How big a mess? No one really knows, because those running the bureaucracy—and those supposed to cover it in the press—have shown remarkably little curiosity about what is happening inside our state government. The LUMA accounting system, for example, has been associated with serious implementation problems, including duplicated payments and delays in reconciling transactions across […]
Reprinted with permission of the Idaho Freedom Foundation It’s no exaggeration to say that Idaho taxpayers spend millions of dollars every single day on wasteful and sometimes unconstitutional state-run programs. The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s (IFF) goal is to find and eliminate as many of these programs as possible. To this end, the IFF has submitted recommendations on […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer How Idaho’s Fiscal Discipline Collapsed: Idaho policymakers face an uncomfortable question: how does a state transform a $496 million surplus into deficit projections within a single budget cycle? The answer reveals fundamental weaknesses in fiscal oversight and political incentives […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer The Idaho Freedom Foundation has answered the legislature’s challenge with a comprehensive plan to cut $2.146 billion from state government—enough savings to eliminate property taxes entirely without raising a single additional tax. The proposal represents the most detailed government […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer Idaho’s Ballot Initiative Wars: When the Legislature Fails, Citizens Must Act The battle lines are drawn for Idaho’s 2026 ballot initiatives, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Two competing visions for Idaho’s future are emerging through the constitutional initiative […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer Bottom Line: Idaho’s $141 million budget “shortfall” represents excellent news for taxpayers, with collections 4.5% above last year and a $278 million surplus remaining, exposing how government officials view taxpayer money as their property rather than citizens’ earnings. Idaho […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer Bottom Line: Idaho stands at a crossroads where explosive population growth and infiltrating woke ideology threaten the conservative values that attracted newcomers in the first place, requiring expanded vigilance across judicial, bureaucratic, and local government spheres. Idaho’s conservative movement […]
A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer Idaho’s Battle for True Pride: Celebrating Heroes While Confronting Rising Costs The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Pride in America series has struck a nerve with the mainstream media, generating both criticism and unprecedented support from conservative Idahoans. What began as […]
From the time I was five years old until I went to college, I spent several weeks each summer on the Ojibwa Indian Reservation at Cass Lake Minnesota. We lived on Norway Beach in the Chippawa National Forest. We held Title and Deed to our home, but the property immediately surrounding our home was on […]
This article courtesy of the Idaho Freedom Foundation Among the most important triumphs of the 2025 legislative session were the steps taken to advance educational freedom. After years of stubborn resistance from the education establishment, Idaho joined the ranks of conservative states with a meaningful school choice initiative thanks to the leadership of several key […]
Better or worse? How can we know? The 2025 legislative session is done and our citizen legislators have come home. We thank them for their service. We will hear stories of the bills that were passed, the problems solved, and the issues addressed. Some will say it was a good session, perhaps even great, while […]
WE have now had a week to think about the proceedings of the Idaho Legislature over the past 14 weeks. Going into the session, many of us had high expectations that a new “order of the day” would prevail, and that issues that were important to WE THE PEOPLE would be able to be debated […]