OPINION: Some Idaho Candidates Scream Danger

Idaho has its share of unusual candidates for public office.  The Constitution Party has a history of nominating off-kilter candidates. Democrats are ashamed of their own party label and now run as independents. Some Republicans campaign as if offending the electorate is a strategy. I’m thinking of a candidate in District 26B. Lyle Johnstone is a perennial candidate for State Representative. I saw a post online where he was vacillating on repealing the property tax. Perhaps he’s a closet Georgist. I’ll give him credit because for a moment he’s willing to consider several arguments on the issue. Or he’s wetting an index finger and looking for wind direction.

One of my friends had planned to challenge Lyle in a primary but was stricken with cancer. So, we’re left with a Republican nominee who was recently described by an ally as a “bomb-thrower”. The definition isn’t entirely negative, but you get the idea. Loudness has become a campaign strategy, and he can’t be helping his own efforts as Johnstone constantly meddles in other campaigns through the Magic Valley Liberty Alliance. Most candidates will tell you they have one job: getting elected. He appears distracted by contests in other districts. A few days ago, a man I would’ve thought was a natural political ally described the candidate as “The weasel”. Another description compared him to a sphincter (I cleaned that one up!)

Jerome, Lincoln, and Blaine Counties Will Decide

He’s campaigning in a district that isn’t a given. It’s one of the few places in Idaho where Democrats are getting traction. Republicans dominate registration in two of the three counties, but one of those has a small population. The liberal county turns out voters by a two-to-one margin versus the GOP strongholds. That would be Blaine County.  That means he needs to pile up a massive margin in his home of Jerome County. I’m told the guy has so alienated his own party at home that Republicans have lined up behind his opponent.

The crackpots who supported him in the past are fractured (think bomb-thrower descriptions). Some are moving out of state, distracted by divorce court, or publicly denouncing him. One woman who backed him in the past went public when she had a change of heart. The meanies in his camp immediately attacked her viciously online. I guess they figure that if you beat people up, they’ll come around. Would this be how they govern? Should we turn Idaho over to a gang of semi-literate thugs?

Lyle was part of a movement that two years ago showed some promise, but bullying became a hallmark of how they worked. A friend is a local pastor, and he told me one day he didn’t like them because he doesn’t like bullies. He isn’t intimidated. He was a Marine and a State Trooper.

Christian or Poser When it Comes to Faith?

Johnstone cloaks himself in Christianity but attacked a local politician a few years ago as a Muslim and a communist, when in fact, she’s a member of the oldest Christian community in the world. Another former cop, a woman, told me she used to campaign for his associates, but will no longer work with his ilk. She shared the false Muslim accusation.

What closed the door for me was an event last summer. He made a statement about our Idaho Republican Chairwoman on my radio program. He attributed something I said to her, and I was quoting a voter in Blaine County who won’t be voting for him this November. He could’ve cleared it up by saying he didn’t hear the conversation with Dorothy Moon clearly. Instead, the bullies continued to attack her, and then they attacked me. I don’t live in District 26, and I can’t bring myself to vote for anyone identified as a Democrat. I guess I would leave that line blank. A few years ago, I was approached by a trio that asked me to run for a state legislative seat in their district, but it would’ve required me to leave my job and relocate. In recent days, I wish I had done it, just to be an alternative in 26B.

A similar version of this warning appeared at Substack.