Late To The Party Or Fashionably late? Is There A Problem With That?

Hello Conservatives,

I keep getting asked if I think it’s strange that some politicians who have announced intentions of running for office this year have not yet filed the official paperwork.

One of the most glaring examples is Idaho Governor Otter. I heard him announce publicly that he has every intention of running for re-election. But, as of this writing he has not yet filed the paperwork, unlike some of his opponents, (D) Keith Allred, (R ) Rex Rammell, (L) Ted Dunlap, (R )Walt Bayes and (I) Jana Kemp. One other noteworthy mention is the absence of (R) Sharon Ullman, who has announced intentions of running but has not yet filed.

How about the Idaho 1st Congressional Race?

Incumbent (D) Walt Minnick, (R ) Harley Brown, (R ) Michael Chadwick, and (I) Dave Olson have all filed but missing is (R ) Raul Labrador and (R )Vaughn Ward. Hmm. And all the talk of Bill Sali running will be put to rest soon.

For US Senate, Incumbent (R ) Mike Crapo filed today and so far has no competitor.

For Idaho’s 2nd Congressional Race, (R ) M.C. “Chick” Heileson, (R )Russ Mathews, and Incumbent (R ) Mike Simpson are all officially in, though (R )Brian Schad has announced intentions but has not filed paperwork.

There also appears to be some missing filings in the State Legislature as well but, does it mean anything?

ICB says “No”. Relax there is plenty of time for filings. What do I make of this? Nothing really, some like to wait and size up the competition, some are just busy, and a few might be reconsidering but, it’s still too early to make anything out of the missing paperwork at this juncture. Now, come Wednesday or Thursday if some of these gaps aren’t filled it might be a sign.  

ICB

Thursday Tip Sheet

Boise lawmakers eyeing seat swap
By Brad Iverson-Long
Two Democratic Idaho lawmakers in Boise’s 19th District are looking to swap House and Senate seats after this November’s election. Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart has already filed to run for the Senate seat with the secretary of state, and Sen. Nicole LeFavour wrote on her blog that she wants to go back to the House.

House Votes to pass resolution on Massa, Ethics Committee to look into Pelosi, Hoyer
Posted by Donald Borsch Jr.
According to Megyn Kelly on FOX News “America Live”, the House just voted 402-1, with 15 lawmakers voting present, to go forward with an Ethics Committee investigation into what Pelosi did and didn’t know about Massa and his indiscretions. Steny Hoyer is also being looked into.

 
Meet the new reps, same as the old reps?
By Kevin Richert
The Statehouse has an unwritten but well-established career path. After slugging it out for a time in the crowded, 70-member House of Representatives, it's common for an ambitious lawmaker to "move up" to the 35-member state Senate.
Boise Democrat Nicole LeFavour is one of seven current state senators who started in the House. But she now wants to take the unorthodox step of moving back to the House.

The Slaughter Solution: from Nickie Goomba
By Donald Borsch Jr.
The House Democrats will use the “Slaughter Solution” to pass Obamacare without a vote on Senate bill. WITHOUT A BILL. This corrupt government has spit and defecated on our Constitution. Think of the millions of Americans who have given their lives to defend that Constitution. The Marxist Democrat Party is poised to steal our country!!!

Otter wants to amend the U.S. Constitution
By Dustin Hurst
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter wants to change the U.S. Constitution.
He’s not the only one. So does the governor of Wyoming, plus some Idaho lawmakers.

I'm Sorry, Madam Speaker -- the Republicans Won't Let Me Vote for It
By Carol Peracchio
How the GOP can help the Blue Dogs kill Obamacare

Idaho Senate approves ban on texting while driving
OMG! But the bill wouldn't keep you from making cell phone calls while behind the wheel.
BY Brian Murphy
Put away your PDAs.
At least while you're operating a moving motor vehicle on Idaho roads.

