Ever want an un-biased, yet very opinionated blog to read? Here it is. I have been accused of being extremely biased due to my extremely opinionated comments, but the truth is I'm just... informed.
"You are not forgotten". These words scroll across the bottom of the POW-MIA flag as a reminder of those who never made it home. Tomorrow, Memorial Day, we honor all those who served this country in military service.
As you are attending your various events with family and friends, stop and think about who it was that preserved your right to do just that. To be with your family, your friends, to enjoy your private property. Remember who it was that died so you can do all those things while speaking English.
We live in a day and time where there are some who would assume you forget why it is we celebrate Memorial Day. There are those who would have you believe we celebrate it just as another excuse to take a day off work and have a BBQ. But it means so much more. It is the day we honor those who have sacrificed it all so you and I don't have to. It is the day we give thanks and show our respect to those who we owe so much to, but could never re-pay. I would hope that tomorrow, and any other day of the year, when you come across someone who has served in the United States Military, you would thank them.
Many members of my family have served in the Military. I would like to thank them.
Jerry Bradbury (Grandpa)
Mike Palmer (Uncle)
Scott Palmer (Cousin)
Cade Palmer (Cousin)
Joe Palmer (Dad) Chuck Palmer (Grandpa)
Back in my high school days, I wrote a brief, one-page history of my relationship with one of these brave men. I dedicated my then oddly popular website, TyPalmer.com, to him. A flood of memories come to me as I read what I wrote about him on the dedication page nearly five years ago.
These are just the few members of my family that have served our country in military duty. I honor and thank your family members just as much. It is incumbent upon us all to honor and thank all those who have undertaken the sacred duty.
For those of you who love and honor the freedoms that millions have died for and the right to vote and took advantage of that by voicing your opinion at the polls, thank you. To the 79% of you who didn't, shame on you!
Now, on to the info. This primary election season has brought on a lot of controversy, and brought out a lot of skeletons. We know more about the candidates of this election than most people care to know about their own family members. But the people have spoke, decisions have been made, and it's time to come back together as a party and get behind the nominees to ensure they are elected on November 2 to their respective offices.
Congress (Idaho CD 1)
Undoubtedly the most hotly contested and widely published race was between State Rep. Raul Labrador and Vaughn Ward for Idaho's First Congressional District seat. The winner will face current Congressman Walt Minnick on November 2.
A quick history:
Vaughn Ward jumped into the race 15 months ago. He had done a great job of raising money and obtaining the support of nationwide political leaders. He was born and raised in Idaho, but left Idaho to serve in the Marines and CIA, as well as run Nevada's effort in the failed Presidential campaign of John McCain. After Obama was elected, Vaughn returned to Idaho to run for Congress.
Raul Labrador was supporting a different candidate, Ken Roberts, the current Majority Caucus Chairman in the Idaho Legislature. Ken experienced some health issues and backed out of the race in December of 2009. Not more than 90 minutes past the press release of Ken's withdrawal came another announcement of candidacy, Raul Labrador. Raul had spent the last three years in the Idaho Legislature representing Idaho's 14th Legislative District (northwest boise, eagle, star, north meridian).
Raul jumped into the race with a very late start and no money. He found trouble raising money due to the little confidence in him being able to pull off a win with his opponent having a 9 month head start and over $100,000 ahead of him. Raul largely funded his campaign with his own money, paying himself back as he raised funds.
During the last 6 months, a lot of information has come out about each candidate, but none more than in the last 2 weeks of the race. Vaughn experienced set back after set back as details about his life and bad campaign decisions surfaced.
A brief list includes his wife's full time work for a bail out receiving Fannie Mae, plagiarism on his website, new plagiarism on his website, failing to pay property taxes, majority of his campaign contributions coming from DC and New York, his failure to even vote in the 2008 election despite being a campaign leader for a presidential campaign, and the final nail in the coffin, this video of Vaughn Ward and Barack Obama giving almost identical portions of the same speech.
