We just received Brad Little’s latest piece of propaganda in the mail today, and it reminded me that we hadn’t written part II of our 3 part series on Brad Lite for Governor. So with no further ado, let’s get down to it.
Brad starts his letter off by telling us how he is going to serve as Idaho’s new conservative governor. After I stopped laughing, the letter continued with his first quote, “my philosophy in a nutshell: to ensure the lightest hand of government in the lives of our citizens and businesses.” Is that what he calls it when he did not speak out against the State Healthcare Exchange which has raised rates over 50% in the past two years? Or was he talking about the lightest hand of government when he said nothing when a 25 cent gas tax was passed at midnight along with higher registration fees so the governor could keep his promise to the road construction companies. If that is what he calls conservative or the lightest hand, I would hate to see what he would do if he were actually elected.
Brad talks about Idaho being number one in the nation in private sector job growth. That’s interesting because Florida’s Governor Scott claims that his state was highest in private sector job growth and Wisconsin’s Governor Scott says he has the second highest rate. Who are we to believe? We must also ask the Lt. Governor how much of our taxpayer money was used to help create these jobs? We for the incentives to entice companies to build businesses in Idaho and they reap the long term benefits. Where does it say in the constitution that the Government should pick winners and losers using taxpayer money? The next question is now have we improved in median income with all these wonderful new jobs. Well according to the Joint Economic Committee Idaho’s median household income in 2014 was $47,900 and in 2015 it was $48,300. More important is that in 2008 when Butch and Brad took over as Idaho’s chief executives the median household income for Idaho was $52,374. So what Brad is trying to tell us is that from the time he and the Governor took office Idahoans have dropped a hefty $4,100 in yearly income. Now there’s something to be proud of, but wait when you look at the increased cost of healthcare approximately 50% we are probably down another $1,000. I don’t know how you sell the idea to voters that Idahoans are doing better under the current administration when the median income for Idahoans has dropped by $5,000.
His next line is “I need our help to stop the lurch of big government coming from Washington.” Duhhhh 35% of our state budget comes from Washington and now he and the legislature are talking about expanding Medicaid. Now how is that a sure way to be less dependent on Washington? Little talks about having served eight years as a state senator and almost eight years as Lt. Governor and in the next breath he talks about the professional politicians and empire builders in Washington. I guess the Lt. Governor doesn’t think 16 years in office makes him a professional politician. Maybe he thinks of himself as a sheep herder looking over his flock of taxpaying citizens that he shears each year with more regulations, fees and taxes to strip them of their hard earned money. Brad Little has had 16 years to make Idaho a better place, but I don’t see that he has done very much in the way of helping middle and lower income Idahoans. He was there to vote for more money from Washington for eight years as a senator, he has done nothing to ease the tax burden of the little guy who even has to pay a 6 percent tax on his groceries and 25 cents more on his gasoline plus higher registration fees. What has Brad Little done to get our land back from the Federal Government and under state control? He has done nothing except cow tow to Governor Otter for the past ten years without so much as a whisper of objection to help struggling Idahoans.
Now don’t laugh, but here is one of his final quotes in his letter asking for money for his campaign. “You can’t be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy”. That is the only thing in this letter that we totally agree with. The problem is we weren’t sure who he was talking about as it certainly could not be him since he has supported Idaho’s budget growth almost every year he has held office. From FYs 2011 to 2016 Idaho general fund spending increased 28.9 percent. This increase happened while we were coming out of the great recession. By the same token the other 49 states increased their general fund spending by 22.5 percent during that same period. Each year Idaho’s bureaucratic agencies grow and no one ever seems to question the need for the growth. So ask yourself when we see numbers like this just how conservative is our state spending our money? In case you don’t get it yet let us explain, the State of Idaho is the largest employer in the state. Brad little has been in office for the past 16 years, tell me what has he done for average Idahoan’s to give them a better life and more money in their pockets?
We hope you will decide as we did against sending Brad any donation for his campaign as we believe he takes enough of our money through taxes and fees each year.