House Democrats' 'no' votes are piling up as healthcare reform moves forward
By Bob Cusack
More than two dozen Democrats are expected to vote against the healthcare reform bill that will hit the House floor in the coming weeks.
At least 25 House Democrats will reject the healthcare reform legislation, according to a survey by The Hill, a review of other media reports and interviews with lawmakers, aides and lobbyists. Dozens of House Democrats are undecided or won't comment on their position on the measure.

Idaho Health workers conscience bill receives committee approval
By Dustin Hurst
Following two days of debate in the House State Affairs Committee, Sen. Chuck Winder’s, R-Boise, bill was approved, which gives health care workers outside of hospitals the ability to conscientiously object to performing certain medical procedures or dispensing certain medications. Committee Democrats did all in their power to derail the measure, but as a minority in the panel, they could do little to stop its passage.

Obama Says Most of Washington Thinks He’s an ‘Idiot’
By Elizabeth Williamson
It was the ultimate in straw-man positions: at a fund-raiser in St. Louis for Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) Wednesday night, President Barack Obama told the crowd that “most of Washington” doesn’t understand tough moves he’s made to boost the sagging economy. In fact, he said “they just think I’m an IDIOT for doing something that’s not immediately popular!”

Idaho elections: Crapo files for third U.S. Senate term
By Kevin Richert
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo filed for a third term Thursday morning — and he is running alone.
Will things remain that way on March 19, at the end of the filing period? Crapo, a Republican, ran unopposed in 2004.
In other Thursday morning filings news:

Simpson Reintroduces Bill to Empower Rural Communities Against EPA’s Enormous Grip

Washington, D.C. – Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today reintroduced H.R. 4798, the Small Community Options for Regulatory Equity Act, which provides relief to small Idaho communities from onerous and unnecessary federal regulations. The measure is similar to legislation Simpson and then-Congressman C.L. “Butch” Otter first introduced in the 108th Congress. Simpson is hopeful Congress will be inclined to reconsider the bill because of the severe impact federal regulations have had on small communities since it was last introduced.

“We’re not talking here about trying to reduce arsenic from 100 parts per billion to ten, we’re talking about communities having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce it by two parts per billion. It should be up to rural communities to determine if twelve parts per billion is acceptable for their drinking water, or if they should tax people out of their homes in order to try to obtain EPA’s arsenic standard of ten parts per billion,” said Simpson. “Nobody cares more about the safety of a community’s drinking water, or is more eager to do the right thing to protect it, than the people who live, work and raise families there.”

The Small Community Options for Regulatory Equity Act enables communities with populations under 10,000 to opt out of the EPA’s new Safe Drinking Water Act standards for arsenic – which occurs naturally in many water systems in the West, at levels above what the agency considers safe – if they determine the cost to citizens exceeds the potential benefit.

In January 2006, EPA required all drinking water systems to reduce arsenic levels from the previous standard of 50 parts per billion to no more than 10 parts per billion. In many small communities where arsenic levels range between nine and twelve parts per billion, complying with EPA’s regulations threatens to impose an impossible financial burden on residents who face no discernible health threat. H.R. 4798 restores the kind of flexibility that Congress wrote into the Safe Drinking Water Act, but which the EPA has chosen to ignore. The agency’s unwillingness to consider local conditions and single-minded commitment to a one-size-fits-all solution is contrary to Idaho’s interest in educating and assisting citizens rather than proscribing actions and punishing non-compliance.

“Layer upon layer of federal regulations and mandates are slowing our economic recovery and putting our small, rural communities in the position of either raising local taxes or begging for help – from the federal government!” Governor Otter said. “That’s why more than half of the federal stimulus money that Idaho received is being used for meeting federal mandates. And it’s why Congressman Simpson’s bill is so badly needed. It shouldn’t be the government’s business to rob citizens or communities of their self-determination.”

“All across rural America, small communities are struggling with how to pay for federal regulations that simply don’t make any sense,” said Congressman Simpson, Ranking Member of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the EPA. “In the case of arsenic, dozens of Idaho water systems are facing millions in compliance costs and severe penalties unless they reduce naturally occurring arsenic levels to an arbitrary, unnecessary number. The federal government’s command-and-control regulatory structure is unresponsive to the concerns of rural communities and that is why this legislation is so desperately needed.”

