Connection research · Research date 2026-09-15
Reclaim-adjacent personnel intersect Lauren McLean political orbit
Recorded status: Verified personnel/campaign links from City of Boise filings, campaign materials, nonprofit filings and contemporaneous reporting. No organizational control/coordination inference.
This is a dated research record. Its qualifications and open questions are part of the account. Association alone does not establish wrongdoing or control.
Multiple documented personnel links connect the Reclaim/Votes Idaho/Idahoans United orbit to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean's political network. Yvonne 'Sam' Sandmire, who served as Reclaim Idaho's Ada County co-chair during the 2018 Medicaid campaign and later as a Reclaim Idaho Fund director, was officially appointed political treasurer for Lauren McLean for Boise in 2019; McLean's second-term campaign site continued to identify Sam Sandmire as treasurer. Luke Mayville and his wife Elena made a personal $100 contribution to McLean's 2023 campaign. Melanie Folwell served as McLean's 2023 campaign manager and directed The Scrap Shop, a campaign consultancy paid more than $100,000 by McLean's campaign; Folwell later became executive director of Idahoans United for Women and Families. Colin Nash, previously active in Reclaim's Medicaid campaign and later executive director of Votes Idaho, was appointed to Boise City Council by McLean in April 2023. Nash's 2023 council campaign treasurer was Diana Lachiondo; the FY2024 filing for Gem State Housing Alliance/Neighbors for Boise lists Lachiondo as program director. These are verified person-to-campaign and person-to-organization relationships. They do not establish that McLean controls Reclaim, Votes Idaho, Idahoans United, or Gem State Housing Alliance, nor that those organizations coordinate with one another.
Source references
- Lauren McLean for Boise campaign treasurer filing — 2019 political treasurer/campaign finance records
- Lauren McLean campaign website — Paid-for disclaimer / second-term campaign
- Boise mayoral campaign spending and donors reporting — 2023 McLean campaign finance report
- Boise City Council appointment reporting — April 2023 appointment
- Gem State Housing Alliance Inc - Nonprofit Explorer — FY2024 officers/employees