BOISE, Idaho — When KTVB was putting together a series on the Idaho Freedom Foundation in early 2022, many members of the Idaho Legislature said they didn’t feel free to go on camera and speak about the libertarian-leaning nonprofit’s influence on state lawmakers – it was an election year and they had too much on the line, some said.
A year later, now-former Idaho State Sen. Mary Souza (R-Coeur d’Alene) is writing and talking about what she saw inside the statehouse and outside of it regarding the IFF’s influence, specifically positive/negative scores the the IFF gives to legislation, and the A-F letter grades the group gives to legislators.
“Please know that when IFF ‘analyzes’ proposed legislation, it is only from the bill itself, right after it is printed. They use a short checklist based on their quasi-Libertarian beliefs of no government, no taxes, no public schools,” Souza wrote in a recent newspaper column. “This method does not include a reasonable cost-benefit method that is typical in business decisions and factors in future impacts. If the bill spends $100, it gets a negative score from IFF, even if the bill saves the state $100,000 down the road.”
On the grading of state lawmakers, Souza wrote, “If you don’t obey the IFF, and vote on bills the way they tell you, you’ll be treated like a middle school student.”
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Souza didn’t run for reelection to the state senate in 2022, opting to instead seek the Republican nomination for Idaho Secretary of State. She finished behind Dorothy Moon, now the Idaho Republican Party chairwoman, and Phil McGrane, who went on to win the general election.
Like Moon, Souza took conservative positions on election laws. However, she didn’t receive the endorsement of her home county’s GOP organization, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.
Before the 2022 primary and after being passed over for endorsement by the KCRCC, Souza wrote in a column for the Coeur d’Alene Press that the committee’s vetting process was “weird.”
“The large stack of packets I provided to the full committee, containing my resume, accomplishments, and their required questionnaires, were returned to me in pristine, unread condition,” Souza wrote. “They didn’t want information, they didn’t want my viewpoints. Their slate of candidates seemed pre-determined months prior to the vetting show, and I have it on good authority that they were planning their hit pieces on non-endorsed candidates way back then as well.”
Souza also wrote that she was “relieved not to be endorsed by a group which so quickly forfeited their individual responsibility as Precinct Committeemen elected by their voters.” In January, she called KCRCC chairman Brent Regan “the guy most dangerous to your voting freedom.” Regan is also chairman of the IFF.
Souza said she was originally a supporter of the IFF but became concerned as she saw it “sliding down the slippery slope of power and corruption” during her years in the Legislature.
“Grading bills before you’ve even heard the committee testimony or the floor debate is wrong,” Souza said this month in an interview for The 208 on KTVB. She went on to say that she saw IFF scoring sheets and lists taped to some lawmakers’ desks.
“There are other groups that do rate bills,” Souza said. “But none of them grade you or bully you or push you, say bad things about you during campaigns if you don’t vote the way they want you to… but the Freedom Foundation does all of those things.”
Sen. Chuck Winder (R-Boise), who’s now the Idaho Senate President Pro Tem, talked about the IFF’s influence in the statehouse for KTVB’s February 2022 story.
“I think you can ask anybody around this building; they’ll change their ratings in the middle of a hearing. They’ll send out text messages, they’ll send out emails encouraging and telling people how they should vote,” Winder said.
About five years ago, Souza wrote, she had coffee with Regan and IFF President Wayne Hoffman, and told them IFF was losing credibility with the Idaho Senate.
“I suggested some changes that might give them better information, and they wanted nothing; they wanted none of it,” Souza said. “I believe their goal is just to control the Legislature. They want to control the legislative process and they are not interested in accurate information and full information about a bill; they are interested in grading it in a way they can get more control.”
Since the 2022 election, Souza has participated in some events, including a video discussion, with Mountain States Policy Center, a “free-market” think tank founded last October.
Souza said she’s received a lot of positive feedback to her most recent column, titled “Fraudulent ‘Freedom’: The IFF Files, Part 1.”
“They are ecstatic somebody is actually speaking out,” she said.
A couple of people brought up “sour grapes” in the comments on Souza’s “Uncanceled and Unfiltered” Facebook page; one defended the IFF, calling the organization “very clear” in its philosophy that “individual freedom is good.”
As for the IFF’s reaction to Souza’s “unfiltered” critique of the organization, she said it’s been “mostly silence.”
“One or two or three of them have gotten on social media and called me names,” Souza said.
One tweet from Hoffman called her “Mendacious Mary.” Dustin Hurst, who no longer works for the IFF, also weighed in.
“If I'm getting personal insults, I like that because it means they can't address my issues, my policies,” Souza said. “If they can't explain themselves or rebut anything I have said, it must all be all be correct and they have nothing to say except to call me ‘sour grapes’ or ‘RINO’ or whatever the silly name of the day is.”