Wednesday Tip Sheet

Idaho's Rex Rammell hits the big time as subject of article in iconic conservative magazine

By Dan Popkey
But the magazine sees Rammell as a joke, saying “he enjoys a certain comic cult status” in Idaho. Rammell, a four-time loser for public office, is the subject of a commentary by Bill Croke titled, “Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

Pelosi: “People won’t know what’s in the bill until it passes.”: Twice Right

By Donald Borsch Jr.
I love when a politician tells the truth without meaning to.

Idaho campaigns (UPDATED): Could the 2011 Legislature look a lot like the 2010 model?

By Kevin Richert
Midway through the third day of the filing period, 73 of the state’s 105 legislators have filed for re-election.

Idaho House panel votes for more time to consider health workers’ conscience bill

By Dustin Hurst
Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, says his right of choice legislation is not intended to limit access to abortions for women, but is designed to allow certain health care workers to exercise their right of choice while staying employed. The House State Affairs Committee has yet to weigh on in the issue, voting Wednesday for more time for additional consideration for the bill.


Obamacare’s Procedural Fraud on the American People
By Brian Darling
This secretive and non-transparent procedure is not way to force through Obamacare.

Idaho State Representative James Ruchti, (D)  from Pocatello Will Not Seek Re-election

By: KPVI Staff
Representative James Ruchti, (D) Pocatello, announced Tuesday that he will not campaign for re-election this year and is backing former Pocatello Mayor Greg Anderson for his seat. 


Talking shop while buffing up but not often while in the buff

By Philip Rucker
It's no secret that members of Congress broker deals on the treadmill or in the weight room of the House and Senate gyms. But former congressman Eric Massa's accusation that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once berated him in the gym's shower over his vote against President Obama's budget left Washington watchers wondering how much business politicians conduct while naked.

Candy Land reform
By Kathleen Parker
The health bill push is generating enough sweet deals to choke even Congress.
 
Va OKs 1st bill banning mandated health coverage

By Bob Lewis
Virginia's General Assembly became the first in the nation Wednesday to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by President Barack Obama and Congress to implement a national health care overhaul in individual states.


Senate Plan Calls for National ID Card to Curb Illegal Immigration

By Dave Eberhart
A national ID card using biometric data such as fingerprints is at the center of an immigration reform bill being hammered out in the U.S. Senate – a measure that once again probably will pit advocates of homeland security and tough immigration enforcement against civil libertarians, employers and immigrant rights groups.

Most ICB Readers Feel Positive About The Idaho 1st CD Race

Hello Conservatives,

To call the Idaho 1st Congressional District Race "HOT" 
would be an understatement. It was warm this summer on the Republican Primary side between Ken Roberts, Vaughn Ward, running to challenge Incumbent Dem Walt Minnick. Ward went on the offence against Roberts and Minnick. Then, in November Ken Roberts dropped out. Now there has been much speculation on exactly why Roberts bowed out but, that opened up the position for Raul Labrador to jump in. Since then Ward has continued to be on the offence against Labrador and Minnick. ICB has covered this race extensively.

Some Recent ICB Headlines:

NRCC "Minnick Still Riding the Rangel Gravy Train"
Why Won’t Walt Minnick Come Into The ICB Spotlight For An Interview? (he did come in for the interview)
Ward and Labrador,Trivial Politicking or Substance?
Labrador Campaigning-gate, Ward Press Release-gate, or Much Ado About Nothing-Gate?
Dennis Mansfield-Eating Raul....(Labrador, that is, lawyer-man, latino guy)
Dennis Mansfield-Vaughn Ward's bi-focaled vision for supporters
Labrador Calls out the Ward Campaign
Labrador/Ward: Much Ado About Nothing Pt.2
Ward Vs Labrador In The ICB Poll, Not the same as Ward Vs Roberts.
ICB, A Plant For The Vaughn Ward Campaign?
Minnick Votes for the Death Tax, Another bad vote, Another Nail in his Political Coffin
ROBERTS WITHDRAWS FROM CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN
Minnick Can't Win For Losing And Inconsistent Voting Is A Loser
Why Do ICB Readers Support Ward Over Roberts?

