Who's who in the Coeur d'Alene GOP town hall fracas that sparked free speech debate

Yahoo

03-03-2025

Mar. 2—Coeur d'Alene found itself in the national spotlight again on Feb. 22, this time after plainclothes security dragged three-time Democratic candidate Teresa Borrenpohl out of a legislative town hall in Coeur d'Alene High School organized by the Kootenai County GOP.
The event generated national outrage, with the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee accused of violently violating Borrenpohl's rights to free speech, while the county party and its allies have accused Borrenpohl of a pattern of confrontational demonstrations.
Videos of Borrenpohl being wrestled from her chair by unmarked and unidentified security at Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris' direction went viral on Instagram. Photos of men later identified as employees of security company Lear Asset Management dragging Borrenpohl across the high school's floor were published in the Washington Post, New York Times and across social media.
Those around the U.S. began contributing to her GoFundMe, "Fight for the First," which has raised over $300,000.
It's been less than a year since Coeur d'Alene last found itself in national news, when in April an 18-year-old allegedly yelled racial slurs at the visiting University of Utah women's basketball team. The county GOP inserted itself into that controversy, with the party expressing more dismay that the reporting party had referred to locals as "rednecks" and amplifying commentary more outraged about accusations of systemic racism than the racism itself.
Now, the KCRCC finds itself squarely at the center of Coeur d'Alene's latest viral incident. The group has taken to social media to deny any wrongdoing and to place blame for the incident squarely on Borrenpohl, whose activism the organization has implied is spurred by outside agitators.
For those who have followed politics in North Idaho and Coeur d'Alene, in particular, in recent years, many of the figures in the chaotic town hall may be familiar. But with many new eyes on the region, here's a rundown of the who's who of the Feb. 22 fracas.
Teresa Borrenpohl
Three-time Democratic candidate for office Teresa Borrenpohl has been a longstanding opponent of Kootenai County's Republican Party and its reshaping of the North Idaho College, where she was formerly employed. In recent years, she has been repeatedly accused of disruptive and insulting behavior at meetings organized by the KCRCC or where its members held leadership roles.
Borrenpohl, who grew up in central Kansas and moved to Idaho around 15 years ago, has spent her career in higher education. She earned her doctorate of Education Leadership from Idaho State University in 2017. In her first run for office in 2020, she highlighted that her family had progressed from a fifth-grade education to her earning a doctorate within the span of a single generation.
She worked in enrollment at North Idaho College for eight years, leaving in 2022, the same year the county GOP won a majority on that college's board. She worked for the Spokane branches of Washington State University and then the University of Washington School of Medicine, where she is listed as assistant to an assistant dean.
She unsuccessfully applied last spring to an open position as Central Washington University's associate vice president of enrollment management.
Borrenpohl ran for seats in the Idaho Legislature in 2020, 2022 and 2024, each time losing resoundingly to state Rep. Tony Wisniewski, who served as vice chairman of the Kootenai County GOP for eight years.
Wisniewski was one of the legislators who attended the town hall last Saturday, and it was after Borrenpohl interjected that "Women are dying" while Wisniewski spoke about abortion that the heated reactions of Norris and event emcee Ed Bejarana escalated.
In the days after Borrenpohl was dragged out of the town hall, the county GOP has accused her of repeatedly disrupting public events, including by pulling a fire alarm and evacuating a raucous NIC board meeting a month after the party won its majority in 2022.
At a significant Dec. 9 special board meeting that would shake up school leadership and with no allotted time for the public to speak, Borrenpohl and other demonstrators walked to the podium immediately following the Pledge of Allegiance demanding to speak. Greg McKenzie, then board chair, warned they would be removed by security if they did not sit down and called the demonstrators bullies as they chanted for him to let them speak.
After a brief recess, McKenzie spoke over the restarted chanting for a few seconds before it stopped and protesters returned to their seats. About four minutes later, Borrenpohl looked around the room, got up and walked out; another 30 seconds later, the fire alarm went off and the meeting was evacuated.
