- A local school board race near Boise heated up when one of the candidates was caught on a ring camera removing her opponent’s flyer from a house
- The candidate, Kristi Hardy, is challenging a two-term incumbent in the Nov. 7 race
- When confronted about her actions, she described her behavior as a “moment of weakness,” for which she said she would apologize to her opponent.
Idaho doorbell camera drama sets up a local school board race between a third-term incumbent and the woman who plays dirty in her bid to replace him.
Kristi Hardy was caught on camera last week stealing a flyer from the doorframe of a community center, where her opponent had just left his own campaign materials.
Incumbent Zone 2 board chairman James ‘JD’ Grant had stopped by the Kuna house 20 minutes earlier to leave a campaign flyer for the house’s residents.
Hardy was then filmed brutally taking it away and replacing it with her own copy, in what she claimed was a ‘moment of weakness’ after she was caught on a doorbell camera.
Candidates in small communities often use door knocking as a strategy to connect with voters in the run-up to elections and provide the best pitch of themselves and their platform to win votes.
The pair of opponents stop at the same community center in Kuna, Idaho, just minutes apart
Kristi Hardy is seen on a nearby ring camera removing her school board opponent’s flyer from a community center
Hardy tried to explain herself after being caught on camera:
“I walked to the door, saw my opponent’s flyer stuck in the traffic jam, and I grabbed it – you know – in a moment of weakness.
‘I just accepted it. It would fall to the ground. And I haven’t seen the video, but I think I folded it. To be honest, I didn’t think much about it after that. These (flyers) all end up in the trash at some point,” she said.
In a phone interview, Hardy told a local outlet that she has only done what she caught on camera “a few times.”
“When I see it in the door frame, I put it in my hand.”
She added that about “90 percent of people have cameras,” and if her behavior were truly a recurring problem – which she said it isn’t – many more videos of her would have found their way onto the internet by now .
‘I’m sorry. “I will call him and apologize,” she said.
Grant was informed of the incident on Wednesday by friends and supporters, who contacted him to tell him how popular the video had become on Facebook.
Kuna, Idaho school board candidates Hardy (left) and Grant (right) became embroiled in a small ring camera business when Hardy was caught removing Grant’s flyer from a neighborhood door
He says this is his third school board election cycle, but it was unique in terms of how much money was raised. Commenting on his opponent’s behavior, he said:
“I know Kristi. I think she is a good person and means well. I think she just messed up.”
Hardy has raised about $16,000 for her campaign, while Grant’s efforts are entirely privately funded.
He said after the incident that he is “trying to take the high road.”
“I want my campaign to stay positive and talk about the good things happening in the neighborhood.”
Hardy made fun of himself and the ring camera debacle, later writing in a text message to KTVB, “I’ve decided to bring a chaperone with me when I go door to door from now on!”
Hardy is the owner of the local small business Cinderella Dress Rentals, while Grant is a dentist who runs a practice called Avalon Dentistry. The latter of the two has served two terms on the Kuna School Board and coaches football, basketball and track and field for the district.
School board trustees, who will be elected Nov. 7, serve four-year terms.
Kuna, Idaho is a rapidly growing area in the Boise metro area of the state.