Friends,
If there’s one thing establishment Republicans hate, it’s when members of their own party actually fight for limited government and Freedom Caucuses all over America have been successful in doing just that. They are so good at it, in fact, that there are several states in which our members have been kicked out of the entire Republican caucus for daring to stand up to members of their own party.
In South Carolina, members of the SC Freedom Caucus were booted from the Republican caucus for opposing a “loyalty” pledge their leadership tried to force them to sign preventing them from criticizing fellow Republicans.
In Georgia, our GAFC Vice Chairman State Senator Colton Moore got booted out of the Senate GOP caucus simply for calling for a special session of the legislature to hold Fulton County DA Fani Willis accountable for weaponizing her office against President Trump.
And now, it is happening again, this time in the state of Idaho.
Last week, two Idaho Freedom Caucus members in the Senate got removed from leadership positions on committees for criticizing RINO Senator Pro Tempore Chuck Winder.
It started nearly a month ago, when IDFC member Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld published a newsletter on her Substack in which she took a critical look at the corrosive power that special interests have over Idaho politicians like Winder, while also criticizing the state’s spending increases and reliance on federal debt spending. It included this meme of Winder as a RINO while carrying water for the state’s corporate interests.
As a result of that newsletter, Winder sent a letter to Zuiderveld telling her that she had been unilaterally stripped of her position as Vice Chair of the Health and Welfare Committee. He additionally sent a second letter to fellow Freedom Caucus member State Sen. Scott Herndon for writing a similar newsletter of his own, threatening both of them with ethics complaints if they continued to criticize him.
But it didn’t end there. Freedom Caucus criticisms of Winder must have really gotten under his skin because he also sent another letter to IDFC member Sen. Brian Lenney, letting him know that he was removing him as Vice Chair of the Commerce and Human Resources Committee.
For the record, the three ID Freedom Caucus members are not backing down.
“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,” Lenney said in response.
"Regardless of what actions the leadership takes, I do not work for them; I work for the people. I will not allow intimidation to silence me,” Zuiderveld said.
“I wrote an article about Idaho's state spending. Senator Chuck Winder then attempted to reprimand me for my speech. I would never apologize for this. However, Senator Winder should apologize to me for his defamatory and degrading comments.” said Scott Herndon.
This is what happens in every single state where Freedom Caucuses are challenging the establishment in both parties. The status quo is so used to getting its way that the slightest hint of pushback causes them to retaliate. People like Chuck Winder couldn’t care less about the people he is supposed to represent.
All they care about is power.
Read more on the Idaho Freedom Caucus Substack.
Illinois Democrats kill school choice.
In our last email, I wrote about how Democrats in Illinois are allowing the state’s only school choice program to expire at the end of the legislative session. Despite a valiant effort from the Illinois Freedom Caucus, the IL legislature adjourned for the rest of the year without the “Invest in Kids” program being renewed.
It truly shows just how beholden Democrat politicians are to the teachers’ unions. The kids wanted their scholarships to continue but the unions didn’t, therefore the Democrats doomed thousands of families to a life of failing public education with no opportunity to find something more suitable.
Wyoming Governor rejects Forum on green energy
Another topic from our last email concerned Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon going to an event at Harvard University, the bastion of leftism in our nation, and explained how he wanted to make Wyoming “carbon negative.”
Obviously that should be a non-starter in a state with one of the largest oil and gas industries in the country so it led to a blistering response from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and several votes of no confidence in local Wyoming GOP committees.
Something the WYFC also did was propose a public forum so Gov. Gordon could explain to the people of Wyoming’s oil industry how he wants to take away their jobs.
Naturally, he ran away from the scrutiny because that’s what RINOs do, issuing a letter rejecting the offer.
Happy Thanksgiving
From all of us at the State Freedom Caucus Network, we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. We are certainly thankful for the support that we have received for our work from patriots all over America. Our supporters are the reason we get to do what we do every single day and our whole organization couldn’t be more grateful for it.
Keep fighting,
Andy Roth
President
State Freedom Caucus Network
P.S. Your help is critical in building out a network of patriots and freedom fighters throughout our nation’s state capitols and in your home state. Please consider a contribution and join us as we work to advance the cause of liberty.