Two local conservative groups fighting legal battle over Charlie Kirk appearance

IDAHO FALLS – A community event targeted towards conservative-minded people in eastern Idaho is the focus of a lawsuit.

Conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk and former Watersprings Pastor Rick Brown are headlining an event on April 29 called “Fight for Freedom.” OutWest Bible Church is hosting it at the Snake River Event Center, formerly known as the Shilo Inn Convention Center, at 780 Lindsay Boulevard in Idaho Falls.

But Doug Toomer, founder of Stand Up for Idaho, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization “advocating for the rights and liberties of all Idaho citizens” tells EastIdahoNews.com he and his team had a similar event planned for the same day and Kirk signed a contract with him. In a lawsuit filed on Feb. 15, Toomer claims OutWest wrongfully interfered with contractual obligations and stole the event from him.

“OutWest orchestrated with Charlie Kirk to cancel my contract (and enter into a new one) with them. I do not know how OutWest was able to do that,” Toomer says. “I do not know whether Charlie Kirk’s organization knew what was going on … but they didn’t even contact me.”

Kirk allegedly signed a contract with Stand Up for Idaho on Nov. 30 for an event on April 29 at Melaleuca Global Headquarters. Toomer later discovered a separate agreement between Kirk and OutWest had been signed on Feb. 1.

For a while, Toomer says OutWest Bible Church continued to advertise the event as a Stand Up for Idaho event, and even used the nonprofit’s marketing material.

The total cost to book Kirk was $30,000. Stand Up for Idaho paid an initial $15,000 non-refundable down payment. Toomer says he put himself on the hook when he offered his “personal guarantee” that the additional $15,000 would be paid at a later date.

Now that the Stand Up for Idaho event is no longer happening, Toomer says it’s unclear whether he’s still responsible for paying the additional fees.

“Since Charlie Kirk’s organization canceled my event, I would assume that I’m no longer on the hook for the other $15,000. But then they (would) owe me $15,000,” he says.

Toomer filed the lawsuit in hopes of getting a temporary restraining order against OutWest, which would prevent the church from “promoting, marketing, or otherwise participating in efforts regarding the April 29 Kirk event,” according to court documents. In a hearing last month, District Judge Dane Watkins issued a ruling on the matter.

“The judge said that (forbidding the event from taking place) was a pretty high bar, so he didn’t cancel the OutWest event. But (he did rule) that they cannot (advertise or infer) that it is a Stand Up for Idaho event or the original event,” Toomer says.

The event’s original title “Standing Up for Liberty” has since been replaced with “Fight for Freedom.”

Toomer’s perspective

Toomer says he was working with Kelly Golden to organize the event. They had worked on several projects together last year, including a series of video interviews with political candidates in the November election.

Golden is an administrative assistant with OutWest, but Toomer was not aware of that at the time. He says she represented herself as a volunteer who was working on behalf of Stand Up for Idaho.

Both Toomer and Golden attend OutWest and were familiar with Rick Brown as the founding pastor at Watersprings in Idaho Falls years ago. Since Brown was touring with Kirk, they reached out to Brown about hosting an event in Idaho Falls.

As the planning moved forward, Toomer says Golden wanted to be the person in charge of coordinating the event.

“She was already talking with Kirk’s organization, and I had no problem with her being involved (in that capacity),” says Toomer. “A group of us, including her, decided that Stand Up for Idaho, would be the contract holder for this event.”

In November, Toomer says OutWest donated $10,000 to Stand Up for Idaho to become major sponsors for the event. No official partnership between the two entities had been established outside of that, he says.

“On good faith and trust, Stand Up for Idaho agreed to be the contracting host and would fully accept all associated contractual and financial obligations, with OutWest having a supporting role helping plan and execute the event,” court records say.

Golden became the point of contact for the event, and in January, when Toomer tried to contact Kirk’s organization personally, he says “everything went south.”

“She (Golden) contended that since she was the point of contact for the effort that she was to have 100% control over all aspects of the event,” says Toomer. “Obviously, I could not allow that because Stand Up for Idaho was on the hook for everything.”

After Stand Up for Idaho’s efforts to resolve the issue were unsuccessful, Toomer alleges OutWest “enticed Mr. Kirk to enter into a separate agreement with OutWest.”

Golden’s perspective

Golden has a different perspective on how things played out and her relationship with Toomer and Stand Up for Idaho.

In her legal response to the lawsuit, she alleges “the understanding between OutWest and Stand Up for Idaho from the beginning was that this was a joint venture between the two parties.” Golden says both parties agreed she would be the point of contact. She made the initial contact with Kirk around April 2022 and in October, started ironing out the details for the event with Kirk’s operations director.

Toomer made his initial contact with Kirk’s team in November, Golden says in court records, and in January, “began circumventing my role as point of contact.”

OutWest met with Toomer in February to clear up misunderstandings.

“We kind of ended at an impasse, where one of us had to take the lead. OutWest offered to step back and let Stand Up for Idaho take it all. Charlie’s folks eventually stepped in and said, ‘Actually, we’re going to work with OutWest,'” says Golden.

That’s when Golden says Toomer and his team chose to file a lawsuit.

“It’s the weirdest custody battle I’ve ever seen,” says Golden. “Charlie’s people are scratching their heads on this because OutWest and Stand Up for Idaho have most of the same conservative values. They’ve gotten injunctions from Antifa, Black Lives Matter and progressive liberals, but not from conservative groups.”

This case provides a unique lens into what Golden believes is happening to the conservative movement on a national level. She says it’s counterproductive because rather than focusing on solving real problems, it causes more division among like-minded groups or organizations.

“We felt bad when Charlie’s folks chose to work with us when we had tried to pass it off to Stand Up. We’ve offered to let them be a sponsor, to work with them (in varying capacities). Whatever their reasons were, they chose not to work with us on that,” she says.

In an email to EastIdahoNews.com, Toomer says he’s “endured many sleepless nights” contemplating whether to take action or let it go. The answer came to him when someone asked him what Stand Up for Idaho really stands for.

“Doesn’t it stand for truth, honesty, integrity, openness, and fairness? If you don’t stand up and push back against this, then what will you really stand up against?” Toomer writes.

Toomer is now working with an attorney to get the matter resolved and to ensure that money spent preparing for the event is paid back, including those who had purchased tickets for the now defunct Stand Up for Idaho event. A date for the next step in the legal process has not been determined.

Meanwhile, tickets are on sale for OutWest Bible Church’s “Fight for Freedom” event. To learn more or purchase tickets, click here.