Republican Legislative Leaders Respond to Leaked Audio, Senator Retracts Story

House Concurrent Resolution 1 was a major talking point during Idaho’s recent “Extraordinary Session” that took place in August.

HCR 1 was passed by the House on a vote of 48-20-2 (2 absent). The resolution was designed to end the “State of Emergency” that Idaho is currently under.

Every member of the Republican House leadership voted for the resolution.

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Now, leaked audio (phone call) from State Senator Fred Martin (R-Boise) claims that immediately after the resolution passed, “House leadership” went to the Senate and told them not to even hear the resolution.

Speaker Scott Bedke (R-Oakley), House Majority Leader Mike Moyle (R-Star), Assistant Majority Leader Jason Monks (R-Nampa), and Caucus Chair Megan Blanksma (R-Hammett) make up Idaho’s House Republican leadership team. We have reached out to all four of them to ask about this audio and to verify, clarify, or deny what is claimed by Martin.

This is what Blanksma sent the Idaho Dispatch:

Sen. Martin is 100% factually incorrect in his statement.  I don’t know how he came up with it or why he said it but it is not based in fact.

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Rep. Monks followed up the email from Blanksma by saying,

If you need any additional information, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

We also heard from Sen. Hill who sent Idaho Dispatch the following message:

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I have visited with Senator Martin about his comments. He had heard about the events from a third party who was mistaken. The meeting with House Leadership did not occur and Senator Martin has issued a statement correcting the misunderstanding. I suggest you contact Senator Martin for a copy of the explanation he prepared.

Finally, Sen. Winder followed up the email from Hill with the following statement:

Greg, I just saw this and want you to know that I concur with Senator Hill.

We have not received a response from the other members of leadership in the House or Senate.

In addition to voting for HCR 1, at least two members of the House Leadership team spoke in favor of the resolution. Moyle was one of the House leaders to speak on the floor in favor of HCR 1.

Speaker Bedke told House members that he does not leave his Speaker’s seat very often to go to the House Floor but did to speak in favor of HCR 1.

Finally, we received a forwarded email that was sent to Blanksma from Sen. Anthon that contained a message from Sen. Martin about the incident, and here is that message in full:

Yesterday I was made aware of a negative online attack from a political special interest group on Speaker of the House Scott Bedke.  I was horrified to find that a recording of a private conversation of mine was being used in this attack.

I had a private conversation with a person several weeks ago. As we were discussing various issues, including the Special Session of the Legislature in August, I repeated a story involving Idaho House of Representatives’ leadership. At the time of the conversation, I believed my comments to be accurate, but I was in error. I have since learned that the story was totally untrue. Unfortunately, I did not have any firsthand knowledge of what transpired and should not have repeated a secondhand account.

The PAC that is attacking the Speaker of the House is led by a former political opponent of mine who lost an election against me.  This PAC has worked recently to defame and discredit Idaho conservatives, attack Idaho’s Republican leaders, and attack Idaho’s businesses. I publicly reject this attack against the Speaker and believe good Idahoans should reject these tactics.  I know that the Speaker of the House has advocated for common-sense solutions and has sincerely supported ending emergency orders without Legislative oversight.

I apologize to the Speaker and to members of House Republican Leadership to the extent that any statement I made would be construed otherwise. It was my fault and I fully apologize.

HCR 1 was not heard by the Senate and the Senate instead passed a different “Senate Resolution” which asked Governor Brad Little to end the emergency. Because it was not a “concurrent” resolution, once it passed the Senate it didn’t need to go to the House.