Issues

Cut Spending, Cut Taxes:  

Politicians who spend taxpayer money in ways they would never spend their own money are irresponsible and unethical.  Putting an end to wasteful spending is a MUST! Cutting your taxes and allowing you to keep your hard-earned money is crucial.  If you keep Cheatum in office, based on his previous voting record, your taxes will not go down, they will naturally go up. He, and his big-spending RINO allies, will have to find ways to pay for their profligacy; tax-hikes are always this type of politician’s first choice.

When I am elected, I will make it my top priority to cut taxes and cut spending.  We have seen it done in other counties, so we know it is possible.  The government already has enough tax dollars to cover its constitutional obligations. The money is there… we just need to make sure it is allocated correctly, by faithful stewards, and that we are not funding programs – or organizations – that are not the government’s responsibility.

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher

“When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident.” – Ronald Reagan

Education Excellence: Idaho’s children deserve a genuine education that will prepare them for the world when they graduate. We must go back to the basics when educating our children.  When our students graduate, they should be citizens who love their county, have an honest knowledge of the true history of the Unites States of America, and a deep understanding of the U.S. Constitution and their own God-given rights.

We need to start holding our schools accountable, making sure they are teaching curriculum that has nothing to do with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and cult-like doctrine of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  Sex-education should also be an opt-in class, not an opt-out class.  Test scores should obviously always be at passing levels for public schools.  When we keep “passing” children to the next grade just to hit quotas, we are hurting those students by setting them up for failure as adults.  If public schools cannot meet basic standards in teaching our children the basics – reading, writing, arithmetic, civics, and history – then parents absolutely have the right, privilege, and responsibility to utilize their school choice; families MUST be able to always choose a better option to educate their children in ways which align with their beliefs.

“Education is the key that unlocks the golden door to freedom.” – George Washington Carver

Water Rights: Idaho’s water and dams belong to the citizens of Idaho! It is the right of all Idahoans to control our own natural resources, and to decide how they are utilized.  The federal government must respect Idaho’s independence. Back in 2007, in the “Joyce” case, the government (U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management) tried suing Idaho farmers over their water rights. Fortunately, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled in the farmers’ favor, but the federal government, in typical fashion, hasn’t yet conceded its attempt at this overreaching power-grab, and there is another hearing set for January 2024. This case will probably end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“The government told us at the start, ‘you might win this battle, but we’ll break you.’ Well, we’re still here. It has cost an incredible amount of money, but they didn’t break us,” – Paul Nettleton (rancher from lawsuit).

Election Integrity: The right to vote in a free and fair election is the most basic civil right, one on which all other rights of Idahoans depend. Ensuring fair and honest elections is a priority of mine.  When I am elected, I will make sure your voice and vote is heard and counted.  I will “thumbs down” any legislation that comes my way which aims to stifle the citizens’ voice, any legislation that may endanger your vote or allow it to be manipulated, any legislation that may lead to fraud during our elections.  ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE.  I will never vote for Rank Choice Voting (RCV), sometimes deceptively called, “Open Primary Voting.”

Rank choice voting poses several difficulties (by design).  Rank choice voting is unnecessarily complicated and lacks real transparency. In areas that have successfully adopted RCV, voters have consistently reported the process to be confusing, the instructions cumbersome. Completing an RCV ballot is difficult, tabulation errors are far more regular, and there is no easy way to fully verify that the votes were input accurately. RCV also has shown to create “ballot exhaustion,” disenfranchising voters who may not correctly complete the ballot, resulting in its disqualification.  In areas where RCV is in effect, voter-turnout has been shown to decrease. Again, this is all by design as it tends to favor Democrats.

“60% of Alaskan voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion – which disenfranchises voters – a Democrat won,” – Senator Tom Cotton