Valley House Homeless Shelter guests were used as pawns in a political prank during the Idaho GOP Convention. They demand an apology from the person responsible.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — People living at the Valley House Homeless Shelter mistakenly attended a meet-and-greet last Thursday with former Idaho GOP Chairman Tom Luna.
Luna called it “Pizza and Patriots” where he intended to meet with GOP delegates and potentially earn their vote ahead of his bid at re-election, according to event organizer Tyler Hurst.
Someone passed out fake flyers at the shelter inviting its guests to “Pizza for the Hungry,” where they could meet with Luna to “benefit the needy.” People from the shelter were used as a pawn in a political prank, according to Valley House Executive Director John Spiers.
“I hate the fact we got thrust into this, because we had nothing to do with this. But here we are,” Spiers said. “We are going to continue caring for people at Valley House and caring for the people in the Magic Valley and as much as possible, avoid this type of political garbage that is happening.”
A family from the shelter arrived at the event 15 minutes before it started, according to Hurst. It left him confused at first until the family showed Hurst the flyer they had received.
Hurst, and the Luna campaign, welcomed the family into the event and offered them pizza.
“I’m convinced most people would have done the same,” Hurst said. “They were dressed up. They were so cute. This little family comes in, and they thought this was a really special event to meet the GOP chairman on the flyer. They thought this was a really great opportunity for them.”
Representative Dorothy Moon defeated Luna for the GOP Chair. While she was Luna’s opponent in the election, Moon had nothing to do with the prank, according to Hurst.
Moon denounced the prank during her nomination speech this past weekend.
“We are so divided as a party where people we will go so far as to use humans at their lowest as political pawns to make a joke or political point. That’s horrible,” Hurst said.
Multiple sources have told KTVB the name of the person behind this prank. However, no source was willing to confirm the name in an on-the-record conversation.
Spiers has given this person 24 hours to apologize to his staff and guests. Depending on the outcome of this apology, Spiers may or may not publicly name the person.
“From what I understand after talking to the person, they wanted to make the Luna campaign aware of people in need, because they didn’t believe people in need were being seen,” Spiers said.
Spiers doesn’t believe this excuse, and neither does Hurst.
“Tom was homeless as a child. Tom understands the needs of the homeless population,” Hurst said. “If they wanted to do that, why didn’t they run a resolution – or rule – or platform at the convention they were at? That sounds like a political answer trying to scapegoat what they actually did.”
