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Idaho Freedom Fdn

note fdn vs fund

: MERRI OK

HOMOPHOBE

BEAR EARS KILLED

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THINKPROGRESS

...Strata Policy joined other conservative groups, many of them also funded by the Kochs, to thank President Donald Trump for signing anexecutive order calling for a sweeping review of national monument designations. In the Juneletter to Trump, Strata Policy and the other groups said the support the criteria in the executive “to reduce and rescind egregious national monuments where local support exists to do so.”

The American Lands Council, a group formed to gain control of federal lands across the West, has also received funding from Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by the Kochs. TheIdaho Freedom Foundation, which also signed the letter to Trump, has received funding from Koch-affiliated groups and is a partner organization in the Charles Koch Institute’s Liberty@Work program.

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mark fucking meckler(note ~ lockdown was CNP 3 prong strategy)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-conservative-networks-backing-anti-quarantine-protests/2020/04/22/da75c81e-83fe-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html

wapo no lnx

Politics

The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.

Protests with honking horns, anti-shutdown signs and angry Americans continued in Maryland, Texas and Wisconsin on April 18. (The Washington Post)]

By

Isaac Stanley-Becker

and Tony Romm

April 22, 2020

The ads on Facebook sounded populist and passionate: “The people are rising up against these insane shutdowns,” they said. “We’re fighting back to demand that our elected officials reopen America.”

But the posts, funded by an initiative called Convention of States, were not the product of a grass-roots uprising alone. Instead, they represented one salvo in a wide-ranging and well-

financed conservative campaign to undermine restrictions that medical experts say are necessary to contain the coronavirus — but that protesters call overkill and whose economic fallout could damage President Trump’s political prospects.

A network of right-leaning individuals and groups, aided by nimble online outfits, has helped incubate the fervor erupting in state capitals across the country. The activism is often organic and the frustration deeply felt, but it is also being amplified, and in some cases coordinated, by longtime conservative activists, whose robust operations were initially set up with help from Republican megadonors.

Protesters assemble near the Texas State Capitol during a recent demonstration April 18 in Austin.

The Convention of States project launched in 2015 with a high-dollar donation from the family foundation of Robert Mercer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican patron. It boasts past support from two members of the Trump administration — Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development.

It also trumpets a prior endorsement from Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Floridaand a close Trump ally who is pursuing an aggressive plan to reopen his state’s economy. A spokesman for Carson declined to comment. Cuccinelli and DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.

The initiative, aimed at curtailing federal power, is now leveraging its sweeping national network and digital arsenal to help stitch together scattered demonstrations across the country, making opposition to stay-at-home orders appear more widespread than is suggested by polling.

“We’re providing a digital platform for people to plan and communicate about what they’re doing,” said Eric O’Keefe, board president of Citizens for Self-Governance, the parent organization of the Convention of States project.

A longtime associate of the conservative activist Koch family, O’Keefe helped manage David Koch’s 1980 bid for the White House when he served as the No. 2 on the Libertarian ticket.

“To shut down our rural counties because of what’s going on in New York City, or in some sense Milwaukee, is draconian,” saidO’Keefe, who lives in Wisconsin.

Polls suggest most Americans support local directives encouraging them to stay at home as covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, ravages the country, killing more than 44,000 people in the United States so far. Public health officials, including epidemiologists advising Trump’s White House, agree that sweeping restrictions represent the most effective mitigation strategy in the absence of a vaccine, which could be more than a year away.

White House aides, outside groups launch effort to reopen economy

Still, some activists insist that states should lift controls on commercial activity and public assembly, citing the effects of mass closures on businesses. They have been encouraged at times by Trump, whose attorney general, William P. Barr, said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday that the Justice Department would consider supporting lawsuits against restrictions that go “too far.”

Further afield, the protests have been encouraged by some of the president’s allies outside the White House, including Stephen Moore,once considered for a top post at the Federal Reserve.

The swelling frustration on the right coincides with major policy changes in some states, especially those with Republican governors. Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have begun relaxing their restrictions in recent days after bowing to pressure and imposing far-reaching guidelines.

The protests are reminiscent in some ways of the tea party movement and the demonstrations against the Affordable Care Act that erupted in 2010, which also involved a mix of homegrown activism and shrewd behind-the-scenes funding.

For the Convention of States, public health is an unusual focus.It was founded to push for a convention that would add a ­balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. That same anti-government impulse is now animating the group’s campaign against coronavirus precautions.

