BRIAN LENNEY, IFF & OTHERS EXPOSE THE REPUBLICAN JFAC COUP (02/12/24)
Something is rotten in the State of Idaho. We'll tell you what it is. Who Loses? The taxpaying citizens, that's who! Who Wins? The Power Brokers! ACTION: TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK.
What Happened on Friday, February 2, 2024? All Democrats and the IACI-backed Republican members of the "Idaho Main Street Caucus" on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) voted to dismantle the budget committee's significant strides towards enhancing transparency and curbing government expansion.
This report is followed by ACTION ITEMS. Tell them what you think! And please remember how these folks treated you and your hard-earned money before you vote for them again! Also be sure to thank the good guys and gals!
👉 SENATOR BRIAN LENNEY COMMENTARY
Edited and expanded from Sen. Brian Lenney’s 02/02/24 Newsletter.
Friday, February 2, 2024: All Democrats and the IACI-backed Republican members of the "Idaho Main Street Caucus" on the JFAC committee voted to dismantle the budget committee's significant strides towards enhancing transparency and curbing government expansion. They did this by subverting the standard "maintenance budgets" and pushing through line-item budgets that introduce a new maintenance budget. This effectively replaces the existing maintenance budget bills already in place with bloated bills. (The co-chair Rep. Wendy Horman (R) and Rep. Brooke Green (D) were absent and did not vote.)
The AYES voted to UNDO a process they'd previously supported and voted for. The chairman (Sen. Scott Grow) was caught 100% off guard, thwarted by his own Republican "friends." This flip-flop appeared intentional, possibly planned ahead in secret and potentially illegal (an Attorney General lawyer would need to weigh in here).
The following JFAC members voted AYE to subvert the process previously agreed upon in October 2023 (do not thank them). Lifetime IACI scores are provided below (those who rate high on IACI’s scorecards typically rate low on IFF’s scorecards):
Van T. Burtenshaw (R) | VBurtenshaw@senate.idaho.gov | District 31 | IACI Score 97
Dave Lent (R) | DLent@senate.idaho.gov | District 33 | IACI Score 94
Kevin Cook (R) | KCook@senate.idaho.gov | District 32 | IACI Score 91
Julie VanOrden (R) | JVanOrden@senate.idaho.gov | District 30 | IACI Score 100
Janie Ward-Engelking (D) | JWardEngelking@senate.idaho.gov | District 18 | IACI Score 84
James R. “Rick” Just (D) | RJust@senate.idaho.gov | District 15 | IACI Score 86
Matthew “Matt” Bundy (R) | MBundy@house.idaho.gov | District 8 | IACI Score 91
Britt Raybould (R) | BRaybould@house.idaho.gov | District 34 | IACI Score 89
Rod Furniss (R) | RFurniss@house.idaho.gov | District 31 | IACI Score 89
James Petzke (R) | JPetzke@house.idaho.gov | District 21 | IACI Score 100
Clay Handy (R) | CHandy@house.idaho.gov | District 27 | IACI Score 78
The following JFAC members voted NAY (thank them!):
C. Scott Grow (R) | SGrow@senate.idaho.gov | District 14 | IACI Score 93
Carl J. Bjerke (R) | CBjerke@senate.idaho.gov | District 5 | IACI Score 57
Ben Adams (R) | BAdams@senate.idaho.gov | District 12 | IACI Score 57
Scott Herndon (R) | SHerndon@senate.idaho.gov | District 1 | IACI Score 43
Steve Miller (R) | SMiller@house.idaho.gov | District 24 | IACI Score 78
Tina Lambert (R) | TLambert@house.idaho.gov | District 23 | IACI Score 33
Josh Tanner (R) | JTanner@house.idaho.gov | District 14 | IACI Score 33
NOTES:
Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry (IACI) is a big-business organization that generally opposes conservative values. Website states “Since 1974, IACI has been Idaho’s most effective business lobby. An important and influential force in Idaho politics representing every facet of business and industry in the state, IACI is proud to be the association of Employers Advocating Economic Opportunity in Idaho®”: Facebook page | Website | Ballotpedia’s in-depth IACI information
Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF): Mission is to defeat Marxism and socialism by building a culture of liberty around America's founding principles so that Idahoans can prosper: Website
IACI Scorecard Formula: Vote in line with IACI position = +1 point | Vote out of line with IACI position = -1 point | Bills IACI is monitoring or maintains a neutral position = 0 points | IACI Scorecards
IFF Scorecard Formula: Bills are analyzed using three metrics: Freedom, Spending, and Education. Then each legislator earns an algorithmically assigned score based on his/her votes: IFF Scorecards (select 2023 from the IFF Leaderboard and search for names) | Scorecard Calculations: Freedom Metric ~ Spending Metric ~ Education Metric
IACI Influence: All Republican JFAC members who voted “AYE” are IACI endorsed, a signal to IACI member companies (e.g. Idaho Power, Clearwater Paper, Blue Cross etc.) to donate to those politicians. IACI’s Facebook Photos page shows IACI endorsements.
