The Bad The Good & The Ugly: The Bad news Russell Fulcher, the only true conservative candidate in the race for governor, has decided to discontinue his run. The Good news is that he has decided to run for Congressman for the first congressional district. The Ugly – We understand from reputable sources that our illustrious Congressman Labrador has been pandering and prodding the money baggers in Idaho long before he announced his run for governor to hold off on making any contributions to Fulcher’s campaign as there was an imminent announcement coming from him. Evidently, this was also part and parcel of his plan to cut Russ off at the knees and out of the race by getting backers to withhold campaign contributions and starve Fulcher’s campaign.
This is the dirty part of politics that everyone hates. We finally get a candidate that we can trust and, because he is not a wealthy man and is not currently in a position of power, he has to rely on individual contributions from donors to wage his campaign and it looks like Labrador sucked up all of the well water well. Russ would be too polite to say these things but we feel the need to let the truth be known. We think Fulcher is the bigger man for pulling out so as not to split the conservative vote with Labrador, however; we believe that Tommy Ahlquist running as a conservative outsider could be the spoiler for Raul.
Follow the Money: It is likely that upwards of $10 million will be spent on this primary race when all is said and done. It will probably be one of the most expensive primaries in Idaho’s history. It has to make you wonder why candidates would be willing to spend so much for a job that can cause so much angst. (You can hear the words Delusions of Grandeur) We know Tom Ahlquist is willing to spend five million, Little is probably good for 3 million and Labrador will be able to raise about 2 million now that Russ is out. With all of the problems that Idaho has with growing its economy, federal land issues, healthcare, and education, you have to wonder what these candidates are thinking as we have not seen a comprehensive plan from any of them. As usual, we will just follow the money.When we talk to people in the know they tell us that Idaho’s is run by crony politicians that are as corrupt as a rusty faucet, taking care of themselves at every turn. This leads us to believe that there will be a continuation of the cronyism that has been taking place for the past 14 years. There will be no reduction in government although according to the Statesman, Ahlquist says he will cut $100 million in 100 days; wonder if he has told the crony legislators about his austerity program or better yet the state employees? Did he forget that there are about 36 thousand state employees, which means about 70,000 citizens who will vote with their wallets? Heck, $100 million was just about what Otter increased the budget by this past year. We will be looking at another four years of high taxes and more regulations regardless of which of the three remaining candidates get elected. Once again, everyone makes out but the taxpayers.
When we talk to people in the know they tell us that Idaho’s is run by crony politicians that are as corrupt as a rusty faucet, taking care of themselves at every turn. This leads us to believe that there will be a continuation of the cronyism that has been taking place for the past 14 years. There will be no reduction in government although according to the Statesman, Ahlquist says he will cut $100 million in 100 days; wonder if he has told the crony legislators about his austerity program or better yet the state employees? Did he forget that there are about 36 thousand state employees, which means about 70,000 citizens who will vote with their wallets? Heck, $100 million was just about what Otter increased the budget by this past year. We will be looking at another four years of high taxes and more regulations regardless of which of the three remaining candidates get elected. Once again, everyone makes out but the taxpayers.
A Difficult Decision: We talked to Russ Fulcher and he told us that he was leaving the race because of a conversation he had with some very smart political analysts. They indicated to him in their analysis this would be a very costly race and that Labrador could siphon off enough conservative votes in the primary to make it difficult for either one of them to win. I almost fell off my chair when Russ said he did not want to split the conservative vote and give Labrador a chance to win. We contend that many of Russ’s supporters are independents that would not register for the primary as Republicans, which is required, and that would play a part in a splitting of the conservative vote. In essence, Labrador threw a monkey wrench into this race that will probably cost him a lot of money and no satisfaction if he loses. Of course, he can always fall back on being an immigration attorney. The people of Idaho, on the other hand, will probably wind up with four more years of Butch Lite if Little is elected or maybe four years of the man who wants to be a smaller version of Donald Trump, but doesn’t have the same qualifications. We are convinced that both Little and Ahlquist are establishment cronies at heart, and we fear they will promise Idahoans the world and all we will get is a bigger tax bill.
Thoughts about the Race for CD 1: Now the big question is can Fulcher win the congressional primary election? He has always been strong in the 1st CD and carried the three most populated counties with more than 50% of the vote in the 2014 gubernatorial primary, and we don’t believe much of his base has changed. The one thing no one is counting on is that we have about one hundred thousand new voters that popped up as newly registered Republicans during the presidential primary and the 2016 general election because of Donald Trump and no one knows how they will vote. If Russ can convert his popularity as a gubernatorial candidate to a congressional candidate, he would be the one to beat in 2018. This could be the bright spot for conservatives in Idaho. They would have a true conservative to count on as their representative in Washington and even after two or three terms he would still be young enough and an even more viable candidate to run for Governor of Idaho. Only time will give us the answer.
Round and Round We Go: Who will grab the brass ring for Governor in November of 2018? If we had to take our best guess we would say Tom Ahlquist will be the next Governor of Idaho. Just follow the money. Does that make us happy? “NO” he is a total unknown and we have no idea how he will govern. Our worry is that, as a former Doctor, he will not change much in the way of our healthcare system is run, leaving the current Medical Mafia in charge. We also doubt that he will buck the health insurance lobby or IACI when it comes to insurance costs or transparency. We know he has a lot of knowledge about urban renewal land, but no one seems to know where he stands on the federal land issue. As far as we know he is not yet spoken about getting our land back under Idaho’s control. We are also concerned about what he will do to our education system especially Common Core and increasing local control of our curriculums. There are a lot of if’s and but’s if Tommy is the man elected, but I guess it will be like the Obamacare bill—you have to vote for it before you can know what’s in it. SURPRISE!!!
