Moscow Pullman Daily News

“Founding members of the ILU are prominent local and regional names: Ball Ventures Ahlquist CEO Tommy Ahlquist; Saint Alphonsus President and CEO Odette Bolano; retired Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney; retired Brigadier General and Idaho Air National Guard Bill Shawver; Gross Farms CEO Doug Gross; and Ball Ventures CEO Cortney Liddiard.

ILU board members said that Idaho’s reputation as a haven for political extremism hurts in business recruitment and retention efforts.

“I can tell you as a healthcare executive that recruits and hopes to retain great talent for our health care systems, that we are losing incredibly talented people because of the extremist political views that we have in our state,” Bolano said. “And in our recruitment, I can tell you for a fact that we are losing people who do not want to come to Idaho that have great gifts to share with us that are refusing to come here because of the political climate.”

Gross echoed that sentiment.

“Our companies are all diverse. We have a very diverse workforce. And anything that targets any one of them causes extreme consternation among the workforce,” he said. “They’re always looking over their shoulder: Who’s going to come after me?”

He added that the rhetoric is the worst he’s seen in the Treasure Valley, where he has lived his entire life.

“I think it’s political refugees coming in,” he said. “Maybe at some point in time in their lives they were marginalized, they feel marginalized.”

In Idaho, that political influence is typically found on the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. This past legislative session the Idaho Freedom Caucus pushed legislation targeting drag shows, transgender health care and libraries.”