COEUR d’ALENE — The director of a Twin Falls homeless shelter said David Reilly attempted to make families receiving shelter services the butt of a political prank during the Idaho Republican Party’s convention last week.

John Spiers, executive director of Valley House Homeless Shelter, told Boise television station KTVB that Reilly is responsible for distributing fake flyers at the shelter advertising “pizza for the hungry” at a meet-and-greet with former Idaho GOP Chairman Tom Luna.

The real event, called “Pizza for Patriots,” was advertised to all delegates at the GOP convention.

Reilly, of Post Falls, attended the convention as a delegate from Kootenai County, according to the convention roll published on the Idaho GOP’s convention website.

After people using the homeless shelter’s services, including children, arrived at the venue and asked if it was the place where they could get pizza for dinner, event organizers reportedly provided them with food and drink.

Luna, who has publicly said he was unhoused at one point in his childhood, called the stunt “shameful.”

Spiers said he recognized Reilly in a photo and later spoke to him on the phone.

He gave Reilly 24 hours to apologize for the stunt. When no apology came, Spiers publicly identified Reilly as the person who dropped off the flyers.

Reilly did not respond Thursday to a Press request for comment.

Though he has not publicly denied the allegations, Reilly tweeted Wednesday that the “whole story was cooked up by RINO political operatives.”

“A family in need was fed a meal and given the opportunity to speak Truth to Power, and the media wants everyone to think that this is somehow a bad thing?” he wrote on Twitter.

Reilly also posted a screenshot showing a $100 donation to the shelter.

Brent Regan, chair of the Kootenai County GOP, confirmed Thursday that Reilly had credentials to enter the Republican convention.

Reilly is not a member of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, Regan said.

Any registered voter affiliated with the Republican Party for at least 30 days can be a delegate. Central committees vote to determine which nominees go to the state convention.

In Kootenai County, Regan said, the 65 candidates who receive the most votes become delegates. The rest are alternates.

A recent Pennsylvania transplant, Reilly has been condemned by multiple pro-Israel organizations for his antisemitic writings. In 2017, he sparked outrage in his community by attending the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

Reilly, who posted on social media that Jewish people foist “the blame for their bad behavior” onto people of European heritage, ran for a seat on the Post Falls School Board last year. He lost the election, despite an endorsement from the county GOP.

He registered as a Democrat in April and participated in a failed plan by some area Republicans to infiltrate and dismantle the Kootenai County Democrats.

He also ran for a Democratic precinct captain position and as a write-in candidate for governor.

Reilly has since switched back to the Republican Party.

Regan has criticized “crossover voting,” in which voters switch party affiliations in order to vote in a different party’s primary election.

At the GOP convention, Regan spoke in favor of a proposed rule that would disqualify certain voters from voting in Republican primaries, including anyone who affiliated with any other political party less than 25 months before the primary.

Still, Regan said Reilly’s party switching should not permanently disqualify him from engaging with the local or state GOP, so long as he adheres to the rules that could go into effect in the future.

“If somebody plays by the rules, we’re not going to sit there and say, ‘We don’t like some of the things you’ve done,’” Regan said.

Regan said he hasn’t made a close accounting of Reilly’s past actions.

“(Reilly) likes attention and he’s been getting it,” Regan said. “Would I prefer that he wasn’t pulling shenanigans? Yeah, probably.”

Some committee members are upset by Reilly’s alleged actions, Regan said, and he expects the subject to come up at the group’s next meeting.

The matter may be referred to a subcommittee for investigation, Regan said.

“Before you mete out some kind of punishment, you’d have to go through some kind of process,” he said. “We’re not going to go off hearsay.”

That punishment could be to prohibit Reilly from being a Kootenai County delegate in the future, Regan said. But any action will need the support of the majority of the committee.

“That’s for them to decide,” he said.