Idaho Leaders United group takes on extremism in the state

BOISE — A new group in Idaho is looking to push back against some of the extreme viewpoints that have gained traction in the state.

Headlined by moderate members of the business and law enforcement communities, Idaho Leaders United is a statewide coalition created to denounce violent political extremism, bigotry and discrimination.

Founding members of the ILU are prominent local and regional names: Ball Ventures Ahlquist CEO Tommy Ahlquist; Saint Alphonsus President and CEO Odette Bolano; retired Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney; retired Brigadier General and Idaho Air National Guard Bill Shawver; Gross Farms CEO Doug Gross; and Ball Ventures CEO Cortney Liddiard.

“Extremism is not the Idaho way,” Raney said during a news conference at the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial near downtown Boise on Thursday. “Idaho Leaders United will be a megaphone for the quiet majority of Idahoans who don’t want to see our state become a haven for hate. In law enforcement we know it takes good neighbors to keep a community safe. Public safety is at its strongest and best when a community comes together and joins in the standards that we live by.”

Raney made an apparent reference to Ammon Bundy, the anti-government activist and former gubernatorial candidate who’s resisting being served papers in a legal case by the Gem County Sheriff pertaining to his role in a legal dispute with St. Luke’s, when he and his supporters disrupted operations with a series of protests last year.

Bundy is a native of Nevada who currently resides in Emmett.

“Only miles from here, an extremist is spreading lies, threatening law enforcement and disregarding the rule of law that has made our country what it is,” Raney said. “Those actions, that claim to be liberty, undermine justice and rally evil intent.”

ILU board members said that Idaho’s reputation as a haven for political extremism hurts in business recruitment and retention efforts.

“I can tell you as a health care executive that recruits and hopes to retain great talent for our health care systems, that we are losing incredibly talented people because of the extremist political views that we have in our state,” Bolano said. “And in our recruitment, I can tell you for a fact that we are losing people who do not want to come to Idaho that have great gifts to share with us that are refusing to come here because of the political climate.”

Gross echoed that sentiment.

“Our companies are all diverse. We have a very diverse workforce. And anything that targets any one of them causes extreme consternation among the workforce,” he said. “They’re always looking over their shoulder: Who’s going to come after me?”

He added that the rhetoric is the worst he’s seen in the Treasure Valley, where he has lived his entire life.

“I think it’s political refugees coming in,” he said. “Maybe at some point in time in their lives they were marginalized, they feel marginalized.”

In Idaho, that political influence is typically found on the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. This past legislative session the Idaho Freedom Caucus pushed legislation targeting drag shows, transgender health care and libraries.

Raney made it a point not to bring politics into the discussion during Wednesday’s news conference.

“Our position is not about political views, our position is about constructive discourse,” he said. “About not alienating people. Our focus is that everybody should have the opportunity to be heard, everybody should have the opportunity to be respected. We make the best decisions in government and our government processes and our laws because we consider all points of view before coming to a decision.”

Raney, 60, was born in Caldwell and has lived in Idaho his entire life.

He said in recent history Idaho has had an extremist label, harkening back to Richard Butler, who relocated from California to northern Idaho and founded Aryan Nations and spread neo-Nazism in the 1970s.

“It’s ebbed and flowed,” Raney said when asked about Idaho’s extremist reputation.

Bolano pointed out that Idaho stood up back then and will need to do so again. The Aryan Nations went bankrupt after losing a $6.3 million civil lawsuit in 2000, and the compound was later purchased by tech multimillionaire and philanthropist Greg Carr, an Idaho Falls native, and the Carr Foundation.

“We have been here before, 40 years ago,” she said. “We had communities in northern Idaho stand up against political violence and bigotry. They joined their neighbors to make sure that they were supporting those who were being targeted with hate.”

Gross added that a diverse, transparent dialogue is needed to work through issues.

“We need the middle-class, moderate people to step up and take ownership here,” he said.

According to a news release, any individual, business, political leader or entity can sign the ILU’s pledge online at idaholeadersunited.org/#pledge.