“Bad governors sign bad laws. Terrible governors sign bad laws even when they know they shouldn’t.”

In 2023, when Mr. Little signed the law targeting transgender children, he said, “… as policymakers we should take great caution whenever we consider allowing the government to interfere with loving parents and their decisions about what is best for their children.” Pickens, who was born in Pocatello and now owns a Boise-based law firm, said Republican politics is hurting Idaho kids:

“Mr. Little will interfere with parents’ medical decisions when it’s the divisive, anti-freedom bill of the day from the Idaho GOP’s unhinged Chair Dorothy Moon. If you want a lesson in hypocrisy, look at the years that Democratic legislators tried to require a religious sect in Idaho to get medical treatment for their children who die painfully of treatable ailments such as appendicitis or respiratory infections. Why not interfere with parents whose medical decisions are actually killing their kids? Why only interfere with parents who seek treatment that doctors recommend?

Instead of helping kids, Idaho far-right Republican lawmakers only help their party leaders. If that means transgender kids will be more likely to attempt suicide, they don’t care. If that means painful, preventable deaths for kids unlucky enough to be born into a religious sect that hates modern medicine, so be it.

Judging by the legislation they write, Idaho Republican leaders don’t care about kids. Their anti-abortion fervor that endangers the lives of Idaho women means they don’t care about adults either. Since the transgender law comes with a threat to imprison doctors for 10 years, they want to put a punctuation mark on it all.

Judging by what Governor Little lets become law, Republican leaders don’t care a bit about freedom.“

(For a sobering look at the results of Idaho’s religious medical exemption law, read “Idaho Religious Exemption Law: Unneeded death and suffering to children.”)

The post Gov. Little Lets Far-Right Republicans Kill Freedom and Kids appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

Honestly, it’s beyond baffling to watch Idaho’s far-right book-burners push around Idaho’s “traditional Republicans,” who rarely muster better than a Neville-Chamberlain-like courage. So, Idaho gets a state government that goes after librarians.

The fight should be an easy one too.

The professionals they are attacking are popular and they are trusted. An astounding 69% of Idahoans report they trust librarians to choose books for libraries (Idaho Public Policy Survey). That same poll shows that Idaho politicians are leading the way for an intolerant and inconsolable 23% minority of the state that doesn’t trust librarians.

Bear in mind, too, that politicians, like every one of the Idaho Republicans who pressed this bad law through the Legislature, are unpopular and untrusted. A whopping 59 percent of Americans say they distrust people in political life (Gallup survey).

So, these unpopular politicians press their unpopular attack.

One of the library attack sponsors, Sen. Cindy Carlson of Riggins, claimed the law is “fair to both sides of the issue.”

Look. I believe in fairness. As a lawyer, I make sure my clients are treated fairly. When I attend parent-teacher conferences, I make sure my kid is being treated fairly. When I feed my bird dogs, I make sure the bigger one doesn’t eat the smaller one’s food.

But “fairness” has nothing to do with it when one side is clearly wrong.

It is wrong to let Idaho’s far-right tell Idahoans what we can and cannot read. 

It is wrong for craven politicians to invent divisive issues for personal gain. 

It is wrong to call the people who oppose them supporters of obscenity.

Fairness? That’s a political ruse.

Brad Little has been a politician for ages and ages. He knows what’s going on here. And while he performs a waiting game to veto this bill—his deadline is Wednesday—he is signaling his far-right base that he takes their wrong-headed ideas “seriously.”

That’s also why Brad Little has not held another press conference to update Idaho on what he is doing about the racist attack on NCAA women’s basketball players in Coeur d’Alene. His mealy-mouthed assurance to the nation that Idahoans don’t support racism—when, clearly, racists harassed and harangued a team of college athletes who were trying to spend money at Idaho restaurants and hotels on an Idaho downtown street—was pathetic and embarrassing.

So here we are. Again.

Our governor is letting fools and fascists know that he’s being “fair” when he needs to show the state and the nation that he’s being “right.”

Veto the bill, immediately, Brad Little. Once you do that, let us know what exactly you are doing about the racists who are attacking innocent visitors to our state.

