On the Attack: It appears that Tommy Ahlquist has decided to go on the attack against his opponents in the race for Governor of Idaho. In a recent radio spot, you hear a spokesperson talk about Brad Little’s bad voting record on abortion and his votes to give Planned Parenthood taxpayer money. This part of the commercial may be true but we know for a fact that Tommy had contributed substantially to A.J. Balukoffs campaign in the 2014 election and we certainly believe that by doing that he would have been supporting the views of the democrats and their support of Planned Parenthood. We believe that Tommy has walked into the quicksand is his depiction of Raul Labrador being a supporter of illegal immigration and his support for giving them government money for healthcare.
Don’t throw Stones: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones as Tom may find himself swimming in broken glass. Raul Labrador has been very rational and tough when it comes to illegal immigration but would Tommy pass muster when it comes to his construction business and has he or his subs hired workers that are illegal? Remember that many of Tommy’s projects are Urban Renewal projects that use taxpayer money for their build out. Would Tommy open his books and those of his sub’s to show that he has never used illegal workers on his projects that were financed partially with taxpayer money? We seriously doubt it. With 58,000 illegal aliens in Idaho and most of them working in agriculture, construction and manufacturing it would be hard to avoid using them on as many projects as he has done.
Tom Ahlquist is by no means a Donald Trump: So Tommy let’s keep the election clean unless you are willing to open your books to the public and let them see if you pass the smell test when it comes to supporting illegal immigration. If anyone thinks that Tommy is the second coming of Donald Trump I’m afraid that you’re in for a rude awakening should he be elected Governor? Tommy lives off of data and he will accumulate that data till the cows come home until he can prove beyond a doubt that whatever decision he is going to make complies with the data he has accumulated. After all, if the data is right the decision must be right, therefore, exonerating him from any bad decisions. By the same token, we have seen Donald Trump complete 60% of his campaign promises in the first year of his presidency with logical business decisions from his 40 plus years of experience as an entrepreneur, an achievement unheard of in presidential history. Dr. Ahlquist finished his residency in 1999 and was a physician for 15 years until he retired from full-time work. This means he has only worked as a developer for 4 years. Four years of business experience as a developer doesn’t quite equate to the 40 plus years that Donald Trump has had. We don’t doubt he is a smart young man but can’t quite wrap our heads him being another Trump with only 4 years of business experience. This is not the resume we would want to see for our next governor.
Is Tommy a man of action? We believe that Tommy will still be collecting data to support his promises in the first year. If Tommy were a man of action he would have acted to reform of our horrible medical system in Idaho while he was practicing medicine. We have over 400 medical doctors who decided to turn in their stethoscopes for retirement checks because they couldn’t afford the high cost of malpractice insurance and the low reimbursements rates from Medicaid. Tommy should have clearly seen this problem as he worked in the ER for 10 years watching the hospitals grew bigger and bigger, sucking up all of the medical talent in the Treasure Valley into the hospitals where rates were higher and insurance costs reasonable to reduce the competition. Does anyone remember the Federal lawsuit brought against St. Luke’s under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act because of their acquisition of the Saltzer Medical Group? Did Tom do anything to stop that? The answer is obviously no he didn’t. Does anyone remember Tom testifying at the capital when they held hearings in 2014 on the State Healthcare exchange? I was there and certainly don’t remember seeing Dr. Ahlquist protesting any inequities or dangers of Obamacare. Tom has admitted on tape in an interview that the insurance industry executives are his buddies and he is not afraid to confront them on rates. That has yet to be seen. Our bet is he will still be collecting data in his fourth year and rates will still be skyrocketing.
Unfortunately, we believe that Tom is too well connected: to the crony establishment, be it the old guard deep state bureaucratic republicans or his democratic friendships with Mayor Bieter and former BSU President Bob Kustra. He has done way too many Urban Renewal projects using taxpayer money for which he more than likely owes someone for helping guide those developments through the political process. Tom should stick to the things he knows best like building and doctoring. Congressman Labrador has clearly stated his intentions if he is elected to ask for a moratorium on Urban Development projects. Not good for Tom’s Development Company but he could always go back to St. Luke’s ER. We know Tommy likes to talk to people and he has quite an engaging personality. As much as we would like to believe what he says is gospel we have the sneaking suspicion that taxpayers will find that his mouth will move a lot faster than his actions.
We would rather have someone with political experience that keeps promises: Congressman Labrador has pledged to cut taxes, ask for the resignations of the heads of the deep state bureaucratic state agencies and reform health care among other critical policy changes. Raul has 10 years of experience in moving things along legislatively even though he has not made all of the votes the way you might have wanted him too. We will take the political experience in this case over Tommy’s resume anytime. Running a state or a country for that matter is not like running a development company or being an ER doctor as president Trump has found out. It takes someone who knows not only how to negotiate with the legislature but someone who will stand up for the people and not the establishment cronies and lobbyists that have been running this state for far too long. Four years ago I asked Congressman Labrador if he took lobbyists money and his answer was quite clear, he doesn’t take it with the caveat that if he did it would be made clear that there is not going to be any payback. How much do you think Tommy has spent on this primary election so far and who do you think he will owe if he wins? Just the signage alone would probably be enough to cover the entire BSU campus. Better yet how much will it cost you as a taxpayer if he becomes you’re Governor?
May 15th is just around the corner: This time when you go to the polls on May 15th think about what we have said in this short article and remember. “We Get the Government We Deserve.”
