COEUR d’ALENE — If the Kootenai County GOP’s defamation lawsuit against one of its own goes to trial, it won’t happen before October, about two years after the suit was initially filed.

Last October, Kootenai County Republican Central Committee sued Dan Gookin, a precinct committeeman and Coeur d’Alene city councilor, accusing Gookin of defaming the organization by accusing it of “rigging its 2023 candidate ‘rating and vetting’ process, perpetrating a fraud on its members and violating campaign finance laws — things which simply have not happened.” 

The parties are scheduled to come together for mediation in late February. If they can’t reach a resolution, a five-day jury trial is expected to begin Oct. 20. 

Gookin previously described the lawsuit as “obviously an election stunt.” The central committee’s complaint was filed three weeks before the general election in which Gookin was running to retain his city council seat and required an answer by Election Day. 

“They’re going to throw this at me and try to make me look bad,” he told The Press at the time. 

Gookin has maintained that his criticism of the central committee is protected under the First Amendment. 

"It’s not defamatory,” he said after the suit was filed. “It’s not malicious. It is legitimate criticism.” 

In court filings, the central committee asserted that as a “proximate result of Gookin’s Defamatory Posts, KCRCC has incurred general damages for harm to its reputation and goodwill, in an amount to be proven at trial. KCRCC also incurred special damages in the amount of $1,879.00 for printing expenses in connection with a letter that was necessary to dispel the false information Gookin published.”

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Bill Buley contributed to this report.