There are others but you get the picture. ICB was wondering just what if any all this was having on the constituents? The last thing we need to do is turn off the base to this race and have people decide to just stay home and not vote at all. So, last week ICB published a poll asking, “How do you feel about the 1st CD race?”

Mostly Positive, Mostly Negative, or About Right?

Although the response was nowhere near as large as most polls on these pages the good news is that 75% of the respondents said they felt “Positive” about the race. That is good to see. ICB was somewhat concerned that the petty political controversies would overshadow the substance of the issues. It appears, at least with ICB readers it has not. The other good news is that for those who don’t follow local politics on a daily basis, they have missed what I call the “much ado about nothing” stories.

Really, the Primary race is just starting and this race will be decided by those who are just now starting to pay attention. TV, Radio, and Newspaper ads will start up soon and I hope the final push up to Primary Election day will be full of “issue” debate and not “nothing” debate. Then, regardless of who wins the Republican Primary we need to unite around this person and give full support going in to General Election Day.

ICB

Tuesday Tip Sheet

Health Freedom Act’ passes Idaho Senate

By Betsy Z. Russell
The Idaho Senate has voted 24-10 in favor of the “Idaho Health Freedom Act,” to ban the enforcement in Idaho of any federal requirement that all individuals and businesses purchase health insurance, and to require the state’s attorney general to go to court to fight any such requirement. The vote sends the House-passed bill to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk.

Idaho House approves firearms freedom bill

The AP/Idaho Statesman
Idaho House members are taking aim at the federal government's authority to regulate guns made and sold in Idaho.


Low-Tax Texas Beats Big-Government California

By Michael Barone:
Texas has been teaching some lessons to which the rest of the nation should pay heed. They are lessons that are particularly vivid when you contrast Texas, the nation's second most populous state, with the most populous, California.
 
Tyrannosaurus Rex

By Bill Croke
In Idaho, Rex Rammell is the liberals' dream Republican candidate.
There have always been politicians and wannabe candidates who seem to have been sent by Providence to provide comic relief in humdrum political seasons. James Traficant comes to mind, as does Ralph Nader. Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, Charlie Rangel, John Edwards, Mark Sanford, the list is almost endless. In Idaho, we have Rex Rammell, a Gem State gem.

Stimulus or Sedative?

By Thomas Sowell:
The fact that politicians call something a "stimulus" does not make it a stimulus. The fact that they call something a "jobs bill" does not mean there will be more jobs.
 
Obama's Oscar

By Chuck Norris:
I am no pinnacle of humility, and I've learned my fair share of hard lessons from the camps of conceit. But I'm not sure the former Chicago politician occupying the White House ever has been schooled with a primer on the perils of pride.
 
Obama's Iran Policy Collapses to the Accompaniment of Mockery Around the Globe

By Joel J. Sprayregen
Obama's Iran policy is collapsing to the accompaniment of open mockery around the globe.
 
Year-Long Celebration Planned to Mark President Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday

By Penny Starr
True to form for Ronald Reagan, the legislation calls for no taxpayer funds,” John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, told CNSNews.com. “So all of the activities will take place ,not because we asked the taxpayers to dig into their pockets and throw money to Washington, but rather because we are successful in raising the funds necessary to do it through the president’s foundation.


Who’ll Care for Us When Doctors Go Under?
By Eric Novack
Only in Washington, where the oft-repeated goal of the president has been to “reform health care” to save the country from deficits, can you simultaneously ignore problems that began before you came into office while at the same time using those problems as justification to push new huge programs of your own.

Monday Tip Sheet

Ronald Reagan: Two Speeches that Changed History
By Newt Gingrich
In two powerful speeches that took place twenty-seven years ago this March, President Ronald Reagan dealt what would ultimately prove to be lethal blows to the moral and material foundations of the Soviet Union.

