Senate leader hands out more punishment

The leader of Idaho’s Senate has stripped another legislator of his committee leadership role in response to his conduct.

Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, sent a letter to Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, notifying him that he would be removed as vice chairperson of the Commerce and Human Resources Committee because, Winder alleged, Lenney had “aggressively attacked, disparaged, and degraded fellow members of the Senate, members of Senate leadership, and members of the general public.”

The news came days after the Idaho Freedom Caucus announced two other members of the caucus had received similar letters from Winder; Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld was also stripped of her committee leadership role, and Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, was asked to apologize to his fellow members of the state budget writing committee for being critical of state spending.

Winder wrote in the Nov. 6 letter that Lenney had “continually disrespected and harmed the legislative process by violating rules governing decorum.”

Lenney responded to the letter in an emailed news release from the Idaho Freedom Caucus, writing that he was blindsided by the Senate leader’s action.

“I haven’t had a conversation with Senator Winder in over seven months, and without warning or detailed reasoning, this news lands in my inbox,” Lenney wrote in the release. “Let’s be clear: Senator Winder is neither my boss nor my dad. I serve the people, not Senator Winder. I remain committed to standing up for conservative principles and opposing any power play that seeks to silence and control me or my votes in the Senate.”

There was no incident specified in Winder’s letter, and he could not be reached for comment by press time.

Lenney, who is serving his first term in office, is vocal on social media, including tweets in the past couple of weeks that criticized the Idaho Senate for approving all the budget bills on the floor; saying the U.S. president and vice president “went full retard”; and a post that claimed there are members of the LGBTQ community “who want to purposely infect people with HIV.”

The Idaho Freedom Caucus, which is part of the State Freedom Caucus, has six public members in the Senate and seven in the House listed on its website. The State Freedom Caucus includes 11 states and is meant to “advance limited government and conservative values,” according to the website.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.