Everything you stated in this essay matches our observation, especially during this 2025 legislative session. We heard this was the most “conservative” legislature in years, but the facts do not support this.
Cynical observation: Idaho voters are apathetic and lazy. They believe Idaho is and always will be a free state backed by Republican “red” values. It might be when compared to CA, OR, and WA — but all those states were turned just as Idaho is being turned.
So many Idaho voters pull the proverbial lever for someone with “R” after the name during the primaries, then pay no attention to what the “R” politician does once elected.
Voters must not consider their jobs are done after casting their ballot. They MUST stay involved, as exhausting and distasteful as doing so may be. Otherwise, they’ll wake up in tyranny and poverty and wonder “Wow, how did that happen?”
Perfectly said! When will Legislators represent their constituents? When will their constituents hold them accountable? I pray soon! Thankful for people like you David!
How about limiting the term of leadership? They can run again after a session out at least. What if that is all it'd take for there to be more backbone in our politicians, the power to punish taken away...
I wish it were that easy. But leadership would never let a bill like that see the light of day. They control which bills get heard, and anything that threatens their power would be killed or quietly drawered before a vote could happen. This is why my grocery tax bill never saw the light of day.
The ones who benefit most from the system aren’t going to give up control willingly. The only way to break it is for citizens to demand better leaders—ones with the backbone to fight, no matter the cost.
I'm new to the state (4 years), I don't know what the initiative system is here but that would be the way to take it out of their hands. The commie h-hole I came from has been watering down that right there. Is that a valid thought in Idaho?
Idaho voters passed term limits through a ballot initiative in 1994, but the legislature repealed them in 2002, overriding Governor Dirk Kempthorne’s veto. Lawmakers claimed it restricted voter choice, but in reality, they protected their own power.
Sadly, our fearless Speaker was one of the legislators who voted for this repeal and also voted to override the governor’s veto, ensuring that career politicians could stay entrenched. That history makes it clear—those in control won’t willingly give up their grip on power, and they’d fight any new attempt to reinstate term limits just as they did before.
I'm very familiar with those games, they are still played in WA where I came from. What we did there was repeat the initiative, run it again and again ($30 tabs as an example) as the legislators went about screwing with what the public wanted. It did put them on record but western Wa is so left now that common sense is out the window. Now I may be in a bubble here, but most everyone I've met so far seems to be pretty conservative just not (maybe) well informed. Do you remember the % it passed by? If I remember this correctly from the jungle primary one, 150k or so is all that's needed to sign on? The "powers that be" never want to give that up, that is the first red flag that they should not be in office.
Numbers went down to just over 50% for the 2002 referendum. With the 1995 SCOTUS ruling the congressional limits would need to be removed. But, I'll let you get back to work. The end of this session will keep you busy. Thanks for the replies. I've more reading to catch up on for Idaho politics. :)
The ballot initiative system is a very slippery slope, as it brought Idaho its Medicaid Expansion and almost brought us Ranked Choice Voting.
As we understand it, the legislature votes in their own leaders and committee chairs. So fellow legislators could grow a spine and not just choose their leadership based on seniority or bully talents.
Between sessions, before each election, citizens must have the courage to name names, find better candidates, and speak loudly to support reform. Several entrenched power-wielding legislators were ousted this way in the 2024 primaries, so it is possible.
Finally, we’d like to see the Republican Party stop putting party over principle. If a truly bad candidate is running (e.g., someone whose values or previous votes clearly oppose their own platform), the party should NOT support that candidate simply because he/she is affiliated Republican. The party should either offer a “no endorsement” status or have the courage to endorse someone who is running as an Independent or under the Constitution party because it was necessary to proceed to the general election. Idaho has seen several cases in which lifelong Republicans ran as Independent or Constitution Party candidates — and LOST despite their being clearly superior to the opposition.
Not very close on the ranked choice. Voter education was a big part of that. WA has a jungle primary and look what it did, I used my experience with that to help some on the fence understand what it really meant vs what they were saying.Alaska was a great example also. Initiatives can be a 2 edged sword but they also offer a voice to make change when those in power refuse too. They were so effective in WA that they took Tim Eyman and made him a one man PAC and 13 years later they are still going after him.
I agree with the rest you wrote though! Here it seems D's run as R's just to get elected. I've looked at voting records and I wouldn't say 1/2 of them are really R's and stand by much of the platform. Always vote the person, unless there is a D after them, you know up front those will lie. We just can't have 3-6 people in the primaries, thats how they stay in office.
Getting behind one good/best challenger is the way to get ride of the weight, but ego's always get in the way. But, I'm learning how things work here still.
Well said my friend, the power brokers are in a power play with the executives branch folks too, like SOS. You keep bringing light to these facts, and the people need it. All hands up raising the roof for you, Rep Leavitt!
Excellent, agree with everything you have written here. Each county (or district) needs a MVLA voter guide to distribute exposing the voting records of their elected officials. Then they need a volunteer army to walk every precinct and knock on doors.
Everything you stated in this essay matches our observation, especially during this 2025 legislative session. We heard this was the most “conservative” legislature in years, but the facts do not support this.
