COEUR d'ALENE - Infighting at the state level of the Republican Party continued this week, as two factions called separate meetings of the central committee to determine who will lead the party.

"The executive committee met last week because we had some paperwork that had to be filed with the Secretary of State's office and the Federal Election Commission," said Cindy Siddoway, Idaho's National Committeewoman.

Siddoway, who is the spouse of Idaho Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, said the party's executive committee elected interim officers who were able to sign the federal and state reports, and they also voted to set up a state central committee meeting to elect officers before the Republican National Committee meeting.

"We had about 20 people request the meeting," she said.

Siddoway said the meeting will be held Aug. 2 at 9 a.m. in the Red Lion Hotel in Boise.

Former Party Chairman Barry Peterson, who asserts he is still chairman of the state party, has also called for a central committee meeting on Aug. 9, at an Idaho location to be designated by the chairmen of the various counties. The purpose of the meeting is to resolve the status of party leadership, his press release stated.

"But there is a problem with the chairman's meeting," Siddoway said. "I don't know if it was an oversight or what, but his meeting overlaps the Republican National Convention."

If the leadership isn't resolved by then, Idaho will not be fully represented at the convention.

She said the RNC will take place in Chicago on Aug. 6-9, and Idaho has three votes at the convention. The state's national committeewoman, the national committeeman and the state party chair all have a vote at the national level.

"The RNC has already determined that Idaho does not have a party chairman," she said, adding that the state party's own legal counsel has come to the same conclusion.

Peterson, on the other hand, sought an outside legal opinion last week to reinforce his assertion that he is the chairman of the party, and changed the locks at the Republican headquarters in Boise.

He also called a meeting of the state's standing rules committee to confirm that all of the officers who were elected at the 2012 state convention would continue to serve until the 2016 convention, which the committee did recommend.

The 2014 convention was adjourned without individually electing officers, but some of the convention delegates say they were led to believe if they voted to adjourn the convention, the sitting officers would continue to serve another two years.

Siddoway said Peterson's Aug. 9 meeting is to confirm the findings of the rules committee. State rules require the full central committee to adopt the findings of the rules committee before they can take effect.

Contacted by cellphone, Peterson declined to speak to The Press.

"I am busier than a one-armed paper hanger, so I think I will pass on this one," he said before abruptly hanging up.

Kootenai County Republican Central Committee Chairman Neil Oliver did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking clarification on which state meeting the local party was going to recognize.