The Weed Machine Comes to Idaho
Marijuana growers and distributors of legal THC-infused products face a significant challenge in Idaho: they cannot transport or sell their products within the Gem State. This restriction stands in stark contrast to the booming marijuana industry elsewhere in the U.S., which is a multi-billion-dollar market.
The marijuana industry has become a substantial financial contributor to various political groups, including Young Americans for Liberty (YAL). This libertarian group, often mistaken for a conservative Republican entity, supports far-right GOP insurgent legislators to promote marijuana legalization in the states where they work to influence elections.
This short story is about how a political machine conceals its true agenda through culture war fights and confrontational tactics to earn the support of a well-funded out-of-state organization. They don’t care if you support marijuana legalization or not; so long as they convince you to vote for their squad, your voice does not matter.
YAL funnels dark donor money through its PAC, Make Liberty Win (MLW), and deploys out-of-state door knockers to spread messages that magically align with the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s (IFF) communications, targeting specific legislators. Coincidentally, IFF’s PAC/Action arm strategically chooses which candidates it supports and which just happens to align with YAL’s target list. Could IFF’s “point man,” Dustin Hurst (former IFF communications Vice President and Freedom PAC treasurer), have anything to do with this?
These out-of-state missionaries for liberty often know little to nothing about the local legislative candidates and rely on talking points identical to IFF’s mean tweets, which are regurgitated in the palm cards they’re passing out door-to-door.
With substantial marijuana industry dark money funding, one could imagine this support could come at a cost.
This political weed machine is designed to manipulate voters, exploiting their susceptibility to emotional responses triggered by dishonest mailers and vicious attacks. Examples of these attacks include:
Accusations that long-time conservative Republicans are RINOs pushing pornography to kids through libraries simply because they voted against extreme bills backed by IFF legislators.
Claims that these Republicans want to take away your guns because they did not support redundant bills transferring oversight of firearms in schools from local school boards to the state government.
There are assertions that these legislators want to use public schools to turn children LGBTQ+ because they voted against diverting taxpayer money from public schools to private Christian schools through vouchers.
These misleading attacks are printed in mailers and handed out by MLW door knockers, who often know nothing about the candidates beyond the propaganda they distribute.
Candidates and Incumbents Benefiting from the Weed Machine
While they claim to be “grassroots” organizations, groups aligned with the Idaho Freedom Foundation are often funded by a small circular group of donors, many of whom are out-of-state. They form a machine that, until recently, appeared to have strong ties with Young Americans for Liberty.
Stop Idaho RINOS, Think Liberty Idaho, Citizens Alliance of Idaho, Idaho Freedom Caucus, Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, and the Idaho Freedom PAC seem to work together to endorse the same group of “liberty-minded” candidates who they call “proven conservatives.”
Like the movie Multiplicity, each of these groups behaves like a clone of the previous one. With few exceptions, they share a slate of candidates aligned with those who benefited from YAL/MLW’s dishonest mailers and door-knocking campaigns.
This is also known as astroturfing, and they seem to forget that regardless of how hard they try, fake grass can’t be smoked.
YAL/MLW sent attack mailers targeting House Speaker Mike Moyle and Rep. Julianne Young, both devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Despite their frequent support for the Idaho Freedom Caucus and IFF’s agenda, they staunchly oppose marijuana legalization and could potentially rally others against it. Consequently, it looks like the orchestrators of the collaboration between IFF and YAL may have deemed it necessary to sacrifice these allies for a more profitable agenda: legalizing marijuana in Idaho.
A recently leaked recording of a conversation between Idaho Freedom Caucus Director Maria Nate (whose husband Ron Nate runs IFF) and far-right legislator Heather Scott exposed a rift within this political machine. Scott wanted to support Speaker Moyle, which infuriated Nate and jeopardized their plans.
As news reports of the malicious YAL/MLW campaigns circulated, voters grew increasingly disgusted with the lies and smears against reputable individuals. Many Idaho Freedom Caucus members distanced themselves from Nate. In a bid to cover their actions, they signed a letter supporting Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, condemning YAL/MLW’s negative tactics and explicitly stating their opposition to marijuana legalization.
While many far-right Freedom Caucus members may have been pro-legalization, being publicly tied to a group that supported legal drug use was enough for them to retreat from any honest convictions they may have had. Sans a backbone, they oozed their way back to Speaker Moyle and begged for his support.
The negative optics forced them to renounce their treasured Hazlitt Coalition membership, which many had proudly posted on their social media after traveling to YAL events.
Did these far-right candidates finally realize their re-election chances were going up in smoke?
Will Weed Win in Idaho?
Idaho voters will go to the polls for the primary elections on May 21, 2024. They will determine whether the significant expenditure on negative campaigning has swayed their opinions and influenced their votes.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s power relies on the perception of its influence. To them, respect is earned through fear, and with the recent unraveling, it’s unclear who remains afraid of this paper tiger. With leaked conversations, the hiring of known white supremacists, and now an internal fight, the perception of their influence is broken. Their critics are proven right, and their demise becomes more certain.
The outcome of this critical election could signal the decline of Idaho’s most ruthless political organizations. These groups have shown they will do and say anything to influence elections to attract the attention of national groups who are willing to lend financial support in exchange for help legalizing drugs.
Perhaps relying on mean tweets and bad mailers to win elections is the side effect of getting high off your own supply.
Disclaimer: The following is intended to convey an opinion on newsworthy events of public concern regarding public figures and/or public officials in the exercise of their official duties. No implications or inferences—beyond those explicitly stated in the preceding—are intended to be conveyed or endorsed by the Author. Wherever available, hyperlinks have been provided to allow readers to directly access any underlying assertions of fact upon which this opinion is based.
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