By Bryan Smith
Idaho State Representative Stephanie Mickelsen was recently in the news for having an illegal alien, who choked his wife in front of his child while carrying meth in his wallet, employed by her family farm. It appears that someone turned her in to ICE for investigation. My purpose today is not to debate whether someone should or should not have blown the whistle. Instead, my purpose is to share Stephanie’s rich hypocrisy.
Stephanie complains that tactics designed to “bully individuals and business trying to navigate complicated and often competing employee documentation laws is a disgusting and reprehensible way to act and should not be tolerated by anyone.” So, now she’s “being way more cautious” because she’s “afraid of being targeted.” According to Stephanie, “you have to say to yourself, as this rancor gets worse, at what point is it worth it for me to serve . . . if my family and everybody around me is at risk?”
Mike Colson, the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee (BCRCC) Chair explained the situation succinctly, “That’s part of their playbook for these legislators, to make it so miserable and so uncomfortable for them that hopefully they won’t run again next time. That’s what they’re hoping for. That’s what they want. They want us to quit.” Mr. Colsen explained that the ICE reports were “a coordinated attempt to send a chilling message to a number of persons that may not see eye-to-eye with some of their political allies.”
But where was Stephanie’s outrage in July 2022 when she signed sworn formal complaints to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against me, the BCRCC, Bryan Zollinger, and others for violations of federal election law when I ran for congress? Stephanie claimed that the BCRCC violated federal law when it donated $1,000 and sent a mailer supporting my campaign; that I violated federal election law by accepting and spending the money; and that Mr. Zollinger violated federal election law when he made a motion at a meeting supporting the effort. Stephanie’s sworn formal complaint states, “they should be held accountable.”
Eighteen months later, the FEC dismissed Stephanie’s complaints and closed its files exercising its “discretion to determine the proper ordering of its priorities and use of agency resources.” This is government language for “Stephanie’s complaints were a waste of time and money.”
Stephanie’s complaints to the FEC were certainly tactics designed to “bully individuals . . . trying to navigate complicated and often competing” federal and state elections laws. To quote Stephanie, that is “a disgusting and reprehensible way to act and should not be tolerated by anyone.” Stephanie clearly made her complaints to make others “afraid of being targeted” to make them ask themselves, “as this rancor gets worse, at what point is it worth it for me to serve . . . if my family and everybody around me is at risk?”
At the same time Stephanie filed her FEC complaints, local Idaho Falls attorney Steve Taggart filed similar FEC complaints. This appears to be part of “their play book . . . to make it so miserable and so uncomfortable . . . that hopefully they won’t run again next time. That’s what they’re hoping for. That’s what they want. They want us to quit.” The FEC complaints were “a coordinated attempt to send a chilling message to a number of persons that may not see eye-to-eye with some of their political allies.”
Ironically, whereas the FEC dismissed all the complaints and took no action, Stephanie’s farm actually employed an illegal alien to enrich her business while endangering the community. Why is Stephanie’s whining and fussing rich in hypocrisy–because she believes in rules for thee, not for Stephanie.
