Scott Bedke is the current Speaker of the House for the Idaho state legislature and is running for Lieutenant Governor in 2022. He sent out a letter for donations in which he claimed to be a frugal and conservative leader. Our open response to Mr. Bedke is below.
Dear Scott,
You work for Idahoans.
In pursuit of that honorable position, what have you done to “keep government small, streamlined, and frugal”? A cursory glance at your voting record shows that you voted to restrict what Idahoans can do in their own vehicles, increase fees collected by Idaho state parks, create a slush fund to bolster up Medicaid in Idaho, allow Fish & Game to restrict citizens’ vehicles in areas they deem “at risk”, and weaponize the Idaho House Ethics and Policy Committee by violating the rules of the House. Those were just the most egregious votes in your record from the 2021 session. To list all the ways that you have helped the Idaho state government become bloated, congested, and wasteful over the course of your legislative career would take more time that either of us have here. It doesn’t help that your votes on spending are abysmal, to put it in its best light.
If you wanted to represent the people of Idaho, you should have started by following the United States and Idaho state constitutions. Your wanton disregard for our state sovereignty and willingness to take money from the federal government (which always comes with strings and cedes local control) are not qualities befitting of the office of Lieutenant Governor of the state of Idaho. The days of lukewarm “conservatives” who won’t stand fearlessly for the sanctity of unborn life, the sovereignty of our state, and the absolute, inalienable freedom of the individual are over.
In Liberty,
Ryeker Herndon