Make no mistake about it. A church-like devotion to party loyalty is behind Idaho’s unacceptable level of corruption. It’s time for a reformation.

Some of the state’s top-tier Republicans admit Idaho has corruption problem. They finger Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s office. They say the state desperately needs an inspector general, a clearing house for conflict-of-interest investigations among legislators and executive staff. They go one further and liken placing the inspector general within the Otter administration, as proposed under House Minority Leader John Rusche’s bill, to “letting the fox guard the hen house.”

Idaho Education Network. Corrections Corporations of America. Campaign donors receiving sweetheart state contracts only to be left largely harmless when the whole thing goes bad. Top-tier lobbyists running campaigns and, after election season, pivoting and writing legislation for their paymasters. This is how Idaho works. And it’s so bad that even some of the most influential Republicans in the state can’t ignore the wasteful, dishonest plague.

Question: We're not talking about Teapublicans here. We're talking about so-called mainstream Republicans who either knowingly or unknowingly fall into line despite apparent corruption in high places in Idaho. What's wrong with you?

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