OPINIONS AND DEBATES
There are many thoughtful people that interact with politicians and candidates throughout the area. They may give you reasons to vote for or against the people who will affect your life.
Rod Beck is out of Touch
Most people don’t consider sitting at Meridian City Hall in a small conference room, on plastic chairs listening to politicians speak as their idea of a rocking Friday night. But democracy is a verb, and it requires action and engagement to maintain.
Michael Fitzgerald (left) and Rod Beck (Right) in the picture. Fitzgerald is the primary challenger to Beck’s seat as District 2 Ada County Commissioner
So what do the Ada County Commissioners do?
For starters, they’re not a single individual. The positions are made up of three district seats that govern how taxes are spent in Ada County . They also work with unincorporated areas (i.e., parts of the county that aren’t part of the city limits proper but still have residents who need representation and thoughtful governance outside of City Hall). They also have a say in planning and zoning, as well as appointing board members for various offices – such as Central District Health.
The job has a fairly broad scope, and in one of the fastest growing counties in the country it becomes a key role in ensuring the growth in Ada County isn’t out-paced by zoning, planning and forward thinking. Which is why it’s so important to elect officials who understand what is going to improve quality of life, and where the sticky, difficult things are happening for residents.
Rod Beck has served as Ada County Commissioner (District 2 ) since 2021, with re-election in 2022. Whether he has been in touch with what residents need the entire time, or this is a new development, on Friday evening one thing became abundantly clear: he is entirely out of touch with what is really happening around the Treasure Valley.
The League of Women voters invited Beck and challenger, Michael Fitzgerald, to a panel discussion with constituents. Questions were submitted to a moderator who pressed each candidate about various topics from housing to healthcare to public transit. Over the course of the evening a pattern began to emerge; Beck’s primary bragging points were about securing a professional soccer stadium for Garden City, and that he oversaw the 60,000 +/- residents living in unincorporated Ada County.
At one point, when asked about starter home costs in the Treasure Valley (where the median home price is north of $450,000) after his office approved a development that labeled $500,000 homes as “Starter”, Beck simply stated that, “Young people don’t work as hard as we did back in my day.” This was said to justify the expense of homes, as the average age of a first time home buyer is well into their 30s. He felt this was a reflection of a lack of hard work.
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When challenged directly that the actual reason younger generations don’t buy homes young is because they can’t afford it, Beck scoffed at the rebuke.
Michael Fitzgerald is a married father of young children, and a millennial aged man from a tradesman background. When speaking about the cost of housing, he talked about lowering costs for builders, and using mixed density housing to help keep costs for first-time homebuyers low. Beck touted the need to tap into sewer lines that already exist but are laid in open-use State land areas - that tying into those would disrupt the ecology of the area. Beck talked about the need to use the State land for development, despite the consistently unpopular pushback from Ada County residents that such areas should not be up for development.
The final question was about what each candidate would bring to voters if elected. Fitzgerald spoke about a need to focus on public transit to help working residents commute without being dependent on an individual car, to help increase where housing becomes practical to help decrease costs. He said he wanted to focus on the overcrowding in the County Jail to reduce taxpayer expenses, as well as to address the injustice that people awaiting trial for non-violent offenses experience. But primarily, these kinds of decisions would help alleviate expenses on taxpayers and bring relief to an overcrowded prison system.
When asked what Beck brought to the table if elected for another term, he cracked a few jokes about being older and wiser and more experienced than his primary opponent. Oh, and he brought a soccer stadium to Garden City.
The Idaho Vanguard News and Pine Irwin
Apr 27
WHAT THE FULCHER?!?!
Rep. Russ Fulcher introduces the SILVER Act, so his out of state dark money donors can build a gold depository business in Eagle, ID. He claims this will benefit many Americans. Do you have a bunch of gold you need to exchange or store some where? Because I sure don’t. Meanwhile housing is still outrageous, food prices continue to go up, gas prices continue to go up, the war in Iran continues with out congressional approval, and healthcare remains a massive tax on the American people with ever increasing premiums and decreasing coverage. But sure Russ, let’s worry about the handful of rich dudes who have a bunch of gold.
Brad Little’s Limbo for TPUSA
Article by: Kurt Orzeck for the Idaho Vanguard
As Brad Little’s third and perhaps final term as Idaho Governor approaches, it appears he isn’t attending to red-alert threats terrifying his constituents, such as skyrocketing gas prices and risks of fires, and 30,000 Idahoans losing health care. Instead, Little is playing games: Specifically Limbo, in which he’s trying to see how low he can go.
The governor’s latest tactic is to force every public school in the state to include a chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a hard-right organization funded by oligarchs intended to indoctrinate impressionable young students into ultra-conservatism.
