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Posts published in September 2024

Mass participation in Idaho

Mass participation in Idaho

September 6, 2024

It’s easy as we look out on this national political season to feel sidelined if you’re not a resident of one of the six or seven or so battleground states, none of which are in the northwest.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be sidelined as a matter of practice.

Let’s put that to an acid test: Suppose you’re a Democratic woman in Idaho. How much impact can you have?

A surprising amount, if you pay attention and maybe participate in the activities of one of Idaho’s largest and least-heralded political organizations, the Idaho Women for Harris/Walz (formerly, up until a few weeks ago, Biden/Harris).

The group was founded several years ago by a gathering of active Democratic women in Idaho. The most visible of them include Betty Richardson, a former U.S. attorney who for decades has been one of the best political organizers the state has seen. Working as a Democrat in Idaho long has presented big challenges, but the IWHW has demonstrated, and may demonstrate in this year’s election, how to get things done in spite of those challenges.

Outside of its membership, the organization has mostly flown under the radar up to now, but that may be changing. Based largely on a Facebook group, but also using an e-mail list, it has brought together a large number of like-minded women, many of whom are oriented toward activism. (Not all of the members are Idahoans, but most are, and the minority of outsiders generally have a strong connection to Idaho.)

During the Democratic National Convention, they distributed a press release saying the organization now has more than 12,000 members, most of whom are widely scattered around the state, in large communities and small, many in places where actual Democratic presence often is rendered invisible.

The release said “IW4HW is one of the largest all-volunteer groups of Idahoans ever organized around a presidential campaign, and is one of the biggest such groups per capita in the nation.  The grassroots group formed in July of 2020 and was previously titled "Idaho Women for Biden/Harris."  After President Biden announced his decision to end his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice President Harris, the group changed its name.”

Don’t expect, though, that involvement in the presidential contest is the limit of its interest or activities.

The release added: “The group has members from all 44 Idaho counties, from north and south, from big cities and small towns, from political newbies to seasoned hands. Its members are Democrats, Republicans and Independents, and include several past and present elected officials.”

Richardson said during the Democratic convention that the group had grown by more than 1,000 members just in the previous month.

Okay, it’s a lot of people, but what can it do?

Quite a lot, both in-state and out.

Within the state, there are this year an unusually large number of Democratic candidates running for the state legislature, and those who are active candidates desperately need local people to help. A group of this size and spread could provide critical help (not just money, but labor as well) to many of them.

All of that applies when it comes to ballot issues, too.

Nationally, they can matter too. The political game this year is voter turnout, and communication with erratic or uncertain voters will be critical to winning the presidency and in states where key congressional races are taking place. People living in Idaho can’t easily be on the scene in those places, but they can communicate by phone, by electronic communications and by print mail to inform and urge them to get their ballots cast (which starts happening in only a couple of weeks). A group of 12,000 can provide an enormous amount of critical leverage.

Numbers are power in politics, and this Idaho group’s numbers are enough to matter.

 

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A regional pitch for Harris

September 4, 2024

In Idaho’s all-Republican congressional delegation, there are two things you will find during a presidential election campaign: Heavy praise for the Republican nominee (in this case, former President Trump) and plenty of darts to the Democratic nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris has been labeled as a disaster, if you talk with some of the higher-ups in Idaho politics.

There are no congressional Democrats in the Gem State to counter those claims – unless you look to a couple of our neighboring states. Sen. Ron Wyden’s constituency in Oregon includes those who are aspiring to be part of “Greater Idaho” and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington represents areas that practically are an Idaho Vandals’ first down away from the Evergreen state’s border. That is, if you are living in Lewiston, Moscow or Post Falls.

And, as with three of the four members of Idaho’s congressional delegation, Wyden and Murray have been around for a long time. Wyden was elected to the Senate in 1996 and has been in Congress since 1981, the same year that Ronald Reagan came into power. Murray is in her sixth term in the Senate. Not surprisingly, both are enthusiastically endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket. 

“I’ve been proud to work with Vice President Harris and the Biden administration on a record of Democratic successes these past three and a half years, including historic wins over Big Pharma and major gains in the fights against wealthy tax cheats and the climate crisis,” said Wyden in a statement from his office. 

Murray, in a released statement, touted her candidate’s accomplishments. 

“Vice President Harris helped deliver the strongest economic comeback in the world after Trump badly mismanaged much of the COVID-19 pandemic. She helped pass landmark bipartisan legislation to rebuild our infrastructure, bring semiconductor manufacturing home, and to greatly expand care and benefits to our veterans. Kamala was the deciding vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and is lowering prescription drug costs.” 

It’s no mystery where the three Pacific Northwest states are likely to go in this election. Trump is poised to carry Idaho by a wide margin, as all GOP candidates have since 1968. Harris is almost a cinch to carry Oregon and Washington – the only real question is by how much. But it doesn’t stop the leading politicos from expressing their views about the election. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have attacked Harris on the economy and foreign policy, and Democratic senators have no hesitation about building a case for Harris. 

“From the start, Kamala has made clear her campaign is focused on growing the middle class,” says Murray. “She is focused on building more housing to lower costs, expanding the child tax credit and making child care more affordable and accessible. Kamala knows that you don’t grow the economy by cutting taxes for billionaires and giant corporations – you invest in families.” 

Wyden was among the many Democrats nudging President Biden to step aside after that disastrous debate performance in June, saying “I have made it clear that the top priority has got to be defeating Donald Trump.” Wyden says the Harris-Walz ticket gives Democrats the energy, and momentum, needed to accomplish that goal.