“Heavy-handed government orders that interfere with our most basic liberties will do more harm than good,” read its Facebook ads, which had been viewed as many as 36,000 times as of Tuesday evening.

Asking for a $5 donation “to support our fight,” the paid posts are part of an online blitz called “Open the States,” which also includes newly created websites, a data-collecting petition and an ominous video about the economic effects of the lockdown.

The group’s president, Mark Meckler, said his aim was to act as a “clearinghouse where these guys can all find each other” — a role he learned as co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. FreedomWorks, a libertarian advocacy group also active in the tea party movement, is seeking to play a similar function, creating an online calendar of protests.

“The major need back in 2009 was no different than it is today — some easy centralizing point to list events, to allow people to communicate with each other,” he said.

Meckler, who draws a salary of about $250,000 from the Convention of States parent group, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service, hailed the “spontaneous citizen groups self-organizing on the Internet and protesting what they perceive to be government overreach.”

So far, the protests against stay-at-home orders in states including Washington and Pennsylvania have captured headlines and drawn rebukes from some governors and epidemiologists. Experts say a sudden, widespread reopening of the country is likely to worsen the outbreak, overwhelming hospitals and killing tens of thousands.

The protesters so far have not aimed their ire at Trump, though it is his administration’s experts whose guidelines underlie many of the states’ actions.

Trump’s public comments — including his recent tweets calling for supporters to “liberate” states including Michigan, a coronavirus hot spot — have catalyzed some of the broader public reaction. Following those tweets, tens of thousands of people joined Facebook groups calling for protests in states including Pennsylvania and Ohio, where the efforts are coordinated by a trio of brothers who typically focus their efforts on fighting gun control.

Pro-gun activists using Facebook groups to push anti-quarantine protests

In recent days, conservatives have set their sights on Wisconsin, where a few dozen protesters turned out at the Capitol to air their frustrations with Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, after he extended his state’s stay-at-home order until late May. Ahead of the demonstration, Moore, the Trump ally, revealed on a live stream that he was “working with a group” in the state with the goal of trying “to shut down the capital.”

Moore, who served as a Trump campaign adviser in 2016, said he had located a big donor to aid in the effort, though he never elaborated. “I told him about this, and he said, ‘Steve, I promise to pay the bail and legal fees for anyone who gets arrested,’?” Moore said in the video. He likened his quest to the civil rights movement, adding, “We need to be the Rosa Parks here and protest against these government injustices.”

Moore, who has also worked at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, did not respond to a request for comment.

In Michigan, among those organizing “Operation Gridlock” was Meshawn Maddock, who sits on the Trump campaign’s advisory board and is a prominent figure in the “Women for Trump”coalition. Funds to promote the demonstrations on Facebook came from the Michigan Freedom Fund, which is headed by Greg McNeilly, a longtime adviser to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

McNeilly said the money used to advance the anti-quarantine protests came from “grass-roots fundraising efforts” and had “nothing to do with any DeVos work.”

Many of the seemingly scattered, spontaneous outbursts of citizen activism reflect deeply interwoven networks of conservative and libertarian nonprofit organizations. One of the most vocal groups opposing the lockdown in Texas is an Austin-based conservative think tank called the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which also hails the demonstrations nationwide.

“Some Americans are angry,” its director wrote in an op-ed promoted on Facebook and placed in the local media, telling readers in Texas about the achievements of protesters in Michigan.

The board vice chairman of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, oil executive Tim Dunn, is also a founding board member of the group promoting the Convention of States initiative. And the foundation’s former president, Brooke Rollins,now works as an assistant to Trump in the Office of American Innovation.

Neither Dunn nor Rollins responded to requests for comment.

The John Hancock Committee for the States — the name used in IRS filings by the group behind the Convention of States — gave more than $100,000 to the Texas Public Policy Foundation in 2011.

The Convention of States project, meanwhile, has received backing from DonorsTrust, a tax-exempt financial conduit for right-wing causes that does not disclose its contributors. The same fund has helped bankroll theIdaho Freedom Foundation,which is encouraging protests of a stay-at-home order imposed by the state’s Republican governor, Brad Little.

“Disobey Idaho,” say its Facebook ads, which use an image of the “Join or Die” snake woodcut emblematic of the Revolutionary War and later adopted by the tea party movement.

