Bringing the battle for Freedom to the State “I’ve got my right and my left mixed up,” Tom Arkoosh remarked in his closing statement in the Attorney General’s debate. Although he was referring to hand gestures he had made as a part of his statement (see clip below), no better words than his own could […]
In light of the Idaho Republican House of Representatives “kicking the can down the road” regarding our State’s ever-increasing Medicaid budget and recognizing that when the Federal match for the expansion program will most likely drop from 90/10 to 80/20 and the regular Medicaid match will drop even more when the Republicans in Washington regain […]
Greetings Idaho State legislators: cc: Governor Little and Lt. Governor Bedke: Some items to consider: TAXES: The Idaho Tax Commission is canceling the Circuit Breaker Program for many seniors on fixed incomes because the inflated property values has disqualified them. A friend with a home that has been paid for years lost her Circuit Breaker […]
There seems to be little appetite amongst the rank and file in either the Idaho House of Representatives or The Idaho Senate to address the real “Elephant in The Room” that will eventually—sooner rather than later I believe, come to have a real negative impact on Idaho families, businesses, farmers, and ranchers. CORRUPTION in government […]
My wife and I passed the Capitol on State Street yesterday on our way up to Table rock to look at the Elk herd wintering on the Boise front. There was little going on at the Capitol inside or outside four days before Inauguration Day. We didn’t see any Elk, but we did see a […]
While I have a lot of respect for Idaho’s new House Speaker Mike Moyle, there are better qualified members of the House who could have filled that position. All you need to do is see how he has organized the House committees to make sure he has complete control of what bills get passed and […]
I am so looking forward to Mike Moyle becoming the Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives. I have had the pleasure of knowing Mike and his family for almost 30 years. Over the past 10 years he has reminded me when he is wearing his political hat of a combination between Tom Brady and […]
Who will Stop the Corruption, Malfeasance and Complicity? Two items crossed my computer screen this morning within minutes of each other. One was an e-mail from an Idaho State Legislator complaining about my use of the word “corruption”. He believed by my describing many of the processes that occur in our state government in the […]
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 […]
If Idaho’s framers wanted the governor to write laws and spend Idahoans’ money, they would have written those responsibilities into the Idaho Constitution—but they didn’t. Indeed, a major virtue of Idaho’s government is how it separates the executive and legislative branches with the principle of the Legislature as the law-writing and appropriating branch, and the […]
Imagine for a moment that an emergency comes up in Idaho. The governor of the state decides to wield unilateral power — to shut down the state’s economy, change laws with the stroke of a pen, and even appropriate millions of dollars from the federal government. Imagine also that some local government agencies — cities, […]
“War is hell,” as the saying goes. Every war comes with costs on and off the battlefield, especially wars fought when there is no intention of ever winning. President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty” is such a war. It’s a welfare monstrosity with a 57-year history of collateral damage including families it was supposed to […]