The post Governor dithers; Idaho reputation withers appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

“I apologize to the NCAA players, staff, and supporters of the Utah Utes who were targeted and threatened by an unforgivable racist attack this week in Coeur d’Alene. I extend my apology as well to the players of UC-Urvine who were also made to feel threatened and sought safe harbor outside of the Coeur d’Alene. I apologize to the city of Spokane and to the organizers of the NCAA tournament.

Today, I declare an end to the days where racists and others who share ideologies based on hate and bigotry feel at home in Idaho. You are unwelcome. It may be your right to fill your heart with malice and hatred, but it is an American right to live a life free of tyranny and fear. 

In the short-term, I am allocating as many resources as it takes to hunt down, identify, and prosecute the people responsible for this racist attack. Longer term, we will review Idaho laws and make them as punitive as necessary to dissuade this kind of public attack. Further, we will work with the NCAA to make sure no team ever has to feel unsafe traveling freely in America. Someday, it is my goal that people think of Idaho when they think of what it looks like to stand up to and defeat hate-filled ideologies and the people who would terrorize their neighbors.

Let me be clear, my office and most Idahoans consider any attempt to bully or belittle or harass someone based on their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion to be reprehensible and criminal.

Public displays of racism, or the malicious targeting of any group for whatever malign bigoted purpose, will be a thing of the unfortunate past.

Today, I say “go away” to the racists and haters. Today, I say, “go to prison” to the racists and haters who terrorize their neighbors.”

–My name is Terri Pickens and I am running to be Idaho’s next governor. Like you I am tired of the mealy-mouthed platitudes of our current governor who is convinced that he has to placate far-right, anti-freedom extremists. Appeasement does not work. What works is a serious, courageous, transparent campaign to stamp out the forces of hate who are now terrorizing Idaho communities with impunity. Under my watch, Idaho will earn a reputation for true freedom, true liberty, and become a beacon for human rights. I am not bullied or confused by the far-right’s embrace of hatred. I am not deterred in my commitment to justice for all. Idaho needs a leader who will be a champion for human rights. I am that leader.

The post Statement from the Idaho Governor that We Need: appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

I knew I could be a rational voice in the Capitol. I could stop the chaos. I could stand up to extremists. My values of honesty, fairness, and courage would guide me.

Now, I am running against House Speaker Scott Bedke. He eked out a 51% primary win over a deeply flawed opponent. Mr. Bedke is unpopular because he spent 20 years ignoring the public’s needs while lavishing tax breaks on his corporate backers. He let a fierce desire for power guide him. And he let extremists takeover the House to hang onto that power.

A Lewiston Tribune opinion, “On Bedke’s Watch, Idaho’s House Burned,” described it this way:

“Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Terri Pickens Manweiler raised a salient point Friday during a statewide televised debate with her GOP rival, House Speaker Scott Bedke.

On Bedke’s decade-long watch, the Idaho House devolved into even more extremism. How is he not responsible for that? And why would that recommend him for a promotion?

“My opponent sat back in the House with his gavel and stayed silent while the minority of extremists became the loudest voice in the Legislature,” Pickens Manweiler said. “And he thinks that’s earned him the gavel in the Senate. It has not.”

The House speaker is without equal in the Legislature. The various committee chairmen and chairwomen serve at his pleasure. He controls his own panel, the House Ways and Means Committee, where he can launch or kill any bill he pleases.“

I recently read a quote, attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, that describes the difference between the two of us:

         “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

I am here today as the best choice for Lieutenant Governor. I have the right experience, the right temperament, and I have a powerful love for this state and the people here.

I know what’s right. I do what’s right.

If you haven’t voted already, I ask for your vote this Tuesday. For those who have already voted for me, I am deeply grateful. And thank you so much for allowing me the great honor of running to be Idaho’s next Lieutenant Governor.

The post Lewiston Tribune: Under Bedke’s Watch, Idaho’s House Burned appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

I can take you to a marbled mansion where whispers of injustice waft through great halls. Drafty air crackles with burning books. Cries issue from dim back rooms where bad deals come to life and good ideas are tortured and killed.

Boo! It’s Speaker Bedke’s Haunted House of Representatives!

For the past decade, nothing happened there that didn’t have his approval. Some of that was terrifying. I ask you: How dark is a heart that forces women to suffer and die rather than allow life-saving emergency abortions?

Yes, Bedke’s Haunted House is no place for the living.