At the time of this posting, the two versions (one short one long) of this video have received a combined 100,000+ views in the three days it has been online. It has been seen on The Politico, The Hill, Vanity Fair, MSNBC, UK Press, Idaho Statesman, KTVB, Spokesman Review, and the list goes on. The video even made an election night appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Though polls still showed Ward with a small lead, Raul Labrador won the night by 9% with nearly 10,000 votes more than his opponent. As I sat in the ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in Boise after all the results were final. I sat in a small circle with a few close campaign volunteers and Raul himself at 2am, we sat in awe of what had just happened. Despite being outspent 6 to 1, despite having many paid campaign staff and Raul having just volunteers, the people still came out to renew our faith in the process. They showed that money can't buy government officials in Idaho. Not even Sarah Palin can persuade the conservative masses in Idaho to vote for the wrong candidate.
Idaho Legislature
There was almost as much excitement in the Legislative races around the state.
Idaho House:
A couple change ups happened in the House. In District 21 (southwest Boise, south Meridian, Kuna), John Vander Woude beat out 1st term Rep. Richard Jarvis. Two years ago, Richard beat Vander Woude by 65 votes, but John took back his seat. Richard was involved in the Steven Ricks mess and was likely the cause of his demise.
District 13 (Nampa), unfortunately, Christie Perry took out 1.5 term Steve Kren. Steve was a great proven conservative. There were some lies put out by the Perry campaign which, in my opinion, will come back to bite her at the polls in two years.
There was a scary hour as various news sources reported that 100% of District 20's precincts had reported in and current Rep. Joe Palmer and his more moderate challenger Shaun Wardle were in a dead tie each with 627 votes. This went on for a solid hour before all of a sudden, Ada County's election website showed a huge jump in numbers as Joe Palmer won re-election with 2,400 votes while his opponent received 2,000.
Idaho Senate:
There were four incumbent senators who lost their seats to more conservative prospects. My two favorites are Sen. Jorgenson and Sen. Schroeder, both self avowed moderate republicans. Hopefully with these four gone, we will be able to see the continued rise in leadership of the Idaho Senates most conservative member, Russ Fulcher of District 21.
Ada County Commission
It was bittersweet, mostly bitter, as Vern Bisterfeldt won the race between himself and Fred Tillman. Vern and his "buddy" Roger Simmons have a rocky history with the Republican Party. Vern himself is the treasurer for Senate Candidate Branden Durst. Roger Simmons, luckily, lost to current Commissioner Rick Yzzaguire. Early in the campaign, the Ada County Republican Party voted to endorse Rick Yzzaguire and Fred Tillman in the hopes that the true Republicans would win re-election. Fortunately, with only Bisterfeldt winning his race, he won't be able to accomplish much being only 1 out of 3 votes on the commission. Both Yzzaguire and Ullman will be able to outvote his ridiculous plans for the county.
Final thoughts
Other than those races, pretty much everything else went according to what was expected. All in all, the candidates elected show Idaho is tired of the liberal agenda being pushed on us. We elected those who will voice our ideas and know who they work for.
With the Idaho Legislature moving yet further to the right, I believe we will be able to continue to hold the line on taxes, curb spending, and promote the furthering of conservative ideals we believe in.
As the campaigns wind up for the general election, look to this blog for my endorsements, which may not always be the Republican candidate. Remember, I'm always fair and bias...
This Tuesday we all have the opportunity to stand for something, stand for a cause our forefathers believed in, stand for a cause countless soldiers have laid down their lives for, stand for a cause God himself has provided us with in this great country, the cause of freedom. Though we support different candidates, that cause should unite us as we participate in an event not granted to all the people of the world, but held sacred by those who are true to the cause of freedom. Please join me at the polls and cast your vote for those you believe will hold to the principles you believe in. It's your duty as an American.
I believe it was William E. Simon who once said “Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.” You may think your vote doesn't affect much. Tell that to the Floridians who's votes were counted again and again deciding the 2000 Presidential Election. Tell that to the congressional candidate in California that won by 8 votes. Tell that to my father who won his last election by 45 votes.
