Opinions from Mountain States Policy Center aren’t worth publishing | Opinion

The Mountain States Policy Center, a think tank here in Idaho, may claim to make “recommendations to lawmakers” based purely on “facts not emotion,” but those who are a part of the organization prove to have a right-wing bias.

If you view the opinion sections of the Idaho Statesman, the Idaho Press or the Idaho Capital Sun, you might notice something similar in many of the authorial bios there: a mention of the Mountain States Policy Center. Beyond newspapers, the think tank has ties to Debbie Critchfield, Idaho’s superintendent of public instruction. And Chris Cargill, the founder of the center, has testified in support of House Joint Memorial 19, an Idahoan legislative proposal that encourages the federal government to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.

According to its “About” page, the Mountain States Policy Center swears that it seeks to “empower people to succeed through non-partisan, comprehensive, fact-based research.” The issue with this statement is that the organization is certainly not “non-partisan.” One can see this in two guest opinions published in the Statesman and in Cargill’s testimony in support of HJM 19.

In the guest opinion “Washington has a less friendly business climate than its neighbors,” Jason Mercier, the vice president of the Center, argues that Idaho is a better state for business than Washington, in part, because Idaho has recently hit its state revenue targets. Mercier might be immediately correct when it comes to how a balanced budget and low taxes benefit our state’s business climate. Yet he fails to account for the ways that Idaho’s conservative approach to spending will likely hurt its economy in the long run.

Mercier repeats Gov. Brad Little’s claim that, because of its “fiscal discipline” the state has “reliable infrastructure.” Unfortunately, Little is wrong about our infrastructure. With its growing population, Idaho’s public infrastructure needs upgrades for 1,500 bridges, and despite recent state investment, school administrators have noted that the state has failed to give the appropriate funds rural school districts need in order to cover building repairs.

Furthermore, Mercier fails to note that Idaho’s health and welfare has been compromised as our legislature passed budget cuts for Medicaid disability services. Economically, Idaho might look good in the short term. But its inability to spend money on public services is liable to hurt the state’s economy in the long run: the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Health Policy respectively note that infrastructure investment and Medicaid expansion benefit the economy. Thus, Mercier’s opinion is flawed.

Those associated with the Center also hide their implicit agenda in order to play into Idaho’s inferiority complex. In his article “The Electoral College is vital,” a Mountain States Policy Center analyst named Sam Cardwell argues that the Electoral College provides a good voting system for Americans because it allows for smaller states to have more of a “seat at the table” on federal issues. Cardwell’s opinion piece forgoes acknowledging that, because the College exists and because entire state electoral votes tend to go toward a single presidential nominee, the race for the presidency is not as competitive as it could be. In the 21st century, the presidential nominees whom the college has befitted the most are Republicans.

And Chris Cargill, the founder himself, obfuscates information to push for a conservative agenda. When testifying in support of HJM 19, Cargill asked state legislators, “what part of our educational system has improved since” the founding of the Department of Education in 1980. There is one notable thing that has improved since then: the Department of Education highlights that, from 1980 to 2015, achievement gaps for reading and math have narrowed “between White and Black students and between White and Hispanic students.”

It’s a shame that Idaho newspapers continue to publish guest opinions from those associated with the center despite those authors’ biased perspectives. In a state almost completely dominated by Republicans, it’s worth questioning the value of continuing to proliferate such poorly researched, right-wing perspectives in the public sphere.

Edward Dorey is a Boise State alum with an interest in Idahoan history and politics. He has lived in the state for seven years.