So, this fight isn’t really over the gas tax, it is a fight about the future of the Republican Party in Idaho. Will the far right conservatives fully subsume the Republican Party? Will they eventually oust Butch Otter as being too “moderate”? Will they impose some far right litmus test for belonging to the Republican Party (labeling everyone else RINO’s – Republican In Name Only)? Will they close their primary elections forcing people to register for their party to vote in their primary – all at public expense? FYI - a decision on a lawsuit - brought by the far right - to force the closing their party primary election is currently pending in front of Judge Winmill. All of these pressures are forcing Republican legislators to move inexorably further to the right/Sen. Elliott Werk (pictured), Working For Idaho. More here. H/T: Unequivocal Notion.

• Tuesday — Cinco de Mayo/Unequivocal Notion
• Day 114 and counting: Political Darwinism/Kevin Richert
• Republican standoff/IdaBlue
• The Great Nonini/Randy Stapilus
• Rhetoric doesn’t match changing wolf reality/Rocky Barker

Question: Do you think Sen. Werk’s conclusion is correct — that the standoff over gas taxes really is about the attempt by ultraconservative Repubs who control the House to gain greater control of the Idaho GOP?

The IVA is joining with Tea Party Idaho, the organization that sponsored the hugely successful Tea Party rally on April 15, to host Tea Party II today at 12 noon at the Capitol Annex. The Annex is the old Ada County Courthouse, and is the temporary home of the Idaho legislature while the state capitol undergoes renovation. It is across the street just east of the capitol building. The brief 30 minute rally will be held to strengthen the resolve of the Idaho House to hold firm in its resistance to any increase in the gas tax that Idaho families pay at the pump/Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance. More here.

Question: Do you support the Tea Party that will be held in Boise today to oppose Gov. Butch Otter’s insistence on a gas tax increase?