A campus security report identified that Borrenpohl entered the hallway where the alarm was pulled about 15 seconds before it was set off. The report says footage didn't show anyone else go down the hall in that time frame. But there were no witnesses to the alarm being pulled and it wasn't on camera, according to the report. Charges weren't pursued by the Coeur d'Alene city attorney, citing a lack of evidence.
"Her actions align with a broader pattern, as reports emerge nationally of Democrats targeting similar gatherings," the county GOP wrote in a recent social media post.
The organization has suggested in the replies of its posts that the town hall protest was instigated by outside Democratic bogeymen, like George Soros .
Bob Norris
Norris was first elected sheriff in 2020. He previously worked in the department's search and rescue unit, and before that served a 30-year career at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.
He went viral almost immediately after being sworn into office after a video was published in February 2021 showing Norris threatening to pepper spray a man who was filming a traffic stop.
In 2023 he drew attention for unilaterally deciding to remove two books from the local Community Library Network that he believed were sexually explicit and shouldn't be available to children, saying he would rather pay for the overdue or replacement fees than return them.
He has more recently drawn regional attention for allegedly calling a photographer a pedophile in a public meeting in October, for which he is currently being sued, and for his all-hands-on-deck support for the Trump administration's deportation efforts.
The national attention on Norris has renewed questions about disability payments that Norris receives following his 30-year career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.
These payments were also questioned in 2020 and 2024 during Norris' runs for the sheriff's office. In 2020, Norris denied receiving such payments, according to an article from the Coeur d'Alene Press.
"Norris has debunked critics by publishing documents to show perceived malfeasance was based on misinformation, and says he receives no disability payments, but a pension from 30 years at the Los Angeles Sheriff's office."
But publicly available reports indicate Norris has received between $128,000 and $150,000 in annual disability payments from the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association since 2015, according to pension database Transparent California. In 2020, when that article was printed, Norris was reported to have received $141,623 in disability payments.
The Spokesman-Review provided specific questions regarding these payments to Norris' office on Tuesday afternoon. He did not respond.
According to LACERA, disability retirement can only be granted to an employee after an independent physician "confirms that the member is permanently incapacitated and cannot perform their job duties."
Sheriff's candidate Dan Wilson in 2024 questioned whether the incumbent was a valid recipient of disability payments, arguing that an inability to perform his job duties as a patrol deputy with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office would seem to foreclose his ability to have worked in Kootenai County's search and rescue office or perform many of his documented actions as sheriff.
In response, Norris organized a town hall-style event in which he argued he was debunking Wilson's claims that he was "100% disabled," reporting that he was only 12-13% disabled in his shoulders.
In a Thursday interview, Wilson said he had meant that Norris' retirement payments were 100% attributed to disability retirement — true, according to Transparent California — and noted Norris' initial attempts to grab Borrenpohl himself before turning to security staff with Lear Asset Management.
"He goes hands-on and is forcibly removing someone in this town hall, and there are other instances where he is seen to be performing what would be considered the duties of a sworn law enforcement officer," Wilson said.
Wilson has pointed to communications showing that Norris has expressed frustration with Borrenpohl specifically going back to at least late 2023. In an email to the chair of the Kootenai County Democrats, Norris expressed he was "disappointed" in Borrenpohl for "berating me as she walked out of the event."
Given the level of Norris' response, Wilson thinks Norris had already had a "grudge" against Borrenpohl prior to the event.
Chief Lee White
Coeur d'Alene police Chief Lee White has maintained to the media it was inappropriate to remove Borrenpohl from the town hall for jeering because it could violate her First Amendment right to free speech. He previously told The Spokesman-Review that "you can restrict behavior, but you cannot restrict content."
"For instance, you can't allow cheers, but then not allow jeers. It's got to be all or nothing," he said.
Norris asked Coeur d'Alene police to trespass Borrenpohl, but they declined because the town hall was marketed as a public event.
