Idahoans want the government—and politicians—stay out of their personal lives. My opponent, Jim Risch, recently violated that trust.

In an effort to sink Independent candidate Rex Rammell, operatives for Risch spied on more than 1,000 Idahoans who signed a petition. The signatures, verified by county clerks, were needed to allow Rammell to drop off the Republican ticket and run as an Independent.

The Associated Press noted the Idaho GOP joined a lawsuit brought by a group seeking to discredit the petitioners, and they hired a private investigator and former police officer to do it.

In plain language, these Idahoans signed a petition and were then spied on by political operatives working on Risch’s behalf.

Risch, a corporate lawyer with a reputation for ruthlessness, denies knowledge of the incident. That denial defies belief.

The race for Idaho’s U.S. Senate seat has gotten too close for comfort. Risch knows Rammell takes votes away from Risch, not from me. Recent polling shows “a shockingly wide open race” with Risch mired at 42 percent—despite having been an unelected governor for seven months in 2006. Risch’s lackluster campaign is floundering. He is running negative push polls against me and has the dirty tricks squad working over time. And, nobody believes Risch didn’t sanction the investigation of Idaho voters.

For my part, I have let Idahoans known that I treasure our freedom will fight those who abuse power. I want to carry on the legacy of one of freedom’s most passionate defenders, my former boss and mentor, Senator Frank Church.

As Chairman of the Senate Committee and Intelligence, Church led the Senate investigation of Executive branch abuses of civil liberties back in 1975 - 1976. Idahoans were alarmed to learn that Army intelligence units had investigated 100,000 U.S. citizens during the Vietnam War era. That’s not far from what Risch is doing today.

Idahoans didn’t like the government, or politicians like Jim Risch, investigating loyal citizens in the 1970’s and they don’t like it now.

Months ago, I promised Idahoans and the nation that I would uphold the Bill of Rights. It’s a promise I intend to keep.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 9:45 am and is filed under Politics, Campaign .