The once-shady TPUSA broke into mainstream consciousness following the highly publicized death of its founder Charlie Kirk last year. It continues to promote intolerance, hatred against minority groups of virtually every stripe – and no ostensible educational resources of value to students on campuses where TPUSA chapters, called “Club America,” establish a presence. (On a rosier note, Indianapolis Star reported Thursday that pushback is growing against TPUSA’s nationwide efforts to implement “Club America” chapters in red states.)
In April, Little signed a proclamation encouraging Idaho students to form TPUSA chapters.
“We pledge a commitment to preserving opportunities for civil discourse, open dialogue and civic engagement within our public school system,” stated the bill that Little signed, which cited no existing threats to those activities. “I encourage any student who is interested in leading or joining a Club America or Turning Point USA chapter to do so.”
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, TPUSA’s main focus is “sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists. TPUSA and its spokespeople often warn their audience that their children, wives, religion, way of life and they themselves are under attack by various constructed enemies. TPUSA exploits complicated feelings of insecurity and anxiety to manufacture rage and mobilize support to revive and maintain a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order.”
In other words, Idahoans who simply want their children to be taught their ABCs and 123s better be prepared for them to return to school brainwashed with Make America Great Again-approved misinformation that isn’t simply amusing but potentially a source of self-radicalization against mainstream America.
Lest it even need be said, installing TPUSA chapters into each public school in Idaho would result in a fresh wave of expenditures for which taxpayers would be responsible to pay. Even those facing a dramatic increase in health care premiums and those recently stripped of health care altogether in Idaho. In March, Little signed a bill slashing $22 million in Medicaid disability budget cuts.
When Little took office as governor in Idaho in 2019, the state’s public education system was ranked 45th in the nation. It is unclear what spot the state holds in similar rankings now, as many previous metrics are no longer in use, although no credible reports appear to exist indicating any improvements whatsoever in the quality or cost savings in Idaho public schools from year to year.
Notoriously, the GOP is a party myopically focused on obtaining power and using any means to attain it. However, when they do achieve such victories, their reputation is stained to a similar degree for a virtually predictable predilection for becoming paralyzed and inept over how to govern. With no options remaining, elected Republicans are notorious for going “all in” to the benefit of their friends, sycophants potential future employers before they are inevitably forced from office.
Little’s TPUSA pitch may become the latest example of that cynical ploy. Idahoans will see in the coming months just how low Limbo Little can go.
Idaho is Ready for this Woman to be Governor
I am a woman
As if there were any confusion about that, some folks still point it out to me, as in: Do you think Idaho is ready for a woman governor?
Well, obviously, yes, I do think that.
But in truth, mainly Idahoans are ready for a competent governor.
Idaho is tired of a Trump yes-man who flings open the gate for any herd of federal agents. They want a governor who doesn’t think a wealthy CEO is more important than any mom at her kid’s tee-ball game. They want someone who knows that someone early in their working life needs a break way before the billionaires and their lobbyists. They want their public lands, not AI data centers.
Don’t get me wrong. Even if the question of female leadership has been “asked and answered” everywhere in the world by this point, I don’t let it trouble me. I figure that folks who worry about my gender may eventually spend time pondering my more job-specific qualifications.
On this point, I am far more qualified to be governor than Brad Little ever was. I am more qualified especially when you factor in his seven bad years of experience.
And just think of those years Mr. Little spent before he was governor, pining for power, yearning for Butch Otter to get off the throne. Back then, Mr. Little showed all the initiative and courage of any old weathervane wearing a cowboy hat. I see no difference now.
As for me, I earned my way through high school and college. I started and built my own successful business. I helped lead a major organization in crisis while it was under attack from the federal government when I was a board member of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. All the while, I got my kids to school, went to work, argued court cases, managed employees, and volunteered my legal expertise to help abused kids.
I am very proud of what I bring to the office of the governor.
And as my campaign reaches more and more people, I can tell you with certainty: Idaho is ready for this woman to be governor.
Epstein and Mike Crapo
Idaho senator Mike Crapo is the head of the finance committee. He is also using that position to Stonewall the Epstein investigation.
If you'd like to let him know you expect better treatment for victims and prosecutions for predators you can tell him directly here:
His Boise office number: +1 208-334-1776
His DC Office Number: +1 202-224-6142
Surveillance Pricing
Surveillance Pricing is when a company's AI/Algorithm uses your data to charge you a different price for the exact same item than others because they know your purchase history.
In Maryland, a surveillance pricing bill championed by Gov. Wes Moore was watered down and riddled with loopholes after industry insiders wined and dined lawmakers.
More Perfect Union’s research found that the day after the Maryland legislature began considering its surveillance pricing bill, the Maryland Retail Alliance -- whose board includes executives from Target and Amazon -- took lawmakers out for dinner, treating them to Wagyu Tomahawk Ribeye and Salmon Wellington.
The result was a watered-down law that protects corporate profits at the expense of consumers. Billionaires win again.
Let's not let this be the model for other states.