Democrats control Idaho Senate, GOP narrowly holds House

A report from the Institute for Legislative Analysis, an offshoot of the American Conservative Union, has found that many Idaho state legislators vote as “philosophical Democrats.”

This is extremely consistent with the findings of the Idaho Freedom Foundation over the last 10 years, which has shown similar findings year over year.

Freedom Foundation’s scoring metrics closely mirror the state GOP platform — a quick internet search reveals as much.

I remember the days when southeast Idaho lawmakers were known for going to Boise and keeping the leftists in check.

Nowadays, the local Republican precinct committee officers are tasked with trying to keep our local Idaho lawmakers, all of whom are Republican, in check.

The Senate ILA scored Doug Ricks 48% (F), (Freedom Foundation 43.6% (F)); Kevin Cook 47% (F), (Freedom Foundation 41% (F)); Dave Lent 46% (F), (Freedom Foundation 40.7% (F)); and Van Burtenshaw 41% (F), (Freedom Foundation 35.6% (F).

In the House, Barbara Ehardt scored 85% (B), (Freedom Foundation 79.5% (B minus)); Wendy Horman 59% (D minus), (Freedom Foundation 52.5% (D minus)); Jerald Raymond 49 % (F), (Freedom Foundation 37.3% (F)); Josh Wheeler 48% (F), (Freedom Foundation 39.9% (F)); Rod Furniss 47% (F), (Freedom Foundation 41.7% (F)); Britt Raybould 47% (F), (Freedom Foundation 37.27% (F)); Marco Erickson 45% (F), (Freedom Foundation 40.9% (F)); Jon Weber 42% (F), (Freedom Foundation 38%(F)); Stephanie Mickelsen 40% (F), (Freedom Foundation 35.1% (F)).

Legislative analysis from our area shows that both Freedom Foundation and ILA had 11 of 13 with letter grade scores of (F), one (D minus) and one (B).

Leftist Republicans continually rail on the Freedom Foundation when they vote themselves a low rating.

Here’s another group demonstrating that everything Freedom Foundation has been saying for years is absolutely true.

ILA’s findings are part of an analysis of 5,670 lawmaker votes the group conducted this year across the country.

The ILA applies the same methodology to every state it looks at.

In most states, including California, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, not a single self-defined Republican scored below a 60%.

Idaho represents one of the very worst cases of fraudulent party identification, perhaps even worse than what ILA recently exposed in Wyoming.

In other words, the group found that Idaho’s problem — in which Republican lawmakers vote as Democrats — is especially pronounced in Idaho, perhaps more so than any other state in the country.

The problem is not limited to the legislative branch.

Governor Brad Little (R) earned a 42.5% limited government score, struggling most on regulatory, tax and fiscal issues.

Bonneville County’s Legislative District 32 GOP committee just completed a IDGOP Rule platform review process.

This process allows the local precinct committee officers to hold hearings to evaluate whether local GOP lawmakers have followed the Republican Party Platform.

It’s a way to hold lawmakers accountable to the platform so that voters know they have not been misled when voting for a candidate with an “R” next to their name.

Clearly, Idaho has a problem with Republicans “in name only.”

It’s up to all of us to make sure that conservative principles are followed so that Idaho does not become another California.

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Bryan Smith serves vice chair on the Idaho Freedom Foundation board. He also serves as the Idaho Republican national committeeman and has lived in Legislative District 32 for 27 years where he and his wife, Sharon, reared their five children.