In Great Britain, the king could control when Parliament could meet and when it could be dissolved. Our Founding Fathers knew British history, and they knew that no king or executive should be able to choose when the People’s representatives could meet. They gave Congress the power to meet without the President’s consent.
Unfortunately, Idaho did not give its legislature the same power. Today, Idaho remains one of only thirteen states where a governor gets to determine when and for what purpose the legislature shall meet. This historic anomaly will be corrected by a “yes” vote on SJR 102, a ballot initiative being put to the voters this Tuesday.
SJR 102 will allow the legislature to call itself into special session, rather than plead with a chief executive for permission. SJR 102 corrects Idaho’s historic error and puts the legislative and executive powers on equal footing.
It should come as no surprise that Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry (IACI) is working overtime to block SJR 102’s passage. Of course, no one expects IACI to understand constitutional nuance. After all, when they’re not raising money for kids’ drag queen shows or handing over Idaho’s good paying jobs to replacement labor from abroad, IACI does all that it can to aggrandize the powers of the chief executive at the expense of the People’s representatives in the legislature. IACI is a lobbying firm that wants to advance the interests of big banks, taxpayer subsidized multinational corporations, and Facebook. For IACI, your Idaho legislature is an obstacle to get around.
But our state legislature reflects the will of Idaho’s hard-working men and women. Special interests, like Mark Zuckerberg’s friends at IACI, want to prevent the legislature from working freely on your behalf. Vote “yes” on SJR 102 on Tuesday to ensure that YOUR representatives have the freedom to convene for YOU, when they choose.
As Chair of the Idaho GOP, I know all too well that Republicans of good-faith can come to different conclusions on important matters like amending our constitution. But this issue is at the very heart of meaningful separation of powers and our representative republican form of government — and, after being inundated with inquiries, I felt obliged to give my perspective.
Dorothy Moon, Chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party
3 replies on “Official Idaho Republican Party Statement on Constitutional Amendment SJR 102”
Rather than change our constitution, because we have a governor who is not governing for the good of the people, he was elected to serve…I say, change the governorship to one that serves for the peoples needs.
I’m concerned we may be changing what has worked for over 100 years, here in Idaho, for a change that could again work against the people this constitution was established to protect.
Thank you, Dorothy Moon. It will be an honor and a pleasure to vote YES on SJR 102.
A duly elected legislature represents the voice of the people who placed them there. No single person should be able to block the ability of that body to meet and conduct the business of “the people”. I’ll be enthusiastically voting YES on this important ballot item.