A regrettable loss of expertise in the Idaho Legislature engineered by the far right

As I look back on my years as president of Boise State University, I remember well the most daunting assignment of the year. That was the presentation Idaho’s universities and colleges gave to the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, a bicameral committee of House and Senate members who are charged with reviewing the state’s budget and recommending it for approval by both houses of the legislature.

My job was to present the Boise State request for funding and be prepared for questions that could come from any direction. One thing I knew for sure. JFAC members were well prepared for quizzing presidents on just how they were using the funding JFAC approved from last year. And they expected a clear and detailed report on how we would spend the appropriations we requested for the next fiscal year.

They were prepared by a very competent staff, and I learned early in the experience that JFAC members knew their stuff and acted as the fiscal watchdogs their committee assignments required. Leadership who appointed members to JFAC seemed to take great care in appointing legislators who were up to the task of holding agencies responsible for their spending.

I thought about my experience with JFAC the other day when I read the report about Republican Sens. Jeff Agenbroad, Carl Crabtree and Jim Woodward, all of whom served on JFAC and who were defeated in the Republican primary last May by opponents who received significant financial support from arch-conservative Idaho businessman, Larry Williams, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

The three Republican legislators dared to cross swords with the forces of right-wing mania sweeping Idaho. They voted to hold House Bill 545 in committee rather than send it on to the Education Committee for consideration.

The bill would have created a charter school revolving fund of $2.5 million to fund charter school facilities. They were concerned about the level of risk the state of Idaho would be assuming by appropriating general fund dollars to a revolving fund. And they were also concerned about the size of the appropriation when there are still unmet needs in our traditional public schools.

In a nutshell, these legislators were exercising their statutory responsibilities as JFAC members, safeguarding the state treasury by refusing to sign off on the revolving fund until they were confident of the accountability measures in the bill. In case you missed it, charter schools have emerged as the darling of the right wing and it loves nothing more than finding general revenue for their projects, which can reduce funding for traditional public schools.

Government spending

The Idaho Freedom Foundation and right-wing outfits of the same ilk cry crocodile tears over government spending, especially for schools. But in this case, they targeted conservative Republican legislators for their caution in protecting the state’s financial resources. The hypocrisy of their agenda is mind-boggling.

Williams calls the three Republican legislators a “cabal” of career politicians to be disbanded. Merriam-Webster defines a cabal as the contrived schemes of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government.) No doubt about it, there is such a thing here in Idaho, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation best fits that description. It’s also a considerable stretch to call these three senators “career politicians” when they are in session for only three months a year.

It is beyond ironic that they are not deemed conservative enough because they applied basic conservative budget principles to the appropriations process. How odd to find the right-wing Idaho Freedom Foundation objecting to legislators who were doing the job they were elected to do. If the term “conservative” means anything, it means holding those who use public dollars accountable.

The sooner prominent leaders across the state call out the Idaho Freedom Foundation for the charlatans they are, the sooner Idaho state government will serve the people of Idaho as it once did before dark money and right-wing agendas overwhelmed Idaho’s legislative process.

Charter schools can be an effective alternative to the traditional public school experience for parents who, for whatever reasons, are not comfortable sending their kids to public schools. But there is a limit to the public funding of charter schools when legislators are appropriating finite dollars to the state’s public schools, as required by the Idaho Constitution.

Targeting legislators

The targeting of legislators who do not buy into every special interest of the radical right comes in this case with some serious negative consequences for state government.

There is the loss of institutional knowledge. These three experienced members of JFAC bring their expertise of the technical aspects of the appropriations process to bear on the financial oversight of state agencies who spend appropriated dollars.

JFAC members learn from on-the-job training gained by the experience of sitting in judgment of agency and education budgets. Those with a few years of JFAC service are role models for newer JFAC members. To lose three of the most knowledgeable members of JFAC seriously sets back the effectiveness of JFAC’s accountability function.

A citizen legislature is grounded in the experiences legislators bring to the process from their own lives and careers. In this case, Sens. Agenbroad, Crabtree and Woodward brought significant experience from the private sector, especially in financial matters. They are as far as you can get from career politicians.

As citizen legislators they bring a valuable calculus to their work of evaluating the requests of state agencies and constructing a state budget that uses tax dollars most efficiently and effectively. It’s most unfortunate that JFAC loses their expertise across a host of issues facing JFAC driven by a vindictive plot to remove them from state government over a single issue.

We are witnessing radical interventions by the far-right into Idaho’s political process. The far right threatens legislators to support their agendas and then challenges them in the Republican primary in a fit of pique for daring to think for themselves and demand accountability of those who use public dollars.

As far as Sens. Agenbroad, Crabtree and Woodward, I hope to see them run again. Republican primary voters would be wise to be wary of campaign endorsements and ads in order to prevent the narrow and rigid thinking of the far-right from destabilizing the political process.

Absent the kind of accountability they bring to the Legislature, the losers will be Idaho’s taxpayers whose tax dollars will serve only the interests of the few.