Spirits here are so mean that they won’t let toddlers have Pre-K education. They won’t let teachers have raises. They won’t let LGBTQ folks have the same protection under the law as everyone else. 

And the undead are everywhere. Everywhere! Lobbyists for giant corporations are an eternal presence and they possess the minds—and votes—of the weakest lawmakers. Mr. Bedke has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from these folks to try to beat me this year.

But don’t despair!

A good heart, a strong mind, and a fierce belief in justice, integrity and fairness will always prevail! If we all turn out to vote on Nov. 8, we can change everything.

Next year, we will have a very Happy Halloween.

The post Mr. Bedke’s Haunted House appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

–Abraham Lincoln response to 1857 US Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision

Politicians who steal our freedom try to do it softly. They cushion their cruelty with imprecise language about “the process” and “the will of the Legislature.” 

“I am pro-life,” my opponent assures us.

Yet, he fights for laws that kill our mothers, our sisters, our daughters.

Is this inflammatory rhetoric? I should hope so.

What freedom-loving person isn’t fuming when Idaho politicians, urged on by House Speaker Scott Bedke, fight to immediately institute a law that threatens doctors and endangers women? There’s no gray area here. The law is clear. Idaho forbids doctors from performing emergency abortions that save the lives of women.

Mr. Bedke and his powerful accomplices camouflage wanton cruelty with genteel bewilderment, phony empathy, mock outrage. 

Now is the time to be inflamed. The independence that flickers in our hearts must become a bonfire for us to prevail. In a democracy, that means voting. Our votes can burn down even the most stubborn injustices.

For those who misunderstand the metaphor, this is a call to defeat the violence of oppression with the far greater power of peaceful, purposeful voting. 

Our votes are stronger than any mob that would trample our sacred public spaces. Our votes create a virtuous circle where freedom and democracy grow stronger together.

To paraphrase the Great Emancipator: when we let freedom be taken from others, we forfeit our own.

Light your flame! Vote, Nov. 8.

The post Light Your Flame appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

“As I campaign across Idaho, so many men and women tell me they can’t understand how Idaho politicians can force pregnant women to die needlessly, and in pain and despair, rather than have safe and standard medical care,” said Terri Pickens Manweiler. “I’ve come to understand that cruelty is the point.”

This week, a federal judge ruled that doctors in hospitals can perform emergency abortion procedures while the Courts decide if Idaho’s abortion law is legal. Speaker Bedke, Terri’s opponent, has vowed to fight the injunction.

“Scott Bedke has the same information that all of us do,” Pickens Manweiler said. “He knows that hundreds of women in Idaho are at risk of severe illness and death if he fights the injunction. The only motivation is cruelty.”

Since June 24, when the U.S. Supreme Court abolished abortion as a right that women have relied on for 50 years, Idahoans now realize that Idaho’s GOP extremists want cede many of our freedoms to the State. The right to reproductive healthcare, which must include abortion prodedures, is just one freedom they despise. The GOP is set to outlaw contraception, rights for LGBTQAI+ individuals, and the right to read books.

“Under Scott Bedke’s watch, reckless extremists have taken the wheel in Idaho. They see us in their headlights and they are pressing harder on the gas pedal,” said Pickens Manweiler.

Note: One reason for an emergency abortion is a condition called an ectopic pregnancy. Between 250 and 300 women have ectopic pregnancies in Idaho every year. Symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy: severe lower belly pain, vaginal bleeding, shoulder pain, and feeling dizzy, weak, or fainting. Untreated ectopic pregnancies cause severe internal bleeding, infection, and sometimes death. 

###

The post Pickens Manweiler to Bedke: Stop the Cruelty appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

The forces for white nationalist extremism are targeting libraries. Bonners Ferry’s library director resigned last week. She wrote:

The good news is that we can fight back. That’s what my campaign is all about and we are getting noticed for it. During my recent tour, North Idaho’s biggest newspaper ran this headline:

Manweiler Campaign Picking Up Steam

^{—Coeur d’Alene Press, 8/20/22}

They also reported that my opponent, Speaker Scott Bedke, is struggling:

“His (Bedke’s) donations in June and July were fewer than 10.”