The Oregon senator says Harris and Walz can build on the administration’s “impressive record and defeat Donald Trump – a convicted felon who wants to yank America backward with his checkered and erratic past of right-wing extremism on women’s health care, dirty energy and more.”

In Murray’s eyes, the stakes in this election go beyond the presidential race.

“With a Democratic majority in Congress, Kamala will restore a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions,” the senator said. “If you want to protect your freedoms and build an economy for working people, not billionaires, Kamala is your candidate.”

Chances are that Harris won’t be Idaho’s candidate as electoral votes are tallied, although a fair number of folks will appreciate the remarks from the neighboring Democratic senators.

Chuck Malloy is a long-time Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com

 

Pick a poll

September 3, 2024

Pick any one of the hundreds of polls out there in the media-sphere and you'll find no more than two-four points separating the candidates for President.  Go ahead.  Check it out.

Imagine what this portends for the November election.  If you believe the polling, you're likely bracing for a statistical tie, in which case, the nation will face a runoff election - probably in January.

Donald Trump is getting set for just such a situation.  He's already filing "intent-to-sue" paperwork in multiple states.

All of which means it won't be over by bedtime on November 5th.

Oh, Joy!

Many years ago, as a Chinese fortune teller was ending our seance, she intoned "May you live in interesting times."  Well, I guess these are it!  Or, them.

Most of the TV talking heads must be taking those polls seriously.  I haven't heard one yet forecasting the outcome.  Even on Fox.

This country doesn't like "close" or "virtually tied."  We like to see a winner, no matter the subject: baseball, football, golf, Chess or tiddly winks.  Clear cut!  Shut case!  A winner!

But, "clear cut" is not likely to define this election.

I'm going to get a little personal here.  I don't understand how nearly half the electorate can get behind DJT.  I just can't.  When compared to VP Kamala Harris, on almost any basis, it doesn't add up.

Not that she's the perfect candidate.  She's not.  But, compared to a guy with more than 35 felony convictions, a history of lying about nearly everything and a failure at every business he's tried, why is this so close?  Why is a candidate for President - currently our U.S. Vice President, a former U.S. Senator and a California Attorney General with spotless life and work histories - in a statistical tie with this guy?

And this.

With a candidate with those bona fides, why is nearly half of the electorate backing this felon?  Some 40-50-million folks.  That's a lot of people.  That, too, does not add up.

But, sad to say, "it is what it is" and those are the cards we've been dealt.  Helluva game.

As of today, 63 days to November 5th, 63 days to the vote counting.  Sixty-three days to a slew of election challenges.

Pick a poll.  And, hang on.  Tight!

 

The new suit

September 2, 2024

You have to hand it to Attorney General Raul Labrador. He can’t be shamed out of pursuing a foolish course of action. Just days after the Idaho Supreme Court unceremoniously tossed the Attorney General’s lawsuit to kill the Open Primaries Initiative (OPI), he’s at it again. In the Supreme Court’s opinion dismissing Labrador’s first suit, the Court said he “fundamentally misapprehends the role of this Court under the Idaho Constitution and the role of the Secretary of State under the initiative laws enacted by the Idaho Legislature.” That stinging rebuke did not stop Labrador from filing another suit attacking the initiative. It, too, will end up on the legal trash heap.

Labrador falsely claims in the new lawsuit, as he did in the first suit, that the OPI must be killed because it was misrepresented by OPI proponents. He supports his case with nine “declarations” (sworn statements) from his friends, who assert that signature gatherers tried to conceal that the initiative provided for ranked-choice voting in the general election. That would be pretty hard to do, because the ballot titles, which were front and center on every petition, explained exactly how the new voting system would work–abolish party primaries and establish a ranked-choice general election. Labrador should have known that because he drew up those ballot titles after the Supreme Court rebuked him for the misleading ballot titles he initially drafted.

Labrador was not particularly clever in selecting the nine declarants to support his new case. They appear to be his political confederates. The most conspicuous is Jacob Ball, a former Congressional staffer for Labrador, who has set up a political action committee to oppose the OPI. Months ago, Labrador endorsed another declarant, Steve Tanner, for the House seat in District 13B. Benjamin Chafetz is an extreme-right candidate for the District 17 Senate seat. Ryan Spoon, a failed candidate for the College of Western Idaho board, appears to be member of the extremist branch of the GOP.

The AG is demanding a decision in the case by early September. That would require numerous violations of court procedural rules. Labrador may not know this, but he must follow the procedural rules, just like any other Idaho lawyer. All of the declarants claim they were hoodwinked by signature gatherers in August or September of last year. A judge will want to know why it took almost a year for these individuals to come forward with their misrepresentation claims. Regardless, the OPI has already been certified so it is too late to challenge it. A competent lawyer would comprehend that simple fact.

The misrepresentation statute that Labrador is relying upon is also a stumbling block for his case. A federal court judge in Idaho has held the statute to be constitutionally unsound. Even if the statute did not have constitutional problems, it could not be used as a basis for invalidating the OPI.

In sum, Labrador’s second suit is so fraught with problems that it won’t go anywhere. That leaves one to wonder why it was filed. One possible answer is that the suit is just a publicity stunt, dreamed up by Labrador to try to besmirch the OPI.

The other possibility is a much more sinister one–that Labrador and his declarants are engaged in a conspiracy to deprive Idahoans of their sacred initiative rights under the Idaho Constitution. Either way, the suit is a fool’s errand and a waste of time and resources for both the courts and the AG’s office.

What comes through clearly is that Labrador is frightened to distraction by the OPI. It will end his future in Idaho politics by getting rid of the closed GOP primary. The OPI will bring a breath of fresh air to Idaho government because it favors the most highly-regarded candidates and disfavors extremists.