BOISE, Idaho — Misleading election ads, door hangers, and mailers from an out-of-state political action committee (PAC) is just a hairline in a newfound fracture splitting the union of Idaho's most conservative lawmakers.
KTVB confirmed through a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) donor Jay Kilmartin - a South Carolina state republican representative and freedom caucus member - Make Liberty Win (MLW) is a subsidiary of YAL. Kilmartin and other donors do not decide where or how their money will be spent.
MLW fired off mailers attacking Rep. Julianne Young (R-Blackfoot) for her voting record allowing porn in Idaho libraries. However, Rep. Young voted to restrict "materials harmful to minor" in Idaho libraries many times over across multiple bills between 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions.
The mailers also include Rep. David Cannon (R-Blackfoot) and Sen. Julie VanOrden (R-Pingree) in the accusation. It misrepresented their voting records too.
"It just means they’re a bunch of damn liars. That's the problem with this whole thing," Speaker of the House Mike Moyle (R-Star) said. "It's false. It's lies. Misrepresented. It's sickening."
Moyle found himself in MLW crosshairs too. The PAC pumped mailers to his district to offer the label “anti-guns.” The flyer points to Senate Bill 1173 that wanted to protect an individual's right to brandish a firearm as an act of self-defense. Moyle voted in favor of the bill, and it later became law.
Again, the PAC lied.
Further, the National Rifle Association (NRA) gave Moyle the Defending Freedom Award when he was the House Majority Leader.
"I'm one of like what - three people in the state that's ever got one of those things? Give me a break," Moyle said. "If money can buy these elections, we're all in trouble."
It's assumed MLW has a $1.1 million war chest to fund attack ads this year; that figure comes from a leaked recording of a private conversation between Freedom Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Heather Scott (R-Blanchard) and State Freedom Caucus Network Director Maria Nate - the wife of Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) President Ronald Nate.
InvestigateWest reporter Daniel Walters broke the leaked recording and its contents on Monday. The pair argued in the recording for two hours.
"Speaker Moyle was sort of the catalyst or the inciting event," Walters said. "They feel like [Moyle] has not used every tool in his toolbox to try to crush the left or to push forward conservative priorities."
Rep. Young is one of the most conservative lawmakers in the statehouse; she scored a 78/100 on the IFF Freedom Index - a measurement commonly used by the most conservative lawmakers to prove their conservative voting record.
It's unclear to Young why MLW is targeting her.
"They must feel that there's a benefit to them long term somehow to take out a conservative incumbent in order to get a very liberal candidate in and then hope that maybe the pendulum swings again, and they get someone who's more libertarian in that seat," Rep. Young said. "That's the only way it makes any sense."
Young, like Scott, is a supporter of Speaker Moyle's leadership. And while the Freedom Caucus fights over the choice to support him or not, MLW is taking their crack at campaigns in his camp.
"He's done a lot of great things for the state of Idaho that are kind of being ignored," Rep. Young said. "I know that many of my conservative colleagues in the legislature have reached out to [YAL] and expressed their frustration with what's going on."
Freedom Caucus Members including Rep. Joe Alfieri (R-Coeur d' Alene), Rep. Dale Hawkins (R-Fernwood), Rep. Tina Lambert (R-Caldwell), Rep. Elaine Price (R-Coeur d' Alene), Rep. Josh Tanner (R-Eagle), Rep. Mike Kingsley (R-Lewiston), and Rep. Scott posted a letter online supporting Speaker Moyle.
The primary election is May 21.
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