During June and July, I had hundreds of donors. HUNDREDS! Make no mistake, Bedke’s running scared and he’s tapping PACs to raise cash that regular Idahoans won’t give him. That’s why I need your contribution today!

Please step into this fight with me. Bedke will do nothing to stop the rise of extremism in North Idaho. And the whole state will pay for it by losing businesses who can’t locate to a state where employees aren’t all respected. We will pay by living under the yoke of crueler and crueler laws, such as those taking away a woman’s right to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions—and GIVING THAT RIGHT TO THE STATE. And we pay for it by having radical white nationalists run off our librarians so they can decide what we can and cannot read.

Again. This is not a drill.

I traveled through Bonner, Boundary, and Benewah counties this last weekend and spoke to full rooms full of dozens of Idahoans who are fighting for our freedom every single day.

We are winning this race today. And with your support we will win this race in November. We have to win. We desperately need to defeat the professional politicians who have failed us—like my opponent has—and elect someone who will finally stand up to the extremists who are attacking our freedom every single day.

The post This is NOT a Drill: Freedom is Under Attack appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

This is no hypothetical anecdote. It’s real. The library in Bonners Ferry is under attack.

This month, the Boundary County Library Board canceled public meetings because they are being threatened by local extremists. A group mobbed a board meeting in June, demanding that “groomers” be stopped. One man even accused a woman of being a witch. 

The mob, by the way, doesn’t care that “bad” books don’t exist in the library. They don’t care that there’s a religious section where they can browse Fabio-free book shelves and never be scandalized by Fifty Shades of Grey or To Kill a Mockingbird or Macbeth. 

These anti-freedom folks don’t want to risk us being exposed to ideas that they haven’t approved.

So, the library staff and volunteer board are being harassed. Even threatened. Afterall, what are they supposed to think when fanatics blow a shofar outside the building? A shofar (according to books) is a Hebrew horn, generally from a ram, which is blown to gather people for battle.

When I am elected Lieutenant Governor, I will use the office to promote freedom. 

Remember the horrible way that Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin used the office as a bullhorn to promote her radical agenda? I will use the office to alert Idahoans when politicians are trying to limit our freedom. 

This year, I would have alerted everyone about this year’s House Bill 666, which sought to make librarians criminals if a minor obtained a “harmful” book.

Speaker Bedke let the bill pass. He made sure to be “absent” when it came to voting so that no one can accuse him of being for or against freedom. But let’s face it, he let the extremists burn down the Idaho House long ago. (The bill failed to pass the Senate).

I won’t be such a wilting violet in the face of extremism. I am proud to tell you what I believe. I am proud to stand with librarians. I honor their work. I respect their wisdom. I am humbled by their courage.

And, I will never give the State the power to tell us what ideas are too dangerous to read.

The post The Age of Thinking Dangerously appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

The latest affront comes with news that lame-duck Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin is openly gifting the vice chair of the Idaho Republican Party with tens of thousands of dollars in wages.

Yes, it’s legal corruption. But it’s corruption. It’s egregious. It’s blatant. 

How does an elected official think she can behave with such flagrant disrespect for the people she represents? Simply: a one-party system of government is only accountable to an interlaced network of cronies who rely on each other to amass power—and donations from influence peddlers—to keep getting elected.

I call it, “mutually assured corruption.”

McGeachin’s behavior is beyond the pale. But House Speaker Scott Bedke has embraced, manipulated, and strengthened this corrupt system to chase his personal political ambition.

Is Speaker Bedke’s disregard for Idaho taxpayers any less flagrant than McGeachin’s? No!

Right out in the open, with a chorus of Republican politicians cheering him on, he helped grease a $600 million tax gift for corporations through the Legislature this year.

That money was NOT spent on homeowners who are struggling with property taxes.

That money was NOT spent to fix or replace bridges.

That money was NOT spent to fix our children’s schools.

That money was NOT spent to keep the promise of repealing food taxes.

The list of needs ignored by Bedke, McGeachin and the whole bunch of interdependent political cronies is long and real.

Mutually assured corruption works because all the leaders must agree with each other to get elected. The leaders must praise each other’s wisdom and decision-making. The leaders must rely on unanimity of the super majority to create the illusion of inevitability.

Enough. 

Tired of Boise politicians throwing away your money? Tired of the double-talk and corruption?

I will fight this corruption.

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