White has been continually thrust into the spotlight over the last few years for incidents that reach national news.
In 2022, White told the media his department was facing threats over the arrests of 31 white nationalists, known as Patriot Front. The group was arrested at a Coeur d'Alene LGBTQ+ Pride event, where police found riot gear, metal shields, a smoke grenade, long flagpoles and loudspeakers inside a moving U-Haul truck carrying the members.
Two years later, the University of Utah women's basketball team stayed in Coeur d'Alene and traveled across the border to the NCAA Tournament in Spokane. The team claimed they were racially harassed by people driving by as they walked back to their hotel from having dinner. An 18-year-old was never charged in connection to the incident.
White is a former Marine and rose through the ranks at the Mesa Police Department. He was named Coeur d'Alene police chief in 2014.
KCRCC
The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, the official Republican Party of Kootenai County , hosted the town hall at Coeur d'Alene High School to give people a chance to engage with their lawmakers. A flyer posted on the committee's Facebook page did not indicate the event was only open to a select group of people — it says, "Get updates of the 2025 legislative session from your legislators!"
The committee has since claimed the town hall was private, in contrast to Chief White and the Coeur d'Alene School District, which said in a statement they would have never approved to host it in their auditorium if it was a private political event.
The committee has since posted on Facebook that "Borrenpohl chose defiance over compliance" and that they "acted wholly within our legal rights and Idaho law to ensure the peace, safety, and rights of those in attendance."
Marc Stewart, a recently elected member of the KCRCC, has since been "relieved" of his duties by the legislative subcommittee as of Wednesday night. The move came the same day that Stewart wrote on X, "This is NOT ok. I am disgusted and ashamed by what happened at last Saturday's town hall meeting. I was there and witnessed it. No one, and I mean no one, should be subjected to this kind of treatment."
The North Idaho Republicans, political action committee established to push back against KCRCC's influence on nonpartisan races, called the KCRCC a group that "promotes white nationalists and extremists." The traditional Republicans failed to win control of the county's party in last year's primary, but did gain a significant minority of seats in KCRCC.
The KCRCC was also the subject of controversy when they endorsed David Reilly for the Post Falls School District Board of Trustees in 2021. Reilly is known for attending the deadly white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and did not apologize for his role in the march. He has claimed that "all Jews are dangerous" among other antisemitic comments.
This year, KCRCC is hosting Sean Spicer for Lincoln Day, an annual reception for the county's Republican party. Spicer is President Donald Trump's former press secretary.
Last year, the KCRCC brought in special guest Majorie Taylor Greene, a U.S. representative for the state of Georgia. Greene, who has parroted a number of far-right conspiracy theories, self-identifies as a Christian Nationalist.
Brent Regan
Brent Regan began his role in the county's Republican Party in 2014 when he was elected as his precinct committeeman. He is now the chairman of the KCRCC and has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump since 2016.
As the chairman of the KCRCC, Regan has maintained the town hall where Borrenpohl was forcibly dragged out was private — in an email Thursday, Regan claimed because the KCRCC is not a government organization, it is allowed to set the rules for its own events, which include not interrupting speakers.
Others have contended Borrenpohl had a right to speak out, because the event was public and the political party was not conducting official business, where free speech would have to be limited in some way.
"The First Amendment prohibits the government from infringing on free speech. The KCRCC is a PAC, a private organization (not the government) and as such we can set the rules for participation in our events," Regan wrote.
He later said via email, "It had nothing to do with WHAT she said. It was about HOW and WHEN she said it. Shouting out of turn and heckling, she was disrupting the assembly and therefore violating the rules of the assembly so she was no longer welcome and asked to leave. When she refused to leave she was trespassing which is why she was removed."
Regan's years of involvement in Idaho span further than just Kootenai County. He is also the chair of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit conservative think-tank. When the foundation faced criticism over its hire of Reilly, who marched at Charlottesville, former state Rep. Mary Souza demanded Regan disavow the behavior.
