Endorsement: Jeff Agenbroad seeks to retake his seat from Brian Lenney. Our pick | Opinion

Jeff Agenbroad never should have been voted out of office in 2022.

After he cautiously voted against a bill that would have created a taxpayer-funded revolving loan fund for building charter schools — without any protection for taxpayers if a school failed — Agenbroad drew the ire of the far right, who didn’t like the fact that Agenbroad could think for himself and sometimes disagree with special interest groups.

So in 2022, Agenbroad was the subject of an intense campaign to get him voted out of office.

He got primaried, as they say.

He lost to Brian Lenney, a California transplant who’s as far right as they come and, as Agenbroad points out, doesn’t represent the values of Idahoans or residents of District 13. He certainly doesn’t represent their interests.

Lenney declined to interview with the editorial board. As a general rule, the editorial board won’t endorse a candidate who doesn’t agree to an interview.

The Idaho Statesman editorial board endorses Jeff Agenbroad for state Senate in District 13, which encompasses southern parts of Nampa.

Agenbroad, a former banker and business owner, served with distinction in the state Senate from 2016-22, including serving as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Agenbroad, a fifth-generation Nampa resident, graduate of Nampa High School and the University of Idaho with a business finance degree, has served the community of Nampa for decades. He is past chairman of the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Nampa, past vice chairman of the Nampa Chamber of Commerce, past president of the Snake River Stampede, and past treasurer and board member of Your Health Idaho.

Lenney, apparently, has written a couple of children’s books promoting owning an AR-15 and a kids guide on why “feminism is so silly.”

Lenney has not proved to be a very effective legislator for his constituents. He frequently ends up on the wrong side of budget votes, voting against funding for a secure mental health facility, which Idaho desperately needs, against funding for the courts, against education funding, against Medicaid funding, against funding for colleges, universities and community colleges, against funding for teacher career ladder raises for the School for the Deaf and the Blind, and against an increase for the Idaho State Police.

He co-sponsored a bill to create “education savings accounts” for families who don’t want to send their children to taxpayer-funded public schools. That bill failed.

This session, he was stripped of his position as vice chair of the Commerce and Human Resources Committee for violating Senate rules about attacking the integrity of other senators.

It’s not at all clear what benefit District 13 voters derive from Lenney’s position, if any.

Agenbroad isn’t a reactionary like his opponent when it comes to the state budget. He has a deeper understanding of the impact of population growth on the state budget, from schools to prisons to infrastructure.

He supports the Idaho Launch program, recognizing it as an important tool in filling in-demand jobs, giving Idaho an advantage over other states amid a national labor shortage.

Agenbroad recognizes that the culture war bills the Legislature is seeing each year, such as the library book ban and bounty bill and a host of anti-transgender bills, are merely national-model bills being pushed by out-of-state special interest groups and are often “solutions chasing a problem.”

Agenbroad said he is “pro-life,” but recognizes the need to provide more clarity in Idaho laws to allow for abortions in cases in which the health of the mother is in danger.

He expressed disappointment that legislators this session voted to kill a deal to sell the Idaho Transportation Department headquarters on State Street and voted to kill a $16 million federal summertime lunch program for schoolchildren.

Agenbroad is eminently more qualified, levelheaded and reasonable than his opponent and would do a much better job representing the values and interests of his constituents.

Let’s hope the Republican voters of District 13 come to their senses and vote to make Agenbroad their candidate for Senate once again.

This story was originally published May 13, 2024 at 4:00 AM.