The Idaho Way: ACLU of Idaho director warns of chipping away at civil liberties
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By Scott McIntosh, opinion editor
The Idaho Way is a weekly roundup of opinions, commentary and letters to the editor to encourage conversation on topics important to Idahoans. If you like this newsletter, forward to a friend, and they can sign up here.
It seems like right around this time every year in Idaho, people say, “This is the worst legislative session ever.”
I, myself, wrote a pair of columns in 2021, dubbing that year “the worst session ever,” citing efforts to usurp power from the governor, from the attorney general, from cities and states, local school boards and districts, even from voters.
“I felt like a few years ago was the worst,” Leo Morales, executive director of ACLU of Idaho, told me in a video interview. “And then last year, I thought, ‘Oh no, this is the worst.’ And this year, I’m saying this is the worst, and so I’ve got to stop saying that because I’m concerned that next year is going to be horrible as well.”
But arguing back in 2021 about whether to withdraw from Powerball because Australia has gun control seems so quaint compared with the more serious attacks on individual civil liberties brought by legislators this year.
Read my full column here and see what bills the ACLU of Idaho is keeping their eye on.
Frankenstein’s monster
Here we are once again in the waning days of the legislative session, and legislators are tackling the No. 1 priority heading into the session — property tax relief — at the 11th hour.
And what they’re considering is a complicated mess of a bill whose fiscal impacts are uncertain, all while they ignore the simplest, most sensible solution.
Read our full editorial here on how legislators should bring a homeowners exemption bill back from the dead instead of trying to create Frankenstein’s monster.
Failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Sen. Mike Crapo
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank does not seem to have been hard to see coming, writes opinion writer Bryan Clark. It had lots of large deposits from venture capitalists who could choose to cash them in at a moment’s notice, but it invested huge chunks of those deposits in assets that couldn’t be cashed in for years.
This is the kind of situation that should have been easy to detect — if regulators were looking. But they weren’t looking.
And you can thank Sen. Mike Crapo for that.
Crapo was the lead author of the 2018 bill to exempt lots of very large banks from regulatory oversight measures such as stress testing that had been imposed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Read Bryan’s full column here.
Meridian Library dissolution
This week, Meridian Library District trustee Jeff Kohler wrote a guest opinion piece detailing what would be lost if voters dissolved the district.
Kohler also disputes the misinformation being spread by so-called “Concerned Citizens of Meridian.”
“Residents of the Meridian Library District should not be misled by these false assertions,” Kohler writes. “The road the Concerned Citizens have started down has only one destination: no public library system for the second-largest city in Idaho.”
You can read his full guest opinion piece here.
Abortion ban impact
Dr. John M. Werdel, the women’s service line medical director at St. Luke’s Health System, wrote a guest opinion piece this week detailing the negative impact Idaho’s abortion ban is having on the health system’s ability to retain and recruit doctors.
“As the medical director of women’s health care at St. Luke’s Health System, I am witnessing first-hand the impact of these laws on all physicians who give advice and care to pregnant women,” he writes. “These providers are terrified and constantly second-guessing their decisions. Not because of the restrictions on broad access to abortion, but because they can no longer safely manage and advise their patients who have pregnancy complications.”
You can read his full guest opinion piece here.
Yellowstone Bear World
If you break the law, you are met with penalties, writes opinion writer Bryan Clark. That is — unless you have enough buddies in the Idaho Legislature. Then the rules have a way of changing to suit your interests. A clear example of this pattern is Senate Bill 1084, which has already cleared the Idaho Senate in a nearly unanimous vote. It would exempt facilities with a specific class of license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture from regulation by Idaho Fish and Game. Yellowstone Bear World, a drive-through wildlife park near Rexburg not affiliated with Yellowstone National Park, is one of only a handful of facilities in the state that holds such a license, many of the rest being municipal zoos. Bear World appears to be the only interest pushing for the bill.
You can read Bryan’s full column here.
Lunch with The Idaho Way
Hope you have been tuning in to our new livestream show, Lunch with The Idaho Way, at noon on Wednesdays.
So far, we’ve tackled the issues of transgender rights with Eve Devitt and her father, Michael Devitt; school vouchers with Rod Gramer, president of Idaho Business for Education; and school vouchers with Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville. This week, we discussed a bill to remove restrictions on militias with special guest Dave Neiwert, an award-winning journalist, author and well-known expert on American right-wing extremism. Check out the latest episode here.
Next week, we’ll be talking about property taxes. Our special guest will be Kelley Packer, former state legislator and now executive director of the Association of Idaho Cities.
Register for this discussion for free at our Eventbrite and ask your question in advance. Click on “select a date” and choose March 22.
Or simply tune in at noon every Wednesday on Facebook or YouTube. Ask questions and join the conversation.
Capitol Letters
Idaho Statesman reporter Ryan Suppe and politics editor Hayat Norimine keep you updated on each day’s happenings in the Idaho Legislature and what to expect for the upcoming day.
Plus, I throw in our astute politics observations and opinions on a daily basis.
To sign up to receive Capitol Letters, click here.
I’m listening
Send me your story ideas, news tips, questions, comments, or anything else on your mind. You can reach me via email at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com.
Find me on social media:
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What you’re saying
This week, we received letters to the editor on changes to the Idaho social contract, the pay received by Hollywood actors and the Idaho Legislature’s extremism. You can read these and more letters by clicking here.
You can submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion by clicking here.
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