Poll shows Obama, Dems losing ground
By Joseph Curl
A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than it was two years ago and think President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, a new poll finds.

Massa: "Rahm Would Would Sell His Mother to Get a Vote"
By Andrew Greiner
Rahm Emanuel has been accused of a lot of things during his political career, but today one outgoing congressman may have topped all insults.


Eric Massa: Democrats ousted me over health care
By Tim Grieve
Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year's Eve — and that he's the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he's a "no" vote on health care reform.

The end of the road for Barack Obama?
By Simon Heffer
The descent of Barack Obama's regime, characterised now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate.

Weapon of Massa Destruction
By Tom Bevan
The White House needs this like it needs a hole in the head.

Idaho committee kills immigration bill
By Betsy Z. Russell
Idaho lawmakers balked Monday at sweeping immigration legislation proposed by state Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, that sought to penalize employers who hire illegal workers and enact an array of other provisions, from penalizing “sanctuary cities” to requiring driver’s license tests to be in English.

Idaho filings: Shakeup in Boise's North End? Mike Simpson, Steve Kren get challengers
by Kevin Richert
District 19 is a Democratic stronghold, including Boise's North and East ends. But a strange shakeup could be occurring within the district....LeFavour says she was planning to return to the House of Representatives, and encourage Boise Democratic Rep. Brian Cronin to seek her Senate seat. LeFavour says she believed Pasley-Stuart was planning to retire.

Idaho campaign filings: Four, and counting, in governor's race
By Kevin Richert
And now there are four (in the race for governor). Democrat Keith Allred of Eagle and Libertarian Ted Dunlap of Kuna have joined Republican Rex Rammell and independent Jana Kemp. No official word yet from incumbent Gov. Butch Otter, who has indicated he plans to run; or GOP Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman, who has some campaign signs around town; or perennial candidate Pro-Life, who has said he plans to run.

Dan Rather on Chris Matthews - Obama couldn't sell watermelons

Sunday Tip Sheet

The influence of JFAC's Dean Cameron goes beyond the budget, irritating other chairmen.

By Brian Murphy/Idaho Statesman
It is where the action is, where the money flows and where lawmakers want to be.
But the Idaho Legislature's most powerful committee is also drawing the ire of legislators concerned that the budget-writing panel is usurping other committees' policy-setting power.
Last week, as the 20-member Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee set the vast majority of the state budget, the simmering dispute bubbled over.

A Sorry Complaint About Obama

By Steve Chapman:
Don't you miss the days when we had a Republican president who was not afraid to speak up for America in the face of foreign criticism? The kind of president who didn't feel the United States is always in the wrong?
 
No Need to Get Tied Down Yet

By Fred Barnes
The GOP lacks a standard-bearer for 2012—but the list of contenders will be growing in the fall.

Wouldn’t You Like to Know

By Stephen F. Hayes
The ‘most transparent administration in history’ stonewalls.

Vaughn Ward, Rep. Walt Minnick spar over money from Rep. Charles Rangel

By Dan Popkey
Ten charities will get $1,000 each, but GOP challenger Vaughn Ward says Minnick should donate more.

Pakistan arrests American-born al-Qaida

By Ashraf Khan
Pakistani intelligence agents have arrested Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al-Qaida, in an operation in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday.
 

KIDO's Austin Hill: Do Conservatives Begrudge Palin for Her Success?

By Austin Hill

“Palin used to be about the people, but she isn’t anymore. These days, Palin is all about Palin…”


Ouch! Did I really hear that comment on a “conservative” radio talk show?

It happened last week after former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared on NBC-TV with Jay Leno. I was listening online to talk show hosts Barry Young and Michele Larson at Phoenix, Arizona’s 550 KFYI radio, as they discussed, among other things, whether Palin’s TV appearance had made her look more, or less, “presidential.”

