Beware those “good government” liberals seeking to fix election laws.
Because what they are really after is restricting, and even criminalizing political activity, to better control the outcomes.
You may have noticed a big wave of concern at the Statehouse over the past year on the need to “reform” our ethics and campaign finance laws. There was even a special task force working last summer to prepare a report for the Legislature on what changes were needed. Even though the majority of members were Republican, the report reads like a wish list out of the George Soros Foundation.
The task force wants to raise fines for violations by something like 100%, thereby weaponizing the Secretary of State’s office.
They want to increase the number of reports filed by candidates and political action committees like Idaho Chooses Life – which matter not one whit to the vast number of voters. They want to force legislators and candidates to disclose their financial interests and the financial interests of family members. All of which is meant to discourage citizens from even filing for office. And if they do – the media and Democrats will have plenty of new targets at which to aim their bullets.
More endless “gotchya” political campaigns – with even less policy and substance.
In fact, there are reportedly some 40 pages of changes being proposed – the largest expansion of the Sunshine Law since liberal Democrats foisted the Sunshine Law on Idaho back in 1974. One wonders where the impetus for this dramatic expansion of government control over our political process is coming from. What is the dire problem that the Legislature needs to fix?
But, like every other liberal plot to expand government and choke liberty, you’ll have a hard time finding the exact problem they’re promising to solve.
In this case, we need only look to George Soros.
The current proposals in the Idaho Statehouse are a direct reaction to the dangerous initiative Democrat Holli Woodings was pushing in 2016. Under the laughable banner of a group called “Keep Idaho Elections Accountable”, Woodings headed up an initiative campaign to revamp Idaho’s election laws. She raised a whopping $450,000 for the effort. And, thank the Lord, they failed.
Where did she raise such money? 97% of her money came from out-of-state millionaires and billionaires. Her scam was that somehow, liberals in San Francisco, Massachusetts and New York were sleepless over little old Idaho and how we run our elections. She got $25,000 from nine rich, out-of-state liberals to finance her scheme. She raised another $25,000 from a national PAC trying to undo the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case. But to top it all – she received $95,000 each from two individuals. Both residing in New York. And one of them is the son of that most evil socialist, George Soros.
Be assured that George Soros is not concerned about making sure Idaho has better elections. He is interested in changing the rules, imposing the rules, until he wins. Here and across America. Plain and simple. His agenda is to destroy conservatives and the conservative movement. And weaponizing campaign finance laws is a critical part of the grand strategy to elect more socialists everywhere.
While Woodings failed to get the required signatures – proof positive that Idaho remains the greatest place in the world to live – there are plenty of people at the Statehouse who nevertheless think we should enact her dark, socialist agenda in order to prevent her and her Soros allies from implementing their dark agenda.
Which is the kind of discouraging double-think we see on display every day among many national Republicans.
What Idaho needs at this moment are leaders willing to stand up for liberty – especially free and open elections. We need to fight for our rights under the First Amendment. We need to encourage more citizen participation in the electoral process by raising the caps on allowable donations to legislative candidates. This will help challengers raise the money they need to be viable. And we need to raise the disclosure limit so that individuals and companies can donate more to campaigns of their choice without being subject to harassment or vindictive smear campaigns from radicals seeking whom they may devour.
We need to keep the Secretary of State from growing a bureaucratic empire that ensnares everyone in endless paperwork and process crimes.
But most of all, we need to vigorously fight these plots to expand governmental control over the election process. They are a threat to the very heartbeat of our Republic.
