These two Boise-area lawmakers hope to become Idaho’s next House speaker
The Idaho House will soon have a new speaker, and two veteran Treasure Valley lawmakers, now the second- and third-highest-ranking Republican House members, are vying for the job.
Idaho voters elected Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, lieutenant governor in this month’s general election. Bedke was speaker, the highest-ranking position in the House, for a decade, amid 22 years as a House lawmaker.
Next month, newly elected and returning House lawmakers will choose a new speaker from the majority party. There may be others planning to run for the job, but the two front-runners are Reps. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, and Mike Moyle, R-Star.
Moyle, heading into his 13th two-year term, is the House majority leader, and Monks, a six-term lawmaker, is assistant majority leader. Both easily won reelection.
In separate interviews with the Idaho Statesman, Monks and Moyle described a common goal: uniting a divided GOP caucus.
Candidates promise to unite GOP
July’s GOP state convention showed Idaho Republicans are divided. Within the Legislature, some Republicans have met separately from the House Republican caucus, to push a more conservative agenda.
“We’ve got a caucus that’s been pretty bifurcated the last couple of years,” Moyle said by phone. “I think there’s a way to unite everybody.”
Republicans should meet more often, Moyle said, “as we try to realize that we may all have different opinions, but we all have the same goal in common, which is what’s good for the state of Idaho.”
“We can disagree,” he said. “We just don’t have to be disagreeable.”
Monks said a change in leadership is in order, although he was careful to avoid criticizing his friends, Bedke and Moyle. Monks’ approach would be to facilitate lawmakers’ goals, he said.
“Communication amongst the caucuses is critical,” Monks said by phone. “I don’t think it’s my job to determine where we’re going to go as much as to get the caucus where they want to go. Every member is a leader in their own right and was elected by their constituents to represent them.”
A key role of House speaker is assigning committee chairs. Lawmakers outside of leadership have vented frustrations about powerful committee chairs’ ability to block bills they don’t like.
Often bills are put in a drawer because they have problems, Moyle said, but he would try to improve communication between lawmakers at odds with one another. He touted his history of getting things done by bringing people together.
Monks said he would consult with senior committee members about who should lead the committees.
“But it’s got to be a person who’s going to do the best for the state,” he said.
Rep. Scott Syme, R-Caldwell, a three-term House member, who lost his reelection bid during this year’s GOP primary, is skeptical that Moyle or Monks would be a uniting influence in the House.
“They’ll do what’s politically necessary to keep their positions,” Syme told the Statesman.
A speaker should be impartial and willing to listen to others, with the “intestinal fortitude to do the right thing,” Syme told the Statesman by phone.
Syme said the House can no longer pass a bill to appease “the loudest voices” on the far-right and assume that the Senate will block it, like it did on a recent bill that would have barred government agencies from requiring masks to slow the spread of any communicable disease. The Idaho Senate moved further right, after conservative candidates won a number of races this year against more moderate incumbents.
“Now, they have to be held accountable for doing the right thing, not just passing it on to the Senate,” Syme said.
Will speaker candidates be budget-friendly?
House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said Democrats have successfully collaborated with both Monks and Moyle in the past. She hopes whoever prevails will avoid “social issue rabbit holes,” like banning gay pride displays.
“I hope they will be willing to work with the Democrats on bread and butter issues to help Idahoans,” she said by phone. “Honesty and fair play are what we’re looking for.”
Democrats are concerned about Moyle’s and Monks’ voting record on agency budgets. Both men in recent years have voted against budgets for the attorney general’s office, Idaho Supreme Court, the state’s financial division and other agencies.
Monks said he’s not “anti-budget,” and touted his time serving on the Legislature’s powerful budget-setting committee. Each time he opposes an agency’s budget there’s a reason, he said, whether it’s the way the funding is allocated or a problem with intent language directing agencies on how to spend the money.
“I think it shows, actually, good leadership when you can take a look at something and say, ‘You know what, I think we can do better,’” he said. “Sometimes we get the rest of the caucus to go along, sometimes we don’t, and that’s just part of that process.”
Moyle said some agencies this year asked for too much funding or flouted the Legislature’s directives controlling how money can be spent. Lawmakers should exercise caution allocating what’s expected to be another tax revenue surplus, Moyle said.
“I think we’ve got to be careful with our spending,” he said. “You know the old saying, that the good times are the ones that get you in trouble, not the bad times.”
Whoever becomes speaker may have previously had more latitude to make “protest votes,” Rubel said.
“When the buck stops with you, maybe there’s a different attitude,” she said. “It will land on their shoulders if we don’t have functioning agencies.”
Lawmakers will meet in early December to select caucus leadership positions. After Republicans select their preferred speaker, the entire House will vote on him or her.
Political jockeying behind the scenes should be expected, Syme said.
“Of course, that’s just the nature of the beast,” he said. “But it’ll be interesting to watch.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
