Doorbell camera catches Kuna school board candidate replacing foe’s flyer with her own
A Kuna School Board hopeful may have dampened her election chances this week when doorbell camera footage surfaced showing her taking an opponent’s campaign flyer from a door jamb and replacing it with her own.
Even more damning, she admitted that it wasn’t the first time she had done such a thing.
The footage, posted to a private Facebook Group called Kuna Must Know, showed Zone 2 candidate Kristi Hardy arriving at the doorstop of a Kuna home just 20 minutes after her opponent, two-term incumbent and board chair James Grant, had stopped by.
Grant can be seen in the time-stamped video inserting a flyer between the front door and its frame at 4:21 p.m. on Tuesday. He didn’t knock or ring the doorbell, and promptly left. At 4:42 p.m., Hardy walked up to the same home, rang the doorbell and quickly took Grant’s flyer, the footage showed. She looked around for a second before placing her flyer in the door jamb instead.
A “no soliciting” sign affixed to the house can be seen in the right side of the frame.
Hardy did not respond to a phone call from the Idaho Statesman asking for comment. In an interview with KTVB, she admitted to taking the flyer and also acknowledged that it wasn’t her first time doing that.
Opponent ‘trying to stay positive’
In a phone interview with the Statesman, Grant said: “I thought she had more integrity than that. I’m really trying to stay positive and focus on the good things I’ve done since I’ve been on the school board. It just made me feel sad that someone would do that.”
More than two dozen people sent him the footage, he said. It was also shared in the private Facebook group with over 20,000 members. Lauri Allen, who posted it, said the footage came from the homeowner.
The post was flooded with comments. One Kuna resident, Marla Anderson, said Hardy “just lost our vote. ... Your true character shows when you think no one is watching.”
Hardy addressed the video in a post to the page on Friday, where she apologized and said she “acted in haste in a moment of weakness.”
Since the footage surfaced, Grant said his opponent has called him, but he hasn’t answered. Grant, a dentist who owns a practice called Avalon Dentistry, said he’s been “slammed” with work, coaching football in the Kuna School District and campaigning. He was first elected to the board eight years ago.
Hardy is the owner of Cinderella Dress Rentals, a boutique on West Main Street that rents formal gowns.
Removing campaign signs is petit theft in Idaho
Chelsea Carattini, a spokesperson for Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, told the Statesman that McGrane was traveling and had not seen the footage. She said Idaho law treats such incidents as petit theft.
“This is not uncommon, unfortunately,” Carattini said Friday. “It definitely happens frequently where campaign signs are removed, stolen or vandalized. We encourage anyone affected to contact local law enforcement, and let them investigate and handle the situation.”
Ahead of the Nov. 7 election, Grant said he plans to knock on every door in Zone 2, which includes neighborhoods in northern Kuna.
Two other incumbent school board members are defending their seats for another term.
Who’s running for Kuna School Board? Take a look at the candidates in our Voter Guide
Ada County voters: See here who’s running in November 2023 elections in your city
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