MERIDIAN, Idaho — A co-founder of the Concerned Citizens of Meridian, which tried to dissolve the Meridian Library District this year, has filed to run for Meridian's mayor.
Mike Hon filed his paperwork to run for mayor in the November 2023 election to the city's clerk on Sept. 7, documents show. Hon will be running against current Meridian Mayor Robert Simison, who filed to run again on Aug. 28.
Hon, an associate broker at Fathom Realty, has been vocal about his dissatisfaction for the Meridian Library Board and its trustees. He said in a March 22 meeting to dissolve the board that books with sexual material that are "directly accessible to children without parental consent." He said these books harm minors and that library leadership continues denying their existence.
In the petition filed by Hon's group in order to dissolve the district, they wrote that the library district has allowed minors to obtain material targeted towards sexualization and that the the board "continues to provide facilities for sexual indoctrination of minors by the Queer Straight Alliance."
But, on March 29, the Ada County Board of Commissioners decided against letting local voters decide to dissolve the district. "To dissolve a district would be overwhelmingly disruptive," Commissioner Rod Beck said previously. "I would hope that the library board and petitioners can get together and resolve some of these differences."
The Concerned Citizens group have also been vocal and involved in issues about gender and sexuality, and even the appointment of Ryan Cole to the Central District Health Board. They also held a prayer vigil outside the Meridian Library Director's home.
In 2021, Hon ran for Meridian City Council Seat 6 but lost to current city councilmember Luke Cavener. Cavener had a 56-vote lead over Hon, who later submitted a written request to the Idaho Attorney General for the recount of three precincts: 1418, 1420 and 2003.
The results of the election were unchanged following the recount. Hon also ran for the Idaho House of Representatives in District 20 as a Republican in 2022, but lost in the primary.
Among Hon's supporters, 27 of them also emailed the city of Meridian in November of last year asking for Hon to be appointed to the city council to replace Sen. Treg Bernt, R-Meridian, the Idaho Press previously reported. Bernt later resigned from his council position anyway, to spend time serving in the legislature.
KTVB reached out to Hon via phone and message, but has not yet received a response at the time of publication.
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