Former Republican candidate for governor Rex Rammell said he supports a provision of the party’s platform asking candidates in Republican primaries to say where they disagree with the platform.

Rammell said in a note on his Facebook page Sunday that the disclosure requirement in the platform, often labeled a loyalty oath, is a way for voters to make sure candidates aren’t using the Republican Party as a steppingstone to power.

“No candidate, in any party, should be asking the members of that party to support them if they are not willing to disclose to those members their true beliefs and intentions,” said Rammell, who added that he’d be happy to sign a disclosure statement.

Rammell lost to Gov. Butch Otter in the May Republican primary and ran as an independent against Jim Risch for the U.S. Senate in 2008.  He told IdahoReporter.com after the primary that he has no future plans to seek elected office, and that he won’t support Otter’s re-election bid in November.

Otter and other Republicans have expressed concerns over the disclosure requirement, saying there are planks in the party’s platform they disagree with.  Rammell said that the only place he disagrees with the platform is over income taxes.  The GOP platform advocates reducing income taxes, while Rammell would eliminate the state income tax.

Read Rammell’s full Facebok note below.

I have read the newly adopted Idaho Republican Party platform in its entirety and find that it reads very well.  The addition of a disclosure statement (AKA: loyalty oath by the liberal media) is prudent practice in the preservation of party ideals and is important in distinguishing those candidates who value and uphold the Republican Party principles and those merely using the Republican Party as a stepping stone to power.  The members of the Republican Party and the voting public have a right to know if a candidate carrying the Republican banner truly stands for the principles of the Republican Party, just as much as Democrats have a right to know if their candidate believes in the principles they value.  No candidate, in any party, should be asking the members of that party to support them if they are not willing to disclose to those members their true beliefs and intentions.  I do not find the disclosure statement offensive at all as it is merely asking Republican candidates if they have read the Republican platform, do they agree with it and if not where do they differ?  A disclosure statement is a great step towards restoring trust and confidence between political candidates and voters and I fully support it and would be happy to sign it with the exception that I believe Idaho needs to eliminate personal and corporate income tax to stimulate Idaho’s economy.