Main Street Idaho (aka Idaho Main Street Caucus): All members are “liberal” Republicans. Mission statement: Empowering Economic Growth and Championing Free Markets for a Prosperous Idaho: Website | Policy Page
Policy page: OUR PRINCIPLES: Economic Prosperity, Free Markets, Individual Liberty, Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility, Conservative Values (voting from the Republican JFAC members does not reflect policies of Individual Liberty, Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility, Conservative Values)
👉 IDAHO FREEDOM FOUNDATION COMMENTARY
🆕BUDGET REFORM WINS AND THE MAIN STREET CAUCUS GETS A BEATDOWN. By Ron Nate, PhD (02/09/24). DO NOT MISS this article, which clearly explains both the good news of the conservative legislative warriors and the seamy underbelly of the liberal legislative establishment. Summary: Mike Moyle (District 10) stays as House Speaker. Megan Blanksma (District 8) pushed out as House Majority Leader. Budget reform prevails. Idaho taxpayers and fiscal responsibility finally may triumph over liberal interests, Idaho Main Street Caucus Republicans, Senate Leadership, and bloated spending run amok (Idaho government spending has increased by 54% in just four years): Read
LEFTIST REPUBLICANS AND DEMS STAGE IDAHO SPENDING CIRCUS. By Ron Nate, PhD (02/03/24): A monstrous spend, spend, spend circus is being brought to Idaho taxpayers by nine leftist Republicans colluding with Democrats. Ringmaster Sen. Chuck Winder may be ruling the big top from the center ring. The article features a helpful chart and points out that the added spending could mean as much as $2,300 in taxes for the average household in Idaho: Read | Watch Fiscal Fridays: Undermining Budget Transparency (02/02/24, video 5 min 15 sec) | Related: Tyranny Tricks by Sen. Winder
Anatomy of a Budgetary Coup. Who gave the order? By BRIAN ALMON (02/05/24). Brian analyzes this situation in depth and points to both Senator Chuck Winder and Governor Brad Little as potentially brokering this coup: Read
The debate over the definition of maintenance spending is Kabuki Theatre, with the goal of distracting other Republican legislators from the fact that all of the Democrats joined with a handful of Republicans on JFAC to thwart the budget process reform. The reform had the simple goal of providing more accountability and transparency to the state budget process. It would eliminate some of the waste, abuse, and fraud we have seen in agency budgets and spending. ~Fred Birnbaum
🆕DON’T BE FOOLED BY BUDGET TRICKS — THE FIGHT IS ABOUT SPENDING. By Fred Birnbaum (02/04/24). “A combination of 12 liberal Republicans and Democrats partnered to undermine the maintenance budget process, as described in an earlier article. What exactly was being undermined? The new budget process to contain runaway spending growth and bloated budgets…”: Read
👉 GLENNEDA ZUIDERVELD COMMENTARY
Week 3 & 4. Doing a lot, accomplishing nothing (02/02/24): “Leadership meets behind closed doors, working to exhaust legislatures and compel them to comply with their desired approach to our budget process.” Zuiderveld discusses delays in implementing the rules the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) adopted on October 30, 2023, including the separation of maintenance and supplemental budget items. Suddenly, the process wasn't well-received by Democrats, some Republicans, and even leadership. Why? She proposes several explanations. [ED NOTE: The legislative JFAC legerdemain and delays may prove catastrophic for reining in Idaho’s out of control budget.] Read | Related Idaho Freedom Foundation Legislature 201 State Budgeting (video 1 hr)
Crushing Snakes! Week 5. By GLENNEDA ZUIDERVELD (02/10/24). Victory for the People! Thanks to a mighty struggle against those who wanted to hijack the previously agreed upon budget process of separating the base budget from last year and all new growth requests for 2025, the new process has prevailed so far, thanks to a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure from the Idaho Freedom Caucus and the more conservative members of the Republican caucus: Read
OTHER
🆕 House Ousts Blanksma as Majority Leader, Retains Moyle as Speaker. By Ruth Brown (02/08/24). On Thursday, 2/8/24, the House Republican caucus voted to remove Rep. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett (District 8), as majority leader while Idaho House of Representatives voted unanimously to retain House Speaker Mike Moyle. The House Republican Caucus will pick a new majority leader on 2/12/24. Rep Blanksma’s ouster came after she was the only member of the majority leadership team who voted against the judicial branch maintenance budget: Read | Related Rep Blanksma also objected to removing "preventive health" from the statutes, required HB392 to be re-submitted without such changes.