In 2014, the year before it launched theConvention of States initiative, Citizens for Self-Governance received $500,000 from the Mercer Family Foundation,a donation Meckler said helped jump-start the campaign. Mercer declined to comment.

While groups and individual activists associated with the Koch brothers have boosted this far-flung network, Emily Seidel, the chief executive of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity advocacy group, sought to distance the organization from the protest activity, which she said was “not the best way” to “get people back to work.”....

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7 22

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Idaho_Freedom_Foundation

Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is a conservative501(c)(3)organization that is a member of the right-wing State Policy Network and advocates for conservative state legislation in Idaho. It is based in Boise and calls itself a research institute that advocates for "free market solutions, private property rights, individual responsibility and transparent, limited government."[1]

News and Controversies

IFF's "Freedom Index" Uplifts Christian Right Politicians

The Huffpost reported that the IFF's Freedom Index has played a key role in the growing right-wing extremism movement in Idaho. In an article, they explain that "if a GOP legislator's score falls too low for IFF's liking, that legislator can expect the foundation to wield its considerable resources to back a primary opponent". IFF's index pushes a rhetoric that conservatives who do not subscribe to their extreme right ideology are "RINO",Republican In Name Only, thus invalidating their campaign. One such legislator that won IFF's support was Janice McGeachin, who served as Idaho's lieutenant governor. She has explicit ties to Vincent James Foxx, a prominent white supremacist with a large media following. [2]

IFF Opposes Biden Policy Crafted to Support LGBTQ+ Students

The USDA released an announcement detailing how the Biden administration would be punishing school districts that fail to abide by President Biden's executive order preventing discrimination in public schools on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Following this announcement, IFF released a statement calling the order a "wake up call for Idaho parents and elected officials".[3] The remainder of the article stressed different routes Idaho lawmakers and school boards could take to "protect students from the White House's woke agenda". The IFF encouraged school boards to "refuse to accept or spend Legislature-appropriated federal funds to impede the president's leverage over their schools", acknowledging that "it would require schools to reorganize their budgets, potentially squeezing other important school activities", but "this strain on the system is worth the protection of students".

IFF Objects to DEI Efforts in Higher Education

In an article titled "States must go beyond affirmative action bans to stop discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses", the IFF chastised Boise State University for providing scholarships available exclusively to women, writing, "This discriminatory, anti-male program compromises excellence in an effort to fill group quotas on campus".[4] They had similar complaints about the University of Idaho's Women in Engineering program, which conducts outreach programs for K-12 girls. Additionally, the article named student equity centers, such as the University of Idaho's Black Cultural Center, as contributing to "discriminating against students and faculty on the basis of race, sex, and ideology".

IFF Opposes Teaching Social Justice at Universities

The Idaho Freedom Foundation opposes teaching social justice "ideology" in university curricula in Idaho,[5] specifically targeting Boise State University (BSU). On their website, they wrote: "We suggest budgetary and administrative ways of putting our universities back on the right track."[6] In March 2021, the state cut $409,000 from BSU's budget. Idaho representative Ron Nate, a Republican affiliated with IFF,[7] advocated "defund[ing] the social justice agenda by reducing higher education spending."[8] That month, BSU suspended classes dealing with "diversity" and then reinstated them online, asynchronously.

According to the New York Times:

"These suspensions happened the day before the Idaho State Senate voted to cut $409,000 from the school’s budget,an amount meant to reflect what Boise State spends on social justice programs. The budget bill also banned state colleges and universities from using any appropriated funds to 'support social justice ideology student activities, clubs, events and organizations on campus,' and requires schools to report all social justice spending to the Legislature. The Idaho Statesman quoted one lawmaker saying of schools, 'They’re going to get the message."[9]

IFF Organizes "Disobey Idaho" Rally During COVID-19 Pandemic

Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, IFF organized a "Disobey Idaho" rally to oppose Gov. Brad Little’s extension of the statewide stay-at-home order. A few hundred people attended the rally, breaking the stay-at-home law. The next week, IFF anti-vaccine activist Sara Brady was arrested at a playground for hosting a “play date” with children that violated the stay-at-home order. While being arrested for trespassing, Brady yelled out “Call Idaho Freedom Foundation.” 

