Why even Republicans are calling this the ‘worst session ever’ for Idaho Legislature
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series looking at what many are calling the Idaho Legislature’s “worst session ever,” why it’s so bad and what it means for next year’s elections. Read Part 2 on Friday.
“Worst legislative session ever.”
That’s the refrain heard from several corners of the state this year, as Idaho legislators have drawn not just the usual ire of the left and Democrats, but frustration from lifelong Republicans and moderates who say this session is more out of control than usual.
“We’ve had some pretty bad ones (sessions) in the past, but for sure this one is the most disappointing,” former Republican candidate for governor Tommy Ahlquist said in a phone interview. “Every year, I’m completely blown away that our government doesn’t have a coordinated legislative agenda that really gets after the problems that we’re facing.”
He cites such important issues as property taxes, statewide infrastructure and education funding.
Instead, Idaho legislators have spent most of their time trying to usurp power from the governor, from the attorney general, from cities and states, school boards and districts, even from voters, and they’ve taken action on a seemingly endless string of fringe topics that have no substantive impact, such as public art, Powerball and social justice. Legislators reconvened this week after a COVID-induced two-week recess and picked up where they left off, many of them still without masks or practicing social distancing.
Although Ahlquist wasn’t specific about particular seats or a strategy at this point, he said he would get behind efforts to oust some Republican legislators.
Ahlquist tweeted last month: “The problem is the limit on the number of nominees! It has been BAD! I believe Idahoans are fed up. It will be easier to primary Treasure Valley Republicans than others. Time for a change.”
Election year
Next year is an election year, and this legislative session has been so bad, it could translate to a more active election season targeting Republican legislators, who have brought a string of unpopular bills this session.
“You’re going to have to pick and choose races that are winnable and that you can invest in and help with,” Ahlquist said, without naming names. “And then I do think it needs to be organized, but there’s got to be something like that.”
In Idaho, the rubber meets the road, in most cases, in the primary, as Democrats are typically not competitive in many districts in the general election. Whether there is enough organized coalescence around Republican challengers in key races — and whether there are any vulnerable legislators who could be defeated — is a big question mark, as Idaho’s Republican Party grew by hundreds of thousands of voters with Donald Trump at the top of the party’s ticket.
A big question mark, as well, will be whether those voters who are outraged on social media now will remember this legislative session when they head to the polls next year.
They certainly have a lot to remember.
This legislative session
Gary Raney, who was the Republican Ada County sheriff for 10 years before retiring in 2015, said he’s watched the current session with disappointment.
“Elected officials should, I think, half-represent their specific constituency and half-represent what’s good for the state; there needs to be some compromise in there,” Raney said in a phone interview. “It seems to me like there is a significantly greater number of legislators this year who are not doing that, and rather they’re representing their own agendas.”
Raney pointed to several examples:
- the House voting to reject a $6 million federal grant for early education;
- a House committee’s decision to kill Powerball in Idaho over concerns about Australia’s gun laws
- efforts to make the initiative process more difficult;
- limiting the governor’s powers;
- taking powers away from the attorney general.
“I think that vocal minority, particularly on the right-wing side, is really drowning out the moderates, and I hope we see a swing,” Raney said.
It seems like every day there’s a new outrage coming out of the Legislature, with some hitting the national headlines in embarrassing fashion, such as the bill to ban mask mandates at the same time the Legislature had to recess because of a COVID-19 outbreak.
“They’re not for anything,” Ahlquist said of far-right legislators who have dominated the session. “They’re really against anything that they don’t like. So we don’t like any government — unless it’s the government we want. We don’t like any control from government — unless it’s our control. They’ll talk local control and freedom for people, yet look at the legislation that they’re bringing up that is exactly the opposite.”
This session has been a disappointment for another lifelong Republican, David Pate, the retired CEO of St. Luke’s health system who has become a bit of a Twitter star for his analysis and takes on the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have been a lifelong Republican, and I still believe in many of what I thought were the foundations of the Republican Party,” Pate said in a phone interview. “The Republican Party in our state and what was in our federal government for the last four years, I don’t even recognize. That doesn’t sound Republican to me at all and frankly, I think takes the Republican Party down a very bad road.”
More formal opposition
This session has also spurred more formal, organized opposition.
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One notable group is a collection of former Idaho Republican attorneys general and former Republican Secretary of State Ben Ysursa. The Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution formed to fight what it considers unconstitutional laws, such as efforts to defund the Attorney General’s Office and a bill to restrict the citizen initiative process.
“During the current legislative session, we have been witnessing an unprecedented disregard of Article II by the Idaho Legislature,” according to a guest opinion in the Idaho Statesman by Ysursa and former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones. “It has been bent on usurping powers conveyed by the people to the executive department, particularly the Governor and Attorney General. The Legislature is even trying to snatch back from the people one of the most important checks on power the people reserved for themselves in the Constitution — the right to make their own legislation and to overturn unwanted legislative acts, like the Luna Laws.”
The Idaho 97 Project
Another group, The Idaho 97 Project, also formed during this session as a reaction to legislative extremism.
Mike Satz, the founding executive director of Idaho 97, concedes that the project is perceived as left-leaning, but he said the group is aware of the political realities of Idaho and they are willing to work with Republicans and conservatives to effect political change.
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“What we’re doing right now is we’re talking to people across the political spectrum,” Satz said in a phone interview. “We’re talking to Republicans, we’re talking to Libertarians, we’re talking to Democrats, and we are planning on starting to recruit good, strong conservative candidates who put people first and put ethical leadership first.”
Although the Idaho 97 Project is left-leaning, they’re at least saying the right things, Ahlquist said.
“Where we’re at is so partisan right now,” Ahlquist said. “It’s at least refreshing to hear them say, ‘Hey, we’re inclusive and we want people from different ideologies coming in,’ and that’s not what you’re hearing out of the GOP right now.”
Last month, Ahlquist tweeted several politically motivated tweets in reaction to the legislative session, including this:
“We have options! Talking politics with (retired St. Luke’s CEO David Pate) tonight we agree, we fight! Republicans who believe in science, policy & helping people need to unite, fund raise & vote! We will join others like (The Idaho 97 Project) to vote out the nonsense. There are more of us than there are of them.”
In response, The Idaho 97 Project tweeted:
“We care about the future and well-being of all Idahoans, regardless of party, conservative or liberal, men and women, all races and all identities. We want good, ethical government for all.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
