of the Idaho GOP Judiciary Committee.

Smith stated that the Idaho GOP changed its bylaws last year to switch the body tasked with hearing appeals from the Judiciary Committee to the Executive Committee, meaning the appeal should have been filed directly with Moon as opposed to with Silver.

Further, Smith contends the BCRCC election on July 20 was properly invalidated because Cravens called and held the meeting after announcing his resignation on June 15 and Idaho law states that once Cravens resigned, the vice chair, Thompson at the time, should have become the acting chair, which meant Thompson should have called and presided over the July 20 election rather than Cravens.

Additionally, Smith argued that in order for a preliminary injunction to be warranted, the BCRCC would need to show it would suffer irreparable injury as the result of “real and imminent harm” and must prove it would successfully win the appeal over the invalidated July 20 election.

Simpson asked both Chaney and Smith if they would like to file additional briefs on the issue with the court and both attorneys declined.

Simpson then took the matter under advisement and said he would make a ruling on the preliminary injunction by the end of next week.

The next scheduled court hearing in the lawsuit is set for Oct. 19 at the Bingham County Courthouse where Simpson will take up a motion from Chaney who’s requesting that Smith be disqualified as the attorney of record for the Idaho GOP, claiming a conflict of interest because Smith provided legal advice to Thompson before the suit was filed and has advised other members of the Idaho GOP Central Committee regarding this case.

Further, Chaney contends that Smith is a material witness in the lawsuit.

The motion to disqualify Smith was filed Thursday and the Idaho GOP has yet to file a response.