REPORTER: This happened around 9:15 last night when Staples store employees called authorities, saying a woman had threatened them with a gun. Now by looking through public records, we know that she is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the primary, is listed as a teacher at two local colleges and was previously a practicing medical doctor.
REPORTER: On Friday night, Boise police say 58-year-old Cynthia Clinkingbeard threatened three employees at this Staples store. Witnesses say she made strange, threatening remarks, then pulled out a handgun and threatened employees again. Then Clinkingbeard left in a car. Using a witness description, a sheriff’s deputy spotted the car and pulled her over; it turns out two other people were also inside the car, but they didn’t know what happened inside the store.
REPORTER: One week before police arrested Clinkingbeard for felony aggravated assault charges, KVTB interviewed her as a witness to a house fire in Boise.
CLINKINGBEARD: Noticed three or four emergency response vehicles, turned in to see what was going on and an entire house had gone up in flames.
REPORTER: At the end of that interview, she mentioned her run for Congress.
MALE REPORTER: Anything else?
CLINKINGBEARD: Clinkingbeard for U.S. House of Representatives.
MALE REPORTER: All right.
REPORTER: She has filed papers to run in the 1st District as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Raul Labrador. In other roles, she is a teacher. Current course catalogs show Clinkingbeard teaches health and wellness classes at College of Western Idaho, and Boise State’s directory lists her as adjunct faculty. Clinkingbeard is also a doctor, but her medical license was permanently revoked in 2005. One of the reasons the Idaho State Board of Medicine gave is she has a serious mental illness, specifically a bipolar disorder the board described at the time as permanent and getting worse.
REPORTER: At this point, I have been unable to reach the spokespeople at CWI and BSU to find out what her teaching status is now, following the recent charges.