By Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman
The Idaho Republican Party held its 2024 Winter Meeting last weekend at Harvest Church in Meridian. I am proud to say it was one of the best run meetings I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending. The Rules and Resolutions Committees worked hard into Friday night, and their work paid off when the State Central Committee approved their reports on Saturday morning. In fact, the Committee finished its work before lunch! I’ve never seen that happen before, and it’s a testament to the unity we have fostered in the Idaho Republican Party.
Contrary to what you might have heard on the news, the Idaho Republican Party is growing. Idahoans, whether they have lived here for five generations or recently escaped a blue state like California, believe in our message of faith, family, and freedom. Old and young alike understand how close we are coming to losing the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died for, and they are looking for people to stand up for those freedoms.
While the new rules we adopted last weekend are regarding internal party organization, the nine resolutions approved by the State Central Committee express the will of the grassroots in the party for the Legislature this session.
The first resolution seeks to raise the threshold needed to approve a citizen’s initiative. It takes a supermajority for your local school district to increase taxes, so why should major structural changes to our election system or billions of dollars in welfare be decided by a simple majority? This resolution asks the Legislature to codify a ⅔ supermajority for initiatives going forward.
The next calls upon the Legislature to make sure that only legal US citizens are allowed to be peace officers. Other states are seeking to allow guest workers or even illegal aliens to be part of law enforcement, and that’s a very bad idea.
The Idaho GOP wants to see porn filters on by default when children are given mobile devices as well as the ability of county central committees to recommend one name to the governor when filling a county commissioner vacancy, rather than three.
The party wants to stop cities from forcing landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers or other rental assistance measures, and condemns the use of so-called “dark money” to fund attack ads.
The party also wants to maintain Idaho’s strong laws that keep marijuana out of the hands of our children, and seeks mandatory minimum sentences for trafficking fentanyl.
Finally, the Idaho GOP says that if a private organization wants to infringe upon your 2nd amendment rights in public places, then they need to provide for your security, or face the consequences.
We urge our Republican legislators to take action on these resolutions this session before returning to the voters for the next legislative primary election on May 21, 2024.
Dorothy Moon was elected to serve as the chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party in July of 2022. Moon served three terms in the Idaho Legislature as State Representative for District 8. Moon’s career in public service has focused on the advancement of individual liberties and reducing the size and scope of government.
