Longtime Idaho GOP House speaker defends record in lieutenant governor debate
Candidates for Idaho lieutenant governor met Friday night in a debate, where they discussed abortion, extremism, property taxes and education.
The candidates vying for the state’s second-highest office — Republican Scott Bedke and Democrat Terri Pickens Manweiler — clashed on Idaho Public Television over abortion and also debated how to cope with growth and quell extremism.
Both Bedke and Pickens Manweiler mentioned “returning dignity to the office” of lieutenant governor. Current Republican Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s term was plagued by clashes with the governor, a pricey lawsuit and a budget shortfall.
But the similarities ended there, as the candidates staunchly opposed each other’s position on abortion and property tax reform. Pickens Manweiler criticized Bedke’s decade as speaker of the house, saying he failed to combat extremism from within his party and did nothing to stop baseless attacks on librarians.
Bedke spent 11 terms in the Idaho House and 10 years as House speaker. He comes from a longtime ranching family in Oakley. Pickens Manweiler is a trial attorney who is originally from Pocatello.
Idaho’s lieutenant governor has little authority, except to oversee a small office budget, fill in when the governor is absent and serve as president of the Idaho Senate. That function is supervisory and the individual has no power to shape legislation, the Idaho Statesman has reported.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little faces four challengers in the Nov. 8 general election, including Democrat Stephen Heidt and Ammon Bundy, an independent. When asked who she plans to vote for in the gubernatorial race, Pickens Manweiler didn’t say. She said she would not support Bundy. Bedke was quick to say he would be supporting Little.
Candidates diverge on abortion
Pickens Manweiler said “restoring reproductive freedom” to Idaho is one of her top priorities if elected lieutenant governor.
“To live in a state where my daughter does not have the fundamental protections and freedoms that I have had my whole life is a real big challenge for me,” Manweiler said during the debate. “I do plan on addressing it, whether it is working through the Legislature or with a ballot initiative.”
Bedke defended his stance against elective abortions, though he said he believes the procedure should be legal if the life of the mother is threatened, or in cases of rape or incest.
Idaho law bans abortion, criminalizes the procedure after a “fetal heartbeat” is detected and allows the family members of a fetus to sue an abortion provider. The law still faces challenges in the Idaho Supreme Court from Planned Parenthood, which argues that the Idaho Constitution grants a right to privacy that includes abortion.
Bedke defended the legislation, saying he believes the bills capture the “certain narrow circumstances” where abortion should be legal.
“I think it’s impossible, in the Idaho Constitution, in the privacy articles, to find a right for abortion,” Bedke said. “And I believe that’s worth defending in the Idaho Supreme Court.”
Candidates debate growth, tax policy
Idaho’s growth and how to pay for it is top of mind for many Idahoans, including the candidates for lieutenant governor.
Bedke said “growth should pay for itself.” That means the cost of services should not fall solely on the shoulders of property tax payers, who have seen their property taxes rise rapidly over the past few years, he said.
The Legislature should look at ways to contribute state revenues to local governments in order to pay for growth, Bedke said.
Pickens Manweiler was quick to criticize 2021 legislation that placed caps on local government budgets in an effort to reduce property taxes but resulted in cities’ inability to pay for services, local government leaders have said.
Cities are struggling to fund services, Pickens Manweiler said.
“This was why the sheriff’s offices, the county officials all testified in front of the speaker and said ‘Please don’t pass this bill —it will hurt our budgets.’”
Extremism in the Legislature
Pickens Manweiler criticized Bedke for failing to “reign in extremism growing in his own party.” She said she would ensure proposed legislation “has some backing in reality, truth and science.”
Bedke also condemned extremism, calling it “unproductive” and “antithetical to our system of government.” But he defended his role as House speaker.
“To think that the speaker can single-handedly put a stop to everything that he or she doesn’t like is to be a one-term speaker,” Bedke said. “They trust me with the powers of the office, but they did not trust me to be a heavy hand.”
Bedke promotes bona fides on water law, education
Bedke suggested the Legislature needs to come up with a better way to fund school district needs, outside of supplemental levies that often fail to garner public support. Pickens Manweiler said Bedke and the Republican-led Legislature “completely starved education.”
When asked about his top priorities, Bedke mentioned water rights and drought concerns. He said “drought-proofing” Idaho will be important as the state grows, but rainfall doesn’t.
“It’s going to be incumbent upon us to stretch that water that we have to conserve it,” Bedke said, “but then to honor the the water rights that the state has granted through the years. That will be a challenge.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 11:25 AM.
