In regard to Kootenai County Treasurer Tom Malzahn's press release to rescind his retirement, his statements and assumptions were inaccurate and the actual decisions made by me, Neil Oliver, chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, need to be noted.

I was contacted by Mr. Malzahn on Feb. 19, 2013. Mr. Malzahn told me of his plan to resign from the Office of Treasurer and his desire to have a nomination meeting before he vacated the office. I immediately contacted the State Party for clarification of the Party Rules and State Code on the issue.

State Statute 59-906 sub section 2, allows the Central Committee to proceed with the selection of a replacement based on a written notice of intent to resign when the notice to resign specifies the effective date of the resignation.

Since Mr. Malzahn's letter specified a retirement date of March 28, I alone made the decision to schedule a Special Meeting for the replacement process as required by State Party Rules Article VI, Section 1. This section of the State Party Rules also calls for a Special Meeting. A regular meeting would not be in compliance and therefore the assertion by Mr. Malzahn that there were three meetings that had passed is inaccurate since only a special meeting would meet the requirements of the State Party Rules. The date of the first special meeting was planned for March 12, 2013.

However, I then postponed the March 12 special meeting after being contacted by several precinct committeemen who thought the meeting date was being held too soon and that it should be moved to a different date. I chose April 2 to be that date. This choice was purely due to a need for proper preparation and also due to considerable scheduling issues.

The new date of April 2 was well within State Statute 59-906 sub section 1, which allows the Central Committee to submit three names to the county commissioners "within 15 days of the day the office is vacated."

Therefore, Mr. Malzahn's statement to the county commissioners that the KCRCC "failed to act" states inaccurately the issue. In review of State Statute 59-906 there are two allowed timelines for having a meeting to select a replacement for a county office holder. So it becomes apparent that the real reason he rescinded his resignation was because I did not choose, in the end, the method and timeline that Mr. Malzahn wanted, which clearly does not constitute a failure to act on my part or the Central Committee.

It is worth noting that I stayed in communication with Mr. Malzahn and let him know the reason for the delay of the first special meeting on the day that I determined the delay needed to happen. I also informed him during that conversation that the meeting would be on April 2.

As chairman of the KCRCC, I find it sad and very unfortunate that Mr. Malzahn did not try even once to communicate his concerns to me about the rescheduling of the special meeting from March 12 to April 2. He instead chose to issue his irrational and accusatory press release and letter to the county commissioners, both dated on March 22 without the factual knowledge surrounding the decisions made by me that led to the rescheduled date of the special meeting.

Neil Oliver is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.