BOISE, Idaho — Even after commissioners from Valley County voted 2-1 against approving Doctor Ryan Cole's appointment to the Central District Health Board, the controversial medical expert is one step closer to officially joining the board.
Sherry Maupin was the sole Valley County commissioner to back Dr. Cole's appointment. She said she supported Cole's appointment because she thinks people should have the option to make up their own minds about getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
"We do need more people to get vaccinated. The vaccine has been proven, hundreds of millions of vaccines have been given, so I would encourage people to do your research and homework there, but I also believe in the personal freedom to say yes or no," she said.
Valley County commissioners Elt Hasbrouck and David Bingaman said they listened to the opinions of doctors before they voted against Cole's appointment.
"I did get contacted by all three of our doctors up here, and all three of them were adamantly opposed to Dr. Cole's appointment and would like us to vote against him," Hasbrouck said, "and they have been wonderful help and they have been giving advice on a lot of this stuff, so I'm probably going to do kind of what their wish is and vote against him."
Bingaman said he spoke with medical experts in the Treasure Valley and in Valley County, and he didn't get the chance to vote for one of the candidates, so he would vote no on Cole too.
Commissioner Bingaman sent this addition this afternoon to The 208, saying Dr. Cole's positions on our current number one health issue, COVID, "do not appear to represent the best interests of Idahoans or put us on a trajectory towards improving the current COVID situation. Furthermore, his public comments have only served to further politicize an issue that should not be political in my mind."
However, Boise County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve Cole. One more "yes" vote from commissioners in Elmore County would give Cole the majority vote needed to confirm his appointment.
Boise County Chair Ryan Stirm told The 208 that he felt Cole was qualified and he brings science and intelligence to the CDH board, which it has been missing since Doctor Ted Epperly left the board at the end of June.
After Ada County commissioners voted 2-1 for Cole, Valley County voted 1-2 against Cole and Boise County voted 3-0 for Cole, it comes down to Elmore County.
If just one of the Elmore County commissioners votes in favor of Cole's appointment, then the majority needed is reached. Commissioner Al Hofer told KTVB on Tuesday morning that Elmore County commissioners don't want to vote on Cole until they get the chance to interview him. Hofer said they've reached out to Cole to interview him on Sept. 3., but have yet to hear back from him.
If Elmore County votes 0-3 against Cole's appointment, then commissioners' final vote would be 6-6, likely sending the appointment back to Ada County commissioners.
However, CDH isn't even confident in what were to happen in the event of a tie vote. Officials told KTVB that something like this has never happened in recent memory.
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