Regan refused, according to reporting from InvestigateWest.
Regan was fairly vocal on X last year — among his posts shines an accusation that former vice president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris is not a "natural born citizen."
Regan also writes a column every week called, "It's Just Common Sense," in which he typically defends and supports the actions of the Trump administration.
Ed Bejarana
Event emcee Ed Bejarana also has faced scrutiny for the mocking commentary he delivered as Borrenpohl was being seized.
As Borrenpohl shouted at legislators, Bejarana spoke up, arguing Borrenpohl and other "rabble rousers" were disrespecting the time of legislators and others in the audience.
After Norris began to demand Borrenpohl leave the venue and unidentified security guards employed by Lear Asset Management physically dragged her from the room, Bejarana raised his voice, mocking Borrenpohl and other agitators.
"This little girl is afraid to leave," he said. "She spoke up, and now she doesn't want to suffer the consequences."
"We've just got to be a little aggressive with some of these folks here," he added not long after.
As Borrenpohl screamed for the men dragging her from her seat to identify themselves, Bejarana began to parody her with a verbal affect meant to belittle Borrenpohl as a "little girl," as he described her earlier.
"Oh no, no, I shouldn't be removed, I should be allowed to yell, cry and scream," he said.
Bejarana serves as president of Zenith Exhibits, a display-making firm based in Coeur d'Alene, and is a political podcaster and voice actor with a specialization in audiobooks.
Bejarana's longest running voiceover project, according to his Audible page, was for five volumes in the "The Cor Chronicles," a fantasy thriller series written by author Martin Parece. Parece published a video over the weekend disavowing Bejarana's conduct at the town hall, said he would not work with Bejarana in the future and was "investigating his options" regarding his contract.
Bejarana also previously served as a city councilman for Fairview, a small community near Portland, until his resignation in 2016. He was appointed to that position in 2015, following another councilman's resignation citing frustration with the influence wielded by the Fairview Business Association, of which Bejarana had been a member.
In 2015, he reportedly threatened to sue news outlet the Outlook if its reporters contacted him on his personal cellphone or email.
He resigned from that seat in 2016 amid an effort to recall him, the town mayor and another councilman over allegations of "behind-the-scene deal making and dishonesty," largely related to their affiliation with the Fairview Business Association, according to a Portland Tribune article.
"When I ran for City Council, the FBA was being vocal and loud that they were going to control the council," petitioner and former councilman Ted Kotsakis told the Tribune. "With having worked in state government for years, that didn't sit right with me; that a special-interest group was going to try to control the city council."
At the time, Bejarana said publicly that the decision to resign was unrelated to the recall petition, which ultimately failed due to a lack of signatures.
Lear Asset Management
The security guards who dragged Borrenpohl out of the venue and refused to identify themselves are employees of Lear Asset Management, a California-based security company formed in 2012 that gained renown for its Mendocino County raids on illegal marijuana grow operations.
Lear's website lists their services, including shoplifting prevention, dignitary and VIP protection services, and preventing timber theft on private lands.
Notably, Borrenpohl was confronted by Norris and Lear security shortly after shouting that a state Sen. Phil Hart, R-Kellogg, had once stolen timber from public land meant for sale to fund public schools in Idaho. Hart paid the state $2,450 in 2010, the 1996 market value of the logs he had taken to build his home, which Hart maintained he was legally allowed to do despite three court rulings to the contrary.
Paul Troette, owner and CEO of LEAR, told the Coeur d'Alene City Council last June that his employees wore uniforms that clearly said "Security Contractor" on them so they would be easily distinguishable from law enforcement. No uniforms are visible in footage of the incident.
Coeur d'Alene city law requires uniforms worn by security agents to be clearly marked with the word "Security."
The Coeur d'Alene Police Department is investigating Saturday's incident. The city revoked Lear Asset Management's security license in the aftermath, a news release from the department said.