Silence is acceptance, if you don't vote on Tuesday, you better not open your mouth and complain for one second about anything. Don't you dare complain about taxes, don't complain about fuel prices, about the economy, about traffic, laws, environment, health care, roads, crime, education, etc. Everything in your life is affected by those who are elected to lead our cities, our states, our nation, and if you don't voice your opinion in the election booth, don't voice it any other time.
It is your duty as an American to vote... but that's just me.
As many of you know, I am kinda into politics. Ok, thats a major understatement. I am obsessed, I eat, sleep, and breath politics. It's not so much that I am interested in politics, as I am about what is happening in the world around me. I'm aware, or awake.
During this latest Idaho Legislative Session, I spent all day at the capitol doing odd jobs for legislators and working as a lobbyist for a company I started called We The People Of Idaho. This being an election year, I got to do a lot of work on preparing for campaigns. While in this process I came in contact with a marketing company called Ecliptic Marketing and Consulting. They provide business marketing services ranging from printing (cards, flyers, signs, etc.) to strategic marketing planning. They also have another arm which does essentially the same thing for conservatives running for office.
Long story short I now work for them full time with my time split between working on getting their political clients (re-)elected and selling their marketing services and products to commercial businesses and organizations.
That being said, if you are a business, an organization, or just a person who needs some printing services, let me know. We offer amazing prices on our products. For example, we offer full color, front and back, business cards: 1,000 for $75. See if anyone else in the Treasure Valley can offer that. We also have tools such as text message marketing available. For an example, text the word "JOE" to 91011.
Saturday afternoon I am driving down Eagle Rd minding my own business when all of a sudden I see something on the east side of the road near Ustick. As I approach this object my heart starts to pound as I think "Is that what I think it is?", "Can it be true?". As I got closer I realized to my greatest possible joy it was, in fact, the object I thought it may be. It was a political campaign sign. The day has finally arrived again when campaigns are starting up! While it is a bit early to start the sign blooming, it is an exciting time. These are the days to start preparing, organizing, and fund raising.
It has been several years since I last was able to participate in Legislative campaigns. I was on a mission for the last go around and was not only unable to work them, but wasn't able to do anything to help Dad in his campaign as I was on the opposite side of the country in Virginia.
Given, I have already been working a lot on several campaigns including Representative Raul Labrador's campaign for Congress, but there is just something about Idaho Legislative campaigns that really gets me excited. Unfortunately, while the Legislature is still in session, the current legislators running for re-election can't raise money, and don't have time to do much when it comes to their campaign. Its unfortunate because their opponents are out preparing while the legislators are stuck doing their job.
Today is supposedly the last day of the session though. They were powering through the bills trying to get done on Friday, but didn't quite make it. Today is the day though they hope to Sine Die. Then the campaigns really start.
Everyday I hear people complain about Boise, Idaho... and I am tired of it. I have been all over the world, London, Paris, New York, Boston, Houston, Minneapolis, New Zealand, etc., and I have never been to a place as amazing as Boise. Sure, we don't have a massive downtown, major tourist destinations, or even an In N Out. But we have more than enough of everything to make this the best place in the world to grow up. If you think Boise is a boring place, let me know, I will show you around.
There is something wrong with me. I am 22-years-old, and I hate weekends. I'm sure they will be all fine and dandy again once the Idaho Legislative Session is over, but while they are in session, it sucks. I live for Idaho politics, and during weekends I have to... do other stuff. Ugh.
At least when session is over campaigns will really get rolling so I will be distracted by that. I am currently affiliated with some 20 campaigns in one way or another. I have a significant roll in about five of them. Word on the street is that Dad (Representative Joe Palmer) will have an opponent again this time around. He/she has yet to file for candidacy, but they have all next week to do so. I was on my mission last election so I wasn't around to screw things up.
I get a lot of crap because only one of the campaigns I've had a heavy hand in in the past has won. But hey, I was in high school, as if I have the pull then to be an actual influence in a campaign. Now its different though... Now I know what I am talking about a little more. I have spent a lot of time around those who actually run campaigns and have learned a lot and look forward to seeing the fruits of my labors as ALL of the candidates I am helping win their elections.
Want to know who I support in your area and why? Call/text/email/facebook me.
Many members of my family have served in the Military. I would like to thank them.
