Code 3 to 1 Blog-Public

Code 3 to 1, Retired Law Enforcement Officers of Idaho, is an association of retired law enforcement officers living in Idaho. We have hundreds of members that have spent a lifetime protecting our community in Idaho and throughout the United States. Our members come from all ranks, including officers and Chiefs and deputies and elected sheriffs. Our members were patrol officers, sex crime detectives, narcotics officers, SWAT team members, gang investigators and other specialized assignments. 

Like most Idahoans, we received a letter from Alex LeBeau of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry (IACI) that was sent to the Idaho legislature and the people of Idaho. The letter from IACI was a scathing response to Idahoans and the legislature about debating the possibility of our legislature blocking any vaccine mandate. To be clear, the letter that IACI issued is full of contradictions. We have attached the letter to this post so that you can read it for yourself.

In addition, although we do not always find ourselves in agreement with what the Idaho Freedom Foundation has to say, two recent letters written by their Vice President and President really say it all. We also attached them below because it is extremely important to read all this information collectively to understand this issue. 
LeBeau refers to “tyrannical practices” in the free market. It appears he is referring to the proposal that Idaho lawmakers are considering putting an end to any COVID vaccine mandate. These are the mandates that private businesses are threatening to fire employees unless those employees conform with getting the Covid vaccine. Recently, three major hospital systems came out on the same day with this directive: St. Lukes, St. Alphonsus, and Primary Health Group. Since then, they have forced many health care workers to leave under the threat of losing their livelihoods. 

Is LeBeau saying Idaho lawmakers should not stop private corporations (that take tens of millions of federal tax dollars) from requiring individual health care workers from being fired for refusing to take the COVID vaccine? Or is that private corporations are the victims of a tyrannical legislature that is debating about protecting the individual employee?

What is ironic, it appears Lebeau is calling the Biden Administration’s mandate wrong, but what some private businesses in Idaho are doing is ok. Isn’t this a double standard?

LeBeau says Idahoan’s stand for a division between government and business and letting the private sector determine its own practices for the well-being of its workforce. Shouldn’t it be that the individual determines what is best for their well-being? LeBeau intimates those employers know the best ways to keep their employees safe, apparently referring to the COVID vaccine. Will they put their money where their mouth is when an employee is injured from the vaccine? 

LeBeau further states many of the actions being discussed by Idaho legislators will lead to job losses and a setback for our economy. What about the job losses of those employees that have already lost their livelihoods under the threat of termination for non-compliance with being vaccinated? What about the setback to their economy? Interestingly enough, by these three big Idaho hospital systems enacting these forced mandates, the job losses, effect on our economy, and the staff shortages created are causing negative effects to our citizens, communities, and state. The work shortages alone have caused delays in surgeries, prompt healthcare and serious ramifications throughout our hospital systems.

It appears LeBeau calls the Idaho legislature protecting its citizens “socialism,” and letting corporations’ pressure and threaten their employees, “freedom and liberty.” 

We would like to ask LeBeau if it is true that St. Lukes and St. Alphonsus do not pay ANY state property tax? This is while the CEO of St. Lukes has an annual income of $8.5 million. If this is true, it sounds like state government has been very involved in the private sector.

We at Code 3 to 1 believe our nation was founded on the principles of freedom and liberty of the individual. Our members spent a lifetime protecting those freedoms. We fully support legislation that protects those individual rights. That leaves the choice up to the individual in what they are required to do medically and what to have injected into their body. We respect individual choice on the vaccine issue, whether or not one chooses to take it or not.

The job of our representatives is to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual. We applaud those legislators that are truly representing the people. This is not a tiny philosophical fringe, as LeBeau puts it. This is the foundation that our country was built upon, and the brave men and women that have died to protect it.
We know that there are far more retired law enforcement officers in Idaho than active officers. We ask that all retired officers join our ranks by applying for membership at https://code3to1.com so that we can continue to protect the public that we swore to protect.

IACI's Letter as referenced above:
To the Representatives, Senators, and people of Idaho:
Idaho’s independent and entrepreneurial spirit was buoyed when the Gem State became the least regulated state in the nation nearly two years ago. Our state government proudly cut over 1,800 pages of administrative code and showed the nation that Idaho was not only open for business, but that we have also created an environment in which business can thrive.

Since then, too many of our elected legislators have lost their way and abandoned the core conservative principles they promised us they held dear. As they now look to pile more government mandates onto the backs of businesses and attempt to control the private sector by adding constraints and regulations to free enterprise, make no mistake that it is all for the purpose of scoring political points and appealing to a tiny philosophical fringe. For that, shame on them. They know better than to put tyrannical practices on the free market. There are no Idaho employers asking the Legislature to impose new regulations on their ability to run their businesses and keep their employees safe. While we applaud Governor Little for joining a multi-state lawsuit against President Biden’s gross overreach to infringe on private businesses’ rights to set the COVID-19 health standards they see fit, we are dismayed that the Idaho Legislature now seeks to convene to tell Idaho employers how to run their businesses. Idahoans overwhelmingly stand for the division of government and business and letting the private sector determine its own practices for the well-being of its workforce. As we hear about possible legislation from self-proclaimed “champions of liberty and limited government” in support of guaranteed salaries and stripping the rights of entrepreneurs, we could not stand by quietly as this thinly cloaked socialism gets wrapped up in a facade of freedom. These are not the values of this state or its people.