In response to Brady's arrest, IFF Communications Director Dustin Hurst posted a video on IFF's social media calling for a protest. IFF shortly took the video down. Nevertheless, later that night anti-government activistAmmon Bundy- notorious for his 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge- protested at the arresting officer's home. IFF refutes any involvement with Bundy's protest. The day after Brady's arrest, IFF hosted a "Disobey Dodgeball event.[10]

Idaho Freedom Foundation Critiques Statutory Rape Gun Law

In March 2019, The Idaho House voted to pass a bill that revokes the gun rights of someone charged with the sexual assault of a 16 or 17 year-old. IFF argued against the law, citing a hypothetical situation where a 22 year-old college senior were to send sexually explicit text messages to a 17 year-old freshman. IFF claimed that the law would violate the Second Amendment right to bare arms over a "consensual" interaction. ^[11] Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise who sponsored the bill rejected the opposition, saying "these are the crimes we're talking about. Pretty ugly. That's why it's so important to add this to the list of restrictions on firearms."[12]

IFF Loses Medicaid Lawsuit

The Idaho Supreme Court found Medicaid expansion- or Proposition 2- to be legal after IFF sued. In the lawsuit, IFF argued that Proposition 2 gave too much power to the federal government and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The court found IFF's argument to be "unpersuasive." The Idaho Attorney General’s Office rejected the lawsuit as "frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation."[13]

Judge Throws Out IFF Urban Renewal Lawsuit

In July of 2019, Judge Lynn Norton threw out a lawsuit IFF filed over two urban renewal districts. IFF claimed that the districts violate Idaho's state constitution. The 2009 Idaho Supreme Court case Rexburg v. Hart gave basis for Judge Norton's decision to dismiss IFF's lawsuit.[14]

IFF Colludes with Lawmakers to Prohibit DREAMERs

Shortly after Boise State University interim president Martin Schimpf threw his support behind awarding DREAMERs state scholarships in 2019, IFF mobilized to prohibit such awards. Emails released by the Idaho Statesman illustrate IFF's lobbying efforts. In an email to members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and the House and Senate education committees, IFF Vice President Fred Birnbaum claimed "BSU is going in an increasingly radical direction." "Please note that illegal alien students (DACA students) are being invited to apply for Opportunity Scholarships," he continues. In a later statement, Birnbaum said ""We believe that it is an important public policy issue to prioritize Idahoans who are U.S. citizens to receive these limited opportunity scholarship dollars."[15][16]

Police Remove Two from Judiciary Hearing

During a judiciary hearing in August of 2020, police removed two right-wing protesters from Lincoln Auditorium. Several disruptors sat in the press seats, defying requests to move despite a lack of credentials. After the incident, the protesters were seen talking with Idaho Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman. Hoffman claims he was not involved with the disruption.[17]

IFF Accused of Violating IRS Rules

In 2020, a complaint was filed to the IRS, accusing the Idaho Freedom Foundation of violating federal non-profit rules. The complaint claims that the Idaho Freedom Foundation disobeyed rules by “engaging in excessive lobbying activities” and “supporting illegal activities.” IFF is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt public charity. 501(c)3 organizations can participate in some lobbying, "but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status." The complaint alleges IFF participates in excessive lobbying at the state-level. The complaint also alleges that the IFF encouraged "illegal activity" during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The IFF encouraged and organized Idahoans to disobey Idaho Governor Little’s statewide pandemic ‘stay-at-home order.' IFF organized a "Disobey Idaho" rally, and hosted a "disobey dodgeball" event.[10]

Former IFF Board Member Russ Fulcher's 2018 Campaigns

Russ Fulcher resigned from the board of the Idaho Freedom Foundation on August 24, 2016, initially to focus on q 2018 campaign for governor of Idaho.[18] Fulcher had served on IFF's Board since December of 2014.[18] However, in June of 2017, Fulcher announced that he was suspending his gubernatorial campaign. Raúl Labrador entered the governor's race, reportedly Labrador and Fulcher "are political allies and share a base of support." Fulcher instead began an eventually successful campaign to take the congressional seat Labrador vacated in his own respective bid for governor. Fulcher will be sworn into office representing Idaho's first district at the beginning of 2019.[19]

Critics Scrutinize IFF's Charitable Status

In September 2013, the Idaho Spokesman-Review reported that experts on non-profit tax law like Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, believe IFF is "abusing its lucrative tax-free status" because it "likely is underreporting its lobbying under federal tax laws."[20]

