OPINION: The good, the bad and the ugly in Idaho’s political arena

While the MAGA folks in the Idaho Legislature are running amok, there are some glimmers of light and reason peeking through. Kudos to State School Superintendent Debbie Critchfield for telling the clueless budget cutters that she won’t go along with a $55.1 million cut in the education budget. She is on solid ground because Idaho spends less per student than any other state in the nation. Idaho is the second-fastest growing state, giving us the tax base and resources to keep our children from being the least educated and least competitive in the country.

Legislators are savagely cutting budgets for many other essential state programs — road construction, Medicaid, higher education, State Police, on and on. We were just told that our prison population is growing while prison financing is declining. Prison staff may have to be furloughed, leading to increased prison violence. Since 36.5% of Idaho’s prisoners were sentenced on drug charges, it would make economic sense to make drug treatment programs more readily available, both in and out of prison, but that does not seem to register with the legislative budget choppers.

Any reasonable and responsible legislative body would see the desperate need to increase state revenues to adequately fund essential programs. An income tax increase on the wealthier Idahoans would barely be noticeable to them, especially since they have seen $4 billion in tax cuts over the last 5 years. We should leave the modest earners alone while increasing the tax rate for those who can afford it.

Besides Critchfield, Rep. John Shirts has injected a positive note into the legislative mix. His House Concurrent Resolution 23 calls upon Congress to support a constitutional amendment setting term limits for Congress. Congress would likely cut their terms only after Hell froze over, but Shirts is to be commended for starting a conversation.

Idaho’s Congressional delegation is Exhibit One in the case for limiting the time our exalted potentates can feed at the public trough.

Jim Risch has been in the Senate since 2009 and is now, at age 82, seeking another six-year term. I worked for one of Idaho’s very best Republican Senators, Len Jordan. Unlike Risch, he was principled and courageous. When President Nixon was wrong on an issue, like withholding appropriated funds, Jordan publicly and effectively objected. Risch meekly goes along with anything Trump does or says — trashing our NATO partners, imposing unconstitutional tariffs, whatever. When Jordan was deciding whether to run for another term in 1972, he decided against it because he would be 79 years old when his term ended. Jordan was in good health, but he had a conscience.

Mike Crapo is 74 years old and there is every indication that he will run for another 6-year term in 2028. He was in the House for 6 years and has been in the Senate since January of 1999. He was a principal architect of the Big Beautiful Billionaire Bill that saddled the U.S. economy with an unsustainable $40 trillion national debt, while chopping safety net programs that will cause substantial harm to ordinary Americans. He needs to be sent out to pasture.

Jim Risch and Mike Crapo have stayed in Congress well beyond their useful dates, but they will not be turned out by a constitutional amendment. That job can and should be done by Idaho voters.

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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He also publishes at substack.com/@jjcommontater