Idaho businesses have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to find solutions to keep their businesses open and their employees safe. The Idaho Legislature should do nothing to threaten those actions, and instead should wait until the United States Supreme Court rules on the dictates coming out of OSHA and the White House regarding new vaccine mandates on employers. There is no sound reason for the Legislature to be in Session until that happens. Putting Gem State employers between a rock and a hard place of two conflicting mandates only further burdens businesses trying to manage their way through this pandemic while keeping Idaho’s economy moving forward. Many of the actions currently being discussed by legislators would have a devastating impact on Idaho employers and will lead to business closures, job losses and a setback for our economy.

The Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry applauds those lawmakers with the backbones to speak out against this unnecessary legislative session that seeks to meddle into the private sector’s ability to conduct their affairs, and we would hope their legislative leadership can match their intestinal fortitude and resolve. IACI and its member companies will oppose any attempts by the Legislature to impose unnecessary restrictions and new liability on Idaho employers regarding vaccines.

For decades, Idaho has served as a shining example for the rest of the other forty-nine states on how to stand up for economic freedom and have a hands-off approach to government’s involvement in business. Let us not turn the tide on that now when we need to stand by those principles the most. We stand with the large majority of Idaho citizens who believe businesses thrive when government stands down.

Alex LaBeau,
President, IACI

Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation, November 10th, 2021
Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric coming from the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. They’re not on the side of freedom — not now, not ever. 

When IACI starts throwing around words like “conservative” and “freedom,” you know you’re being bamboozled. No organization in Idaho has done more than IACI to promote socialism, rent-seeking, and cronyism. So, you know IACI President Alex LaBeau is dripping in dishonesty with the statement he put out Tuesday expressing concern that the Legislature’s return to Boise next week is “socialism … wrapped up in a facade of freedom.”

Remember, IACI is the same organization that promoted the state’s early adoption of Obamacare. It pushed hard for the state to open an Obamacare insurance exchange. It later joined with leftist organizations to promote Medicaid expansion. 

Today, IACI is pushing for the expansion of the government education system. IACI wholeheartedly embraces socialism. The organization’s record on this point is more than clear. It is the most special of all of Idaho’s special interest groups. 

The real reason IACI is opposed to the Legislature reconvening is that the organization would love nothing more than for businesses to be free to strip employees of their health freedom. Sure, IACI says it applauds the state for having joined lawsuits in opposition to the Biden administration’s vaccination requirements. But it’s not because IACI opposes vaccine mandates. The truth is, IACI’s members include Idaho’s big hospitals and corporations that are implementing vaccine requirements, threatening to fire employees who fail to surrender their medical autonomy. 

That makes IACI exactly like the Biden administration. If it has any objection to the president’s tyranny, it’s that the organization wants to reserve the right for its corporate members to issue authoritarian edicts. 

At the Idaho Freedom Foundation, we’ve always said that the issue of vaccine mandates extends well beyond being an employee-employer issue. This is about Americans losing their freedoms at the hands of health autocrats. Sometimes the enforcement of medical tyranny is being done directly by the government. Other times, it’s being done by businesses enacting government medical protocols. The end result is the same: Americans are systematically being denied jobs, travel, or their right to life, liberty, and property unless they go along with what government experts recommend or demand. 

America is quickly becoming the “show us your papers” medical police state where disobedience to authority ultimately leads to poverty and death. Indicate that you’ve obeyed government-sanctioned protocols or requirements or starve. Obey the requirements and live. This is the side IACI is really on. This is our future if the state Legislature does not act. 

Both IACI and the Biden administration celebrate the idea of a command-and-control world in which vaccines are mandated and people who disobey are persecuted, shunned, and impoverished for failure to conform to the so-called science of the day. Conservatives are on the right side of this issue, and they should fight like mad to preserve individuals’ right to medical freedom, autonomy, and privacy.

Boise, ID—Idaho Freedom Foundation Vice President Dustin Hurst issued the following statement upon the adjournment of the 2021 legislation session.
Idaho lawmakers have failed at their most sacred task:  protecting the rights of Gem State citizens. On Wednesday, lawmakers finished their elongated 2021 session. Let’s look at their accomplishments.
Did they do anything to protect the medical privacy of Idahoans whose employers are demanding personal information? No.
Did lawmakers pass legislation to stop school districts from masking students? No.
Did lawmakers do anything to protect those who might be harmed by the experimental vaccines? No.
Did Idaho lawmakers protect the liberty of vaccine-skeptical Idahoans who don’t want to be treated as second-class citizens in society? Nope.
What then did lawmakers accomplish during the three-day special session that concluded Wednesday afternoon and cost taxpayers more than $100,000?
They sent a strongly worded letter to Congress and extracted a pound of flesh from a good conservative lawmaker during a bogus ethics hearing.
This is a complete and total abdication of duty. And the blame rests largely with House Speaker Scott Bedke, Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder, and Gov. Brad Little. For months, desperate Idahoans begged these three politicians to act to save jobs, lives, and livelihoods. They didn’t.
Instead of listening to the will of the people, Little, Bedke and Winder did the bidding of special interests that want to continue the medical tyranny unfolding in Idaho. This trio thwarted commendable efforts by principled conservatives to put an end to vaccination by intimidation and threat. Those conservatives deserve thanks of Idahoans across the state. Bedke, Winder, and Little do not.
Where is this headed? More Idahoans will be coerced into getting an experimental vaccine with potential adverse effects or face financial ruin. All due to failed leadership from those they helped elect. One thing is certain, many of those who torpedoed efforts to defend freedom will next year campaign on defending Idaho from federal government overreach. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Lawmakers should be ashamed. Idahoans should be furious that lawmakers engaged in this pathetic charade.