IFF is organized as a 501(c)(3), so contributions to the group are tax-deductible. Contributions to 501(c)(4) lobbying groups are not. According to the Spokesman-Review, IFF's Executive Director Wayne Hoffman "maintains it's really not a lobbying group and that it does only a small amount of lobbying. He reported spending just $13,000 on lobbying in 2012, out of $447,108 in total expenses. In 2011, he reported just $10,290 spent on lobbying; in 2010 and 2009, he reported that the group spent zero to influence legislation." But in 2013, "IFF had three registered lobbyists, was a constant presence in the Capitol[,] and led the opposition to the governor's biggest legislative proposal of the session, the bill creating a state-based health insurance exchange. It rated 150 bills against its agenda, assigning positive or negative scores, and tracked lawmakers' votes. The group writes legislation, testifies to committees, sponsors lectures and tours for legislators, conducts polls, publishes reports and sends out emails, and its lawmaker scores have been prominently featured in campaign ads." The article sums up, "most of its work focuses on influencing public policy."[20]

On whether or not the organization is lobbying, the newspaper posted a dialogue between IFF Executive Director Wayne Hoffman and non-profit tax law expert Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer:

"'Lobbying is a very specific thing,' Hoffman said, adding that he believes as long as any of his group's communications stop short of saying 'vote yes' or 'vote no,' they haven't crossed the 'bright line' between education and lobbying."However, Mayer said, 'Mr. Hoffman is confusing federal election law with federal tax law. More specifically, he is confusing the rules relating to whether a communication is "express advocacy" for purposes of the federal election law with the rules relating to whether a communication is lobbying for the purposes of the federal tax laws. The federal tax laws defining lobbying are much broader … and reach essentially any communication that mentions specific legislation and reflects a view on that legislation, whether expressly or less directly.'"Hoffman said in his view, even writing bills isn't lobbying. 'As I understand it, that is not lobbying because what you are doing is you are working on helping lawmakers divine good public policy, which is what we do anyway,' he said. 'It’s educational.'"He has the same view of the town meetings, literature[,] and pre-election robocalls his group sponsored when Shoshone County had a measure on the ballot in May to form a new urban renewal agency, though he boasts that after IFF's efforts, the measure failed by a 3-1 margin. 'That was just an education effort,' he said."Mayer said the robocalls likely qualify as direct lobbying because they asserted that the measure would drive up taxes and take away people’s ability to vote on future projects. 'The lack of "vote against" or similar language does not control,' he said."He noted, 'A communication can be both educational and lobbying; the terms are not mutually exclusive.' A lobbying communication might also be 'informative,' he said."[20]

Despite IFF's three registered lobbyists in 2013, Hoffman told the Spokesman-Review that "the only thing he reports on his Form 990 as lobbying is his own time spent telling legislators to vote one way or another, or sending emails or writing letters with that message. 'It's time that I spend testifying in committee,' he said, and reflects 'very little' of his other employees' time."[20]

Idaho Freedom Index

As part of its activities, IFF maintains the Idaho Freedom Index. IFF describes the Index as "an aggregation of the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s non-partisan analysis and rating of bills voted on by the Idaho Legislature during each legislative session."[21] Despite describing the Idaho Freedom Index as "non-partisan", not a single democratic scored above a 0 on the index in 2016.[21]

Richard Larsen, president of Larsen Financial, said that the Index, "is of marginal use in identifying fealty to conservative values and is being used as a bully tactic against select legislators whom the foundation has targeted as dispensable."[22]

Representatives and legislation is rated based on IFF's 12-point rating metric, which focuses mainly on achieving or maintaining small government and limiting federal power. The Index rates Representative Chris Christensen, a member of the Oath Keepers,[23] an anti-government group connected to the January 6 Capitol Riot, received a score of 99% for 2022.[24]

Ties to the State Policy Network

IFF is a member of the State Policy Network. Between 2012 and 2016, SPN donated $68,350 to IFF. IFF regularly appears in SPN's "Week in Review" blog posts. SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of January 2022, SPN's membership totals 166. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party.

SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2019 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $120 million.[25] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[26]

:{In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA."

She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[27]}:

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[28]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The IFF has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) through its Executive Director, Wayne Hoffman. In an article on the foundation's website entitled, "ALEC Helps Promote Good Public Policy," Hoffman states, "ALEC has been an invaluable resource and friend to me and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Few people know how often I have asked ALEC’s staff for help battling big-government ideas, including the federal health care takeover and the imposition of confiscatory tax polices. And it has always responded. . . . I’m grateful for ALEC, and you should be, too."[29].