🆕 Idaho Legislature Scores Big Conservative Win: Budget Reform Passes! Moving forward, Idahoans can expect more oversight of their tax dollars. By IDAHO FREEDOM CAUCUS (02/11/24). Excellent summary explains what happened in the House and Senate and how the Idaho Freedom Caucus and others scored true victories for Idaho taxpayers: Read
🔥🎬TAKE ACTION
ASK WHY Didn’t You Follow the Rules? Ask JFAC members why they failed follow the rules they agreed to on October 30, 2023, which were designed to separate the maintenance budgets and carefully review the additional asks. Inquire whether they met in secret ahead of time to thwart the previously agreed upon process. And tell them to stop playing politics and do their job for taxpayers. To email the entire committee, go to Email Idaho: Contact Joint Committees, select Joint Finance-Appropriations from the Committee drop-down box, and complete your message.
SAMPLE SCRIPT [CUSTOMIZE AS NEEDED]
Topic: THE REPUBLICAN JFAC COUP (02/02/24)
Message: To JFAC Republican Members Voting AYE on the last-minute budget process changes: Van T. Burtenshaw, Dave Lent, Kevin Cook, Julie VanOrden, Matthew “Matt” Bundy, Britt Raybould, Rod Furniss, and James Petzke…
WHY DIDN’T YOU follow the rules adopted on 10/30/23 when you agreed to separate the maintenance budgets from the additional line-item asks above maintenance? Did you meet in secret ahead of time to thwart the process at the last minute?
Yes, I know politics, big-dollar donations, and pressure are important. And yes, IACI may support your campaigns and your votes. But shouldn’t conscience matter? Shouldn’t Idaho taxpayers and your constituents be your top priority?
Please do not let mission creep and political ambitions destroy this wonderful state, expand the budget beyond sustainability, and create a culture of dependency among Idaho citizens.
*** Thank you C. Scott Grow, Carl J. Bjerke, Ben Adams, Scott Herndon, Steve Miller, Tina Lambert, and Josh Tanner for voting NAY!
References:
October 30th email sharing the new Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) budget process changes: https://open.substack.com/pub/glenneda/p/week-3-and-4
Legislature 201 Fundamentals of State Budgeting 2024: https://youtu.be/BPa-nnr57K8?si=oTq8H_2BYRXwWH07
SEND APPRECIATION to Senator Scott Grow and Representative Wendy Horman for holding their ground in representing you. Contact them at SGrow@senate.idaho.gov (Grow) and WendyHorman@house.idaho.gov (Horman)
SAMPLE SCRIPT [CUSTOMIZE AS NEEDED]
Topic: THANK YOU for standing strong in favor of the new legislative budgeting process!
Message: Dear Senator Grow and Representative Horman,
Thank you so much for your struggle against those who wanted to hijack the previously agreed upon process of separating the base budget from last year and all new growth requests for 2025. The new process has prevailed so far, thanks to a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure from the Idaho Freedom Caucus and the more conservative members of the Republican caucus. Thank you for being part of the resistance and for protecting Idaho taxpayers instead of special interests.
More Action Items (updated frequently).