One last chance: The far right came within a hair of taking over the Idaho Senate | Opinion

The Idaho Legislature had, with fits and starts, been sliding in recent years further and further toward outright control by the far right. After further gains this year, it seemed that maybe it had finally happened.

Not quite yet, we found out Thursday.

The Idaho Legislature met to hold its organizational session, where leadership is elected and powerful committee chairs are, in turn, divvied out.

Given gains by the far right in the primary election, there was a substantial possibility that the Senate, long the main block against extreme pieces of legislation, would emerge looking just like the Idaho House.

But things went pretty well Thursday — or at least, things turned out not to be as bad as many had feared.

The new Pro Tem, Sen. Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, is a relative moderate, though notably less so than former Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, who was ousted by a far-right primary challenger in the primary. Sen. Mark Harris, probably the most moderate remaining member of Senate leadership, stepped up from caucus chair to assistant majority leader.

It wasn’t the rout that many moderates had feared — a clean sweep of the leadership and committee chair positions. (The outcome had some far-right activists suggesting that three lawmakers had “betrayed” the cause because they are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

But the center of gravity has undeniably shifted.

Last session, Senate leadership consisted of Winder, Anthon, Assistant Majority Leader Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, and Harris — all relative moderates, of which Anthon was perhaps the most conservative. With Winder’s primary defeat and Lee’s decision to retire, Sens. Lori Den Hartog and Ben Toews — the farthest right members of the Senate to serve in leadership position in recent memory — join Anthon and Harris as the new majority leader and caucus chair, respectively.

Senate committee chairmanships remain largely in tact, including some of the most important.

Education Chairman Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, has for the last two years had one of the hardest jobs in the Legislature: fending off poorly thought-out bills that are driven by ideology, not serious measures to improve Idaho’s education system.

But that was during the last term. Lent easily walloped primary challenger Bryan Scholz, so his seat is quite safe, but maintaining a razor-thin majority of traditional conservatives is likely to mean concessions that didn’t have to be made over the last two years.

So is Idaho headed for a poorly overseen voucher system, ripe for abuse and budget overruns? Maybe, but it’s much less likely than if Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, were in charge.

The same is the case with the Senate State Affairs Committee, where moderate Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, has kept lots of bad ideas in check in recent years. If there’s another effort to repeal Medicaid expansion, there’s a good chance it would have to go through his committee, or through the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, chaired by moderate Sen. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree.

Could tens of thousands of working Idahoans lose insurance coverage through the repeal of Medicaid expansion? Maybe, but it’s much less likely than if Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, were in charge.

For voters who care about things like this, it’s time to wake up and get organized. There are still a few backstops remaining, but they are getting fewer and weaker.

Even Gov. Brad Little has been increasingly averse to pulling out his veto pen. Early in his governorship, it was common for him to veto as many as six bills per session, including many high-profile pieces of legislation. Last session, Little vetoed only two bills, both relatively low profile — one of which was little more than a give-away to a prolific far-right donor.

So take this moment for what it is: at best a temporary reprieve. If sensible people are going to stop the most destructive ideas of the far right — forcing your kids to read their religious texts in school, charging women who obtain abortions with murder, and so on — they’ve got two years to do it. One more election like the last one, and you can count on them running roughshod over your schools, your basic rights and your personal lives.

Bryan Clark is an opinion writer at the Idaho Statesman.