Furthermore, according to the groups' publication the Idaho Reporter, the IFF sponsored a trip to Boise for John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute and Christie Herrera, director of the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force, to meet with Idaho lawmakers to discuss health care policy[30]. (For more on the Idaho Reporter and the Idaho Freedom Foundation, see their connections to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity below).

Additionally, the IFF has ties to ALEC through its membership with the State Policy Network, which is an ALEC member and sponsor.[31][32][33][34][35][36] ALEC is also an Associate Member of the SPN.[37]

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Idaho Freedom Foundation publishes IdahoReporter.com and The Idaho Freedom Foundation was listed as a Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity "Watchdog Bureau".[38] The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states.[39] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[40][41] On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."[42]

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[43] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[44] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[43]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[45] a conservative grant-making organization.[46]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[47] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[48] which is partially funded by the Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[49] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[50] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

Ties to the Koch Network

In addition to receiving funding from the State Policy Network and the Donors Capital Fund, both with ties to the Kochs, the Idaho Freedom Foundation is a partner organization in the Charles Koch Institute's Liberty@Work program.[51]

Template:KochConnection

Funding

The Idaho Freedom Foundation does not disclose its donors, but some of its funding sources are known through other tax filings. IFF's known funders include:

Core Financials

2020[53]

2019[54]

2018[55]

2017[56]

2016[57]

2015[58]

2014[59]

2013[60]

2012[61]

2011[62]

2010[63]:

2009[64]:

Personnel

Staff

As of June 2022:[65]

Former Staff

Board of Directors

As of June 2022:[66]

Former members of the Board:

Contact Information

Idaho Freedom Foundation

802 W. Bannock Street, Suite 405

Boise, Idaho 83702

Phone: 208.258.2280

Email: Media@IdahoFreedom.org

Website: http://idahofreedom.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/idahofreedom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/idahofreedom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPQsmBrZLNgVp7g_XV73dKw

Articles and Resources

[990's]

===

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_Freedom_Foundation 7 22

Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is a conservative and libertarian think tank located in Boise, Idaho.[2][5][6][7]

Founding[edit]

IFF was begun in 2009 by Wayne Hoffman, who had been the Canyon County Republican Party vice chairman and spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bill Sali. Formerly, Hoffman was a newspaper reporter for the Idaho Statesman, leaving in 2005, and before that had worked for the South Idaho Press in Burley, the Idaho Press Tribune in Nampa, and a southern Idaho radio station.[1]

Issues and influence[edit]

The IFF is influential within the Idaho Legislature and the state's broader politics.[8][9][10] Politico described the IFF as "an arch-conservative group that has driven challenges to so-called RINO politicians in the state".[11] The IFF's website says it works to defeat "the state’s socialist public policies". Its Freedom Index rates Idaho legislators on their votes.[12]

In 2012, the IFF was one of the chief opponents of an Idaho state legislative bill that would have placed restrictions on tanning bed usage.[13] In 2013 and 2014, IFF put up billboards criticizing Idaho legislators for their votes to implement a state health insurance exchange.[14][15]

In October 2020, the IFF published a video questioning the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic and decrying governmental measures to combat the spread of the pandemic. Several Idaho Republican elected officials, including Janice McGeachin and a number of state legislators, appeared in the video.[16]

The organization in 2021 criticized Boise State University for holding a "Black Graduation" an addition to the traditional graduation ceremony meant to celebrate Black students. IFF called the event "segregationist." It has urged Idaho lawmakers to cut funding to Boise State.[17]

In a December 2021 opinion editorial published in the Post Register, former Idaho attorney general and former chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court Jim Jones criticized the IFF, writing "It's time to clean Idaho's House of disruptive lawmakers who worship at the Freedom Foundation altar and ignore their duty to act responsibly in the interests of their voters."[18]

Legal challenges[

The IFF has mounted various legal challenges to state and city laws and regulations.

