BOISE, Idaho — A flood of money hit Idaho’s May Primary elections in a way the Gem State had never seen before. More than $3.6 million were thrown at legislative races, just in independent expenditures.
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane has watched the dust settle after the primary. Now, it’s a scene that could greatly change Idaho politics.
“Specifically, what makes it an independent expenditure is it's a political committee. Doing things without talking to or coordinating with the candidate,” McGrane said.
For the average Idahoan, independent expenditure spending comes right to your doorstep.
“It's typically the mailers that they receive in the mail attacking a candidate, or it's the television ads that are attacks, radio ads, similar things,” McGrane
A fresh, transparent, and in-depth dashboard from the Secretary of State’s office shows the extent of it all, more than $1.5 million on broadcast ads, close to $1.4 million for things like mailers and brochures.
“There was, in fact, more money against candidates that came from out of state than money from in-state against candidates. And I think that's a change in perspective,” McGrane said.
All of this does not include direct campaign donations to and spending from the candidates themselves.
At the top of the list of financially impacted primary races is House Speaker Mike Moyle.
“Oh, they love me. I don't know. I was surprised and it was out of state money too. And that concerned me, right? The fact that they think they can come into Idaho and buy these races is concerning,” Moyle said.
A quarter of a million dollars in independent expenditures, close to $200,000 of that from out of state for negative ads. Lawmakers tell KTVB that before the recent May primary, an average legislative race would garner maybe $10,000 - $12,000. More high-stakes races may be in the $30,000 range in total. Never something like this.
“When the stuff started coming out and it was totally backwards of the truth. When they were literally lying. I'm like, yeah, this is a problem, right? It's hard to counter that stuff, especially when there was so much of it. I had one neighbor one day, six negative fliers on me in one day. And he's like, this is ridiculous,” Moyle said.
No surprise that high profile races like Speaker Moyle or Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder saw major attention, but this is a level few expected. But it wasn’t just for leadership races, out of state groups were keyed in on specific seats.
Nampa lawmaker Rep. Kenny Wroten got a front-row seat to it all.
“This was coming every day. Every day,” Wroten said as he showed a packed folder of campaign mailers targeting his race and his name.
A barrage of postcards, flyers, and other mailers landed heavily in Wroten’s Nampa district. A byproduct of close to $100,000 spent against him by out-of-state groups.
“It's hard to defend against that, really, unless you've got the same war chest is as they do. You're really at a disadvantage,” Wroten said.
The materials being sent out at such a high-volume rate were also hard to combat.
“They certainly had a casual relationship with the truth, it seemed,” Wroten said.
Rep. Wroten lost his primary by a few hundred votes. His opponents’ names, though, were rarely seen in the barrage of mail.
So, what was this about? Why would an out-of-state group even care?
“I'm on the Revenue and Taxation Committee, which we stopped. The school credit, bill. And that seemed to be a real target. Had, other legislators that that faced the same thing as I did that had the onslaught of negative ads,” Wroten said.
School tax credit, or school vouchers, legislation died in committee at the end of the session—concerns were raised about oversight and accountability on taxpayer dollars that would be sent to reimburse Idaho families.
“It's part of a national initiative. You see, and you've heard about the Bill Mills and the sponsored bills, things like that. That's what we're looking at here,” Wroten said.
It’s a concerning trend for lawmakers, high profile or not.
“You saw that with some of this stuff. Now, I think these out-of-state guys want people in these (legislative) seats that will do what they're told. That's not what I want, and I don't I don't think that's what Idahoans want,” Moyle said.
So the major money question is, what happens next?
“I'm working on some stuff with some of the members here. We need more transparency. We need to know who's sending the money. I mean, I get that the US Supreme Court has said, I can't stop you from spending it, but I can make sure that I know who you are and what you're spending it on. And I can also do some stuff I believe we as a legislature can do some stuff to make sure you're not saying stuff. That's not true,” Moyle said.
Rep. Wrotten cautions his community and beyond about what this could mean for future elections.
“Once they see the success, I anticipate that they'll just be more of it. They'll just continue to do it if they think they can just buy the candidates and have them just sign off on what they're doing. that puts the people of Idaho in a real bad spot,” Wroten.
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