Cynical observation: Idaho voters are apathetic and lazy. They believe Idaho is and always will be a free state backed by Republican “red” values. It might be when compared to CA, OR, and WA — but all those states were turned just as Idaho is being turned.
So many Idaho voters pull the proverbial lever for someone with “R” after the name during the primaries, then pay no attention to what the “R” politician does once elected.
Voters must not consider their jobs are done after casting their ballot. They MUST stay involved, as exhausting and distasteful as doing so may be. Otherwise, they’ll wake up in tyranny and poverty and wonder “Wow, how did that happen?”
Rep. Leavitt is a brilliant conservative writer who understands what it means to stand for “We the People.”
Perfectly said! When will Legislators represent their constituents? When will their constituents hold them accountable? I pray soon! Thankful for people like you David!
How about limiting the term of leadership? They can run again after a session out at least. What if that is all it'd take for there to be more backbone in our politicians, the power to punish taken away...
I wish it were that easy. But leadership would never let a bill like that see the light of day. They control which bills get heard, and anything that threatens their power would be killed or quietly drawered before a vote could happen. This is why my grocery tax bill never saw the light of day.
The ones who benefit most from the system aren’t going to give up control willingly. The only way to break it is for citizens to demand better leaders—ones with the backbone to fight, no matter the cost.
I'm new to the state (4 years), I don't know what the initiative system is here but that would be the way to take it out of their hands. The commie h-hole I came from has been watering down that right there. Is that a valid thought in Idaho?
Idaho voters passed term limits through a ballot initiative in 1994, but the legislature repealed them in 2002, overriding Governor Dirk Kempthorne’s veto. Lawmakers claimed it restricted voter choice, but in reality, they protected their own power.
Sadly, our fearless Speaker was one of the legislators who voted for this repeal and also voted to override the governor’s veto, ensuring that career politicians could stay entrenched. That history makes it clear—those in control won’t willingly give up their grip on power, and they’d fight any new attempt to reinstate term limits just as they did before.
Here is a link to the legislation: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2002/legislation/H0425/
I'm very familiar with those games, they are still played in WA where I came from. What we did there was repeat the initiative, run it again and again ($30 tabs as an example) as the legislators went about screwing with what the public wanted. It did put them on record but western Wa is so left now that common sense is out the window. Now I may be in a bubble here, but most everyone I've met so far seems to be pretty conservative just not (maybe) well informed. Do you remember the % it passed by? If I remember this correctly from the jungle primary one, 150k or so is all that's needed to sign on? The "powers that be" never want to give that up, that is the first red flag that they should not be in office.
I don’t know the exact percentages, and with the current legislative session underway, I likely won’t have time to research them until it’s over.
60%.
Numbers went down to just over 50% for the 2002 referendum. With the 1995 SCOTUS ruling the congressional limits would need to be removed. But, I'll let you get back to work. The end of this session will keep you busy. Thanks for the replies. I've more reading to catch up on for Idaho politics. :)
I'm still learning how the game is played here.
The ballot initiative system is a very slippery slope, as it brought Idaho its Medicaid Expansion and almost brought us Ranked Choice Voting.
As we understand it, the legislature votes in their own leaders and committee chairs. So fellow legislators could grow a spine and not just choose their leadership based on seniority or bully talents.
Between sessions, before each election, citizens must have the courage to name names, find better candidates, and speak loudly to support reform. Several entrenched power-wielding legislators were ousted this way in the 2024 primaries, so it is possible.
Finally, we’d like to see the Republican Party stop putting party over principle. If a truly bad candidate is running (e.g., someone whose values or previous votes clearly oppose their own platform), the party should NOT support that candidate simply because he/she is affiliated Republican. The party should either offer a “no endorsement” status or have the courage to endorse someone who is running as an Independent or under the Constitution party because it was necessary to proceed to the general election. Idaho has seen several cases in which lifelong Republicans ran as Independent or Constitution Party candidates — and LOST despite their being clearly superior to the opposition.
Not very close on the ranked choice. Voter education was a big part of that. WA has a jungle primary and look what it did, I used my experience with that to help some on the fence understand what it really meant vs what they were saying.Alaska was a great example also. Initiatives can be a 2 edged sword but they also offer a voice to make change when those in power refuse too. They were so effective in WA that they took Tim Eyman and made him a one man PAC and 13 years later they are still going after him.
I agree with the rest you wrote though! Here it seems D's run as R's just to get elected. I've looked at voting records and I wouldn't say 1/2 of them are really R's and stand by much of the platform. Always vote the person, unless there is a D after them, you know up front those will lie. We just can't have 3-6 people in the primaries, thats how they stay in office.
Getting behind one good/best challenger is the way to get ride of the weight, but ego's always get in the way. But, I'm learning how things work here still.
Well said my friend, the power brokers are in a power play with the executives branch folks too, like SOS. You keep bringing light to these facts, and the people need it. All hands up raising the roof for you, Rep Leavitt!
Excellent, agree with everything you have written here. Each county (or district) needs a MVLA voter guide to distribute exposing the voting records of their elected officials. Then they need a volunteer army to walk every precinct and knock on doors.
Excellent work!