Couer d'Alene public records[edit]

In 2009, IFF was successful in requiring officials from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to release public records in regards to the names, genders, salaries of all public employees.[19][third-party ^source ^needed]

Boise State University speaker[

In 2014, IFF and the American Civil Liberties Union threatened legal action against Boise State University when the school required a student group to pay security fees for bringing a pro-gun speaker to campus. Boise State refunded the student group the cost of the security fees.[20][21]

Boise School District[edit]

In 2015, IFF sued the Boise School District over its contract with a local teachers union, the Boise Education Association. The case was dismissed due to lack of standing.[22][23]

Common Core[edit]

In 2016, IFF Board Chair Brent Regan and IFF sued Butch Otter and others about Idaho's Common Core State Standards Initiative testing. The case was dismissed due to the lack of standing by the plaintiffs.[24]

Medicaid expansion[

In 2019, IFF Board Chair Brent Regan sued Lawerence Denney, arguing that Medicaid expansion was unconstitutional in part because it delegated lawmaking authority to the federal government. The case was dismissed due to the ruling that the foundation of the lawsuit lacked a basis in the law.[25][26][27][28]

Boise Urban Renewal Districts[

In 2019, IFF sued Boise due to the establishment of two new urban renewal districts which prevents cities from taking on debt or liabilities without a super-majority of voter approval. The case was dismissed and appealed where it was upheld.[29][30]

Funding[

The organization has received funding from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, two donor-advised funds which are not required to disclose their donors. IFF is a member of the State Policy Network, a consortium of conservative and libertarian think tanks that focus on state-level policy.[20]

References[

  1. ^ ^Jump up to:^a^ ^b^ Russell, Betsy (April 19, 2010). "Hoffman: 'A rising leader'". Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  2. ^ ^Jump up to:^a^ ^b^ ^c^ Prentice, George (March 2, 2011). "Wayne Hoffman Idaho Freedom Foundation director talks taxes, journalism and his growing influence". Boise Weekly. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  3.  "Idaho Freedom Foundation Inc" (PDF). GuideStar. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4.  "Idaho Reporter". Project for Excellence in Journalism. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5.  "Main Street's revenge". The Economist. May 24, 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015. the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian think-tank
  6.  Krusesi, Kimberlee (March 30, 2015). "Idaho House passes tax bill overhaul, hikes fuel tax 7 cents". Idaho Statesman. Associated Press. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  7.  Russell, Betsy (July 5, 2012). "Popkey: Idaho Power joins forces with libertarian Idaho Freedom Foundation". Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  8.  Ridler, Keith (October 7, 2021). "Mainstream Republicans seek to 'rescue' Idaho – from the GOP". Associated Press. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  9.  Butts, Mike (March 14, 2011). "Idaho Freedom Foundation carries conservative weight at Legislature". The Idaho Press-Tribune. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  10.  Malloy, Chuck (August 1, 2021). "Like them or hate them, the Idaho Freedom Foundation's power grows as attacks mount". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  11.  Montellaro, Zach; Bustillo, Ximena. "Idaho GOP riven by primary civil war". POLITICO. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  12.  Duggan, Alexandra (March 8, 2022). "Republicans see divide due to Idaho Freedom Foundation politics". Idaho Press. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  13.  Yardley, William (March 6, 2012). "Big Sky, Bright Sun and Melanoma". New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  14.  Russell, Betsy (October 29, 2013). "Billboards target Idaho lawmakers in their districts". Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  15.  Russell, Betsy (January 15, 2014). "Freedom Foundation now up to half a dozen anti-incumbent billboards around the state". Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  16.  Idaho Republicans, including Lt. Gov. McGeachin, decry pandemic measures in new video, Spokesman Review (October 27, 2020).
  17.  Patel, Vimal (July 2, 2021). "President on a Tightrope: Boise State's leader must tread carefully through the culture war. Others may soon walk the same line". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  18.  Jones, Jim (12 Dec 2021). "Opinion: What's worse than 'hell to pay?' — Idaho being ruled by the IFF". Post Register. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  19.  "CDA Press article: IFF wins release of city employee names". Idaho Freedom. 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  20. ^ ^Jump up to:^a^ ^b^ Telerico, Kate (22 March 2019). "The Idaho Freedom Foundation keeps losing in court. So why does it keep suing?". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  21.  "ACLU of Idaho Joins Idaho Freedom Foundation, Fire in Calling on Boise State University to Fix Event Policies". ACLU of Idaho. 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  22.  "Idaho Freedom Foundation Legal Challenge | PDF". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  23.  Richert, Kevin (2014-10-09). "Conservative group targets Boise labor deal". Idaho Education News. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  24.  "Regan, IFF sue Idaho over Common Core tests | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  25.  "The breakdown: 4 things to know about the Medicaid expansion Supreme Court case". Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  26.  "Regan v. Denney" (PDF).
  27.  Betsy, Posted by. "What the justices said; link to my full story on failure of legal challenge to Medicaid expansion". Idaho Press. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  28.  "Regan v. Denney" (PDF).
  29.  Carmel, Margaret. "Freedom Foundation lawsuit over urban renewal appealed to the state Supreme Court". Idaho Press. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  30.  Suppe, Ryan. "Supreme court upholds dismissal of urban renewal complaint against Boise". Idaho Press. Retrieved 2021-08-29.

