Bundy, an anti-government militia leader who is running for governor of Idaho as an independent, was endorsed Oct. 27 by Idaho Freedom PAC, one of two affiliate political groups of the Idaho Freedom Foundation. IFF is a 501c3 nonprofit that is heavily involved in lobbying the Idaho Legislature; Idaho Freedom Action is its political action arm, a 501c4 nonprofit; and Idaho Freedom PAC directly endorses and campaigns for and against candidates. All three share leaders, donors and messaging.

“We are proud to endorse Ammon Bundy for governor,” Idaho Freedom PAC said in an Oct. 27 post on Facebook, with “ENDORSED!” over a picture of Bundy. “Ammon is a courageous man who has stood up to government bullies time and time again. Vote Bundy for governor Nov. 8.”

“We’re grateful for it,” Bundy told the Idaho Press on Friday. “I think they saw what aligns with their values in my ‘Keep Idaho Idaho’ plan and my campaign and in what I’ve done, and I’m not surprised that they endorsed me.”

Asked about the law enforcement coalition’s contention that he doesn’t respect the rule of law, Bundy, who has been arrested multiple times, led an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 and was banned from the state Capitol for a year after multiple trespassing arrests there, said, “What a bunch of garbage. This is establishment talk, this is political establishment talk. It’ll only be bad for them.”

The Defend and Protect Coalition, which first formed in the spring with nearly two dozen longtime law enforcement members, mostly retired Idaho sheriffs and police chiefs, signing on, said in a statement issued Monday, “Bundy, who has been prone to use threats and intimidation, has used increasingly violent rhetoric in his campaign, specifically targeting law enforcement, elected officials, health care workers, members of the LGBTQ community, and Idahoans who oppose his extreme ideology.”

At the same time, the statement said, the Freedom Foundation and its related groups have “also begun to embrace violent political extremism” in their primary and general election campaigning. The statement pointed to Freedom Foundation staffers’ involvement in a Bundy-sparked protest against St. Luke’s Hospital that caused the hospital to briefly close and divert ambulances bringing emergency patients; and in a Bundy-led protest at a Meridian police officer’s home after a Meridian woman was arrested in April 2020 for violating a COVID-19-related closure during a protest at a local park.

“Despite this growing extremism, IFF holds considerable influence over members of the Idaho Republican Party, which makes their endorsement of Bundy, and more pointedly against Gov. Little, even more alarming,” the group’s statement said.

Raney was the elected Republican sheriff of Ada County for 10 years; he retired after more than 30 years with the department.

Idaho Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman, who refuses to respond to inquiries from the news media, issued several statements this week about the endorsement and the fallout.

“Contrary to what you may have heard from the legacy leftist media, neither the Idaho Freedom Foundation nor Idaho Freedom Action has endorsed Ammon Bundy for governor,” Hoffman wrote. “Idaho Freedom PAC, an organization that shares IFF’s values and vision for the future of our beloved state, did endorse Bundy. But IFF/IFA and IFP are not the same.”

Raney said, “A duck is a duck, and this is the Idaho Freedom Foundation duck. It’s just, I think, another evasive tactic for them to try to represent themselves as something that they’re not. In this case, that they’re not doing an endorsement that they clearly are.”

Idaho Freedom PAC lists its treasurer as Dustin Hurst, who is vice president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation. According to its campaign finance reports, its major donors include Brent Regan, IFF board chairman; Bryan Smith, board vice chairman; and Doyle Beck, IFF board member. The PAC’s chair is listed as Christina DeBoer, another IFF board member.

The groups’ tactics include targeting disfavored candidates with smear campaigns, through social media, flyers, text campaigns, voice mails and more. Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, a Nampa banker who co-chairs the Legislature’s joint budget committee but was unexpectedly defeated in the May GOP primary by Brian Lenney, a challenger backed by the groups, said, “Their lies were blatant and extreme.”

Among other things, the groups accused Agenbroad of hating America, Marxism, endorsing critical race theory and the indoctrination of children, and blocking repeal of the state’s grocery tax – though Agenbroad was a co-sponsor of the last grocery tax repeal bill that came to the state Senate in 2017.

“I think there’s certainly a lot of people in my district that were duped,” he said.

As to Hoffman’s contention that his group doesn’t endorse candidates, Agenbroad said, “That’s ridiculous. … It is so ridiculous for them to say ‘it wasn’t me’ when they get a little bit of pressure.”

He added, “In my opinion, if this were anything different than a political environment, these guys would be held liable for slander, significant slander, because that’s what they were doing.”

The groups’ latest target appears to be Democratic Sen. Carrie Semmelroth of Boise, who is just finishing her first term in office. When she was appointed to the Senate to fill a vacancy, she was the third choice of her party’s legislative district committee, after two more liberal candidates.

Idaho Freedom PAC ads currently blanketing Facebook proclaim that Semmelroth, a longtime educator, low-key lawmaker and a volunteer ski patroller at Bogus Basin, is “a radical progressive who wants sky-high taxes, CRT in schools and more gun control for you,” and also includes charges that Semmelroth stands for “11% income tax to fund wokeness, sex change operations ON MINORS.” None of those allegations have any grounding in votes or positions Semmelroth has taken in the Senate.

Agenbroad said he served in the Senate with Semmelroth, and “I saw none of that behavior in my observations in talking with her.” But, he said, “It doesn’t surprise me that they make these claims about anybody.”

During the spring primary campaign, he said, identical charges and memes were used against him and several other incumbent GOP senators. “They were using the same language, the same everything, just different pictures, and spreading it out throughout our districts,” he said.

Semmelroth said in an email that she is aware of the ads, but is focusing her campaign “the real work of knocking doors and talking to my neighbors.”

“The vast majority of my constituents are not buying the politics of division, outrage and misinformation that the IFF is peddling,” she said.

Other recent Idaho Freedom PAC targets have included GOP Gov. Brad Little; Rep. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, who is running for the Senate; Sen. David Nelson, D-Moscow; and Democratic House candidate Miranda Marquit of Idaho Falls. In each case, the group has endorsed the candidate’s opponent.

Agenbroad said, “I think there is a place for all ideology, but it’s in a respectful, civil manner to have those conversations. And not in a bullying manner, that you either agree with me or I’m going to slander you in any way I possibly can.”

“I hope the citizens of Idaho are able to kind of see the demonstration of the Freedom Foundation’s actions and others that operate in a similar manner,” Agenbroad said, “and respond in a way that is an Idaho way, and that is, we aren’t going to tolerate this. This is not behavior that’s acceptable, and it needs to be changed.”

Raney said, “I think it’s safe to say that we are confident that Mr. Bundy is not going to be elected governor. But at the same time, this has given him the opportunity to spread his message, and that’s destructive to the state of Idaho and the people who live here and the quality of life we have. People move to Idaho and live in Idaho because of the friendliness and the nature of the people here, and he is harming that.”