“Karen,” a caller to the show, claimed that she had been one of the several hundred people who gathered outside a Phoenix-area store where Palin appeared last December, and waited overnight for the opportunity to meet Palin and purchase an autographed copy of her book.

When, after all those hours of waiting, Karen finally got in the door to see Palin, she was forbidden from taking a photo with the former Governor. “They actually took your photo for you when you were speaking with Palin” Karen explained to the two Arizona talk show hosts, “and then they would try to sell you a copy of it for twenty dollars after you got through the line.” And it seems that the selling of the photos was the deal-breaker for Karen and her admiration for Palin. According to her, Palin, who was apparently at one time all “about the people,” was now gratuitously “all about Palin.”

Whether or not you liked Palin’s performance on “The Tonight Show,” and whether or not you think Palin has a future in American politics, are both interesting topics that are worthy of discussion. But I’m not interested in debating those matters here.


For the moment, I’m far more concerned with people who purport to be “former fans” of Palin (later that same day a caller to my own talk show expressed similar disgust, stating that "Sarah has totally sold out” – whatever that means), but now are somehow offended or “put-off” by her. What’s the problem? Her rising celebrity status? Her venturing into national media? Her apparent financial success?

The continual attacks on Palin from the cultural left, while reprehensible, are nonetheless understandable. Given its narrow-minded allegiance to stereotypes, liberal America simply doesn’t know what to do with a sexy, telegenic woman who believes in things like traditional marriage and American exceptionalism. Women who believe as Palin does, so the liberal assumptions go, are supposed to fit the frumpy, dowdy, "church-lady" description. But Palin shatters that assumption, and thus, the left’s response to her is to lash-out.

But regardless of one’s political or cultural leanings, any American who feels uncomfortable in the face of Palin’s recent choices and fortunes should ask themselves “why?” Why is it so unnerving to observe a woman in the public eye rise from modest, middleclass status, to wealthy, high-powered celebrity status, in less than two years?

American freedom, and American-styled capitalism, provide an environment where “rags-to-riches,” Palin-type stories actually happen. No other society to precede America provided such enormous opportunity for upward mobility, and no other contemporary society does it better than we do now.


Yet part of the success of American capitalism is found in the fact that, just as we generally do well at extending opportunity to everyone, we generally don’t try to guarantee specific economic outcomes to anyone. History shows us that when government authorities step-in and try to assure some arbitrary “minimum level” of economic success, people lose their inclination to work hard, behave responsibly, and become their very best.

This means that Americans are quite free to succeed, yet we live with the risk of failure as well. It’s a scary thing, this notion of American freedom, but it has a track record of serving humanity in profound and equitable ways.

But with no guarantee of economic outcome, some people inevitably create more success than others do. And our current President and Congress, undergirded by their leftist, economic redistributionist philosophies, are intent on changing this “imbalance of outcome” according to what they think is “fair.” Indeed, they are determined (to reiterate a phrase that is woefully overused by the Obama Administration) to “level the playing field.”

Americans are currently (and overwhelmingly) rejecting the agenda in Washington. Yet I suspect that some of the same “conservative” Americans who are decrying President Obama’s “socialism,” are also uncomfortable with Sarah Palin being too much “about Palin.”

“But if she keeps charging people for photos and all of that” a caller to my talk show told me, “she’s going to irritate her core supporters.” Yep, Sarah Palin’s choices may very well alienate her supporters. And without our government guaranteeing economic outcomes, all our economic choices entail a level of risk. But Palin is nonetheless free to charge for photos, risky as that may be - and I’m free to decide whether or not to buy them.

Will “conservatives” let Palin be Palin? Will Americans allow the “free market” to remain free?

Austin Hill is a Contributor to Idaho Conservative Blogger,Talk Show Host on 580 KIDO Radio, and a frequent Guest Host on the Fox Newstalk Radio Network. He is the Author of "White House Confidential: The Little Book Of Weird Presidential History," And Co-Author of the forthcoming title "The Virtues Of Capitalism: A Moral Case For Free Markets" (Northfield/Moody Press, 2010). and is also a Contributor to Townhall.com.