External links[edit]

Categories: 

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Idaho Spending Index - Idaho Freedom

By Idaho Freedom Foundation staff. June 23, 2022. By: Anna Miller and Kaitlyn Shepherd Lakes Middle School in Coeur d'Alene invited children as young as 12 years old to attend a Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club meeting wherein students were taught about LGBT-related issues without parental knowledge or consent. Parents and public ...

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Miguel lived in San Diego all his life, but is a proud resident of Idaho as of March 2019. To kick off the Idaho Freedom Foundation's New to Idaho, True to Idaho interviews with blue state refugees, I recently sat down with Miguel to hear why he fled California, and his hopes for the future of his new state.

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About - Idaho Freedom

The Idaho Freedom Foundation exists to advance conservative principles — limited government, free markets and self-reliance — made our country the envy of the world. Unfortunately, special interests have grown in influence in our state, encouraging city, county and state government officials to reject conservative principles. ...

https://idahoconservatives.com › idaho-politics › the-idaho-freedom-foundation

The Idaho Freedom Foundation • Idaho Conservatives

The Foundations Beginnings. Wayne Hoffman and Heather Lauer started the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) 2009. The IFF's goal was to be a state-focused think tank on Idaho's governing policies. Per his bio, Hoffman spent the first part of his career as a journalist. (1) he was a reporter until 2005.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Idaho_Freedom_Foundation

Idaho Freedom Foundation - Wikipedia

The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is a conservative and libertarian think tank located in Boise, Idaho. Founding. IFF was begun in 2009 by Wayne Hoffman, who had been the Canyon County Republican Party vice chairman and spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bill Sali. Formerly, Hoffman was a newspaper ...

https://theidahofreedomfoundation.org

The Idaho Freedom Foundation Exposed

The sister foundation to the Idaho Freedom Foundation, Idaho Freedom Action, attacked many Republicans during Idaho's May 2020 party primary. Below are just some of the Republicans who were targeted. Kevin Cook, who won the District 30 Senate primary, was attacked with over $500 in negative Facebook ads.

https://www.sourcewatch.org › index.php › Idaho_Freedom_Foundation

Idaho Freedom Foundation - SourceWatch

Jun 21, 2022The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is a conservative 501(c)(3) organization that is a member of the right-wing State Policy Network and advocates for conservative state legislation in Idaho. It is based in Boise and calls itself a research institute that advocates for "free market solutions, private property rights, individual responsibility and transparent, limited government."

https://www.idahoednews.org › voices › calling-out-the-idaho-freedom-foundation

Calling out the Idaho Freedom Foundation

Nov 1, 2021Calling out the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Trent Clark 11/01/2021. For political conservatives, countering big government's alluring but empty promises is challenging. The task is tenfold harder when libertarians pretend to speak for conservatives. The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) was founded, in part, with a bequest from activist Ralph Smeed.

https://idahofreedomaction.org

Home - Idaho Freedom Action

Ignore the legacy media. What you read in most local daily newspapers or see on the daily news isn't really journalism. It's leftist propaganda. That's why a year ago, I decided the Idaho Freedom Foundation would stop answering most questions from Idaho reporters and many national "news" outlets like the LA Times and the Washington Post.

https://idahofreedom.org › convention-of-states-is-a-fools-gambit

Convention of states is a fool's gambit - Idaho Freedom

3 days agoRonald M. Nate, senior policy fellow at the Idaho Freedom Foundation, is an economics professor at BYU-Idaho, holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Connecticut, and is a state representative for Idaho Legislative District 34. Ph. 208-403-3609

https://cdapress.com › news › 2022 › apr › 04 › idaho-freedom-foundation-provides-roadmap-re

OPINION: Idaho Freedom Foundation provides a roadmap to responsible ...

Apr 4, 2022Leaders of the so-called Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) have provided voters a handy roadmap to responsible government. Doyle Beck and Bryan Smith both serve on IFF's board of directors. They ...

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