The Rachel Report
September 8th, 2022
Issue #14
THIS MONTHS PRAYER REQUESTS & DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE:
Friday, September 9th – Sunday, September 11th , I’m asking people to set specific time aside to pray against the Boise Pride Festival happening this weekend and the Kid Drag show that will happen on September 11th. Not only is this criminal under Idaho law… it is pure evil to not only subject children to, but actively encourage them to participate in lewd and sexually explicit activities. We HAVE to stop this sexualization of our kids. I am attaching two files to this email…One is Idaho criminal statute pertaining to sexual conduct of and with minors present. Note the highlighted portions which are all known to have taken places at these types of events throughout the nation (explicit and graphic material warning!). The second are corporations who are supporting this show. Flood them and Boise Mayor McLean with emails, calls, and texts telling them how horrifically unacceptable this is! I am asking that everyone commit to a one hour time block each day to pray. I am in London currently but will be praying from 7-8pm London time all three days which is 12-1pm Idaho time. This is a spiritual war my friends.
Sunday, September 11th will be the twenty first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. On September 11th, 2001 at 8:46am, the North Tower was struck and fell almost two hours later at 10:28am. At 9:03am, the South Tower was struck, collapsing at 9:59am. In Arlington, Virginia, the Pentagon was struck by Flight 77 at 9:37am and at 10:03am, Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. 2,996 Americans lost their lives that day and countless more in the years which followed from cancer, grief, depression, and other toxin-related illnesses.
This is one of my earliest “sad memories.” I was only 4 years old at the time but I remember it clear as day. We were in California at the time and my parents woke us and brought us into their room around 6:45am that morning. I remember sitting on my mum’s lap as she cried and whispered prayers while watching the television and my dad explaining what was happening to us through his tears. It was a pivotal moment in my young 4-year old mind that will always remain with me. I am so thankful my parents let my siblings and I be a part of that moment in American history. It was tragic and heartbreaking but my parents knew that it was a defining moment for our family, our state, our nation, and the world.
May we never forget.
May we always remember how our great nation…our beautiful America…rose from the rubble that day.
THIS WEEKS
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
Big things transpired in the legislature last week and many people in our district have reached out to me asking questions about the special session on September 1st. One of the most frequent questions I have been asked is, “does the governor have the power to call the legislature back into session?” In short, yes. Article 4, Section 9 of the Idaho Constitution allows the governor to convene the legislature by proclamation under “extraordinary circumstances.” Governor Little cited inflation as the extraordinary circumstance which warranted him to convene the legislature to vote on House Bill 1.
House Bill 1 was the only piece of legislation on the agenda for the special session and it took a whopping nine minutes for the House Revenue and Taxation Committee to introduce a $1 billion bill to cut taxes and increase education spending. Nine. Minutes.
By half past 5 on September 1st the bill had passed in both the House and Senate and by 6:30 that evening, Governor Little signed it into law. In the House, HB1 passed with a majority of 55 to 15. In the Senate, only….drum roll….one objected. It passed with a 34-1 majority.
Okay, now let’s talk about the bill.
House Bill 1 includes four main things:
1. It spends $500 million of Idaho’s surplus on rebates- minimum of $300 per person unless a married couple files jointly, then it is $600.
2. It reduces the income tax rate from 6% to 5.8% and creates a new flat tax.
3. It allocates $80 million per year to a new fund for in-demand careers where the money will be directed to technical education programs at colleges and universities; and
4. It transfers $330 million per year from sales tax collections to the public school fund.
If you’re like me, we can agree that some of this bill actually sounds really good! But there are a few big problems here…
My objection is twofold.
First, allocating this massive chunk of money to public education…dumping funds into a broken system… isn’t fixing the problem. I spoke with two representatives from a school district in my legislative district about the August 30th vote on bonds and levies. I asked many questions about where and how the money was being allocated and in not so many words; they said they could only trace about 60% of where the money was going and how it was being spent.
60%.
That means 40% of that school district’s spending is unaccounted for… or at least is not traceable to we the people.
This is a common narrative in the public education system. The conversation I had with the school district representatives quickly turned sour when I expressed that I didn’t want any of my hard earned money going to a system I didn’t believe in, to teach curriculum I don’t support, using resources I cannot approve of.
Now, if these funds were “following the child,” that would be a different conversation. But it’s not, these funds are exclusively going to the public school system. I have an issue with my hard earned taxpayer dollars going to fund schools whose agendas, curriculum’s, and teaching methods I object to… especially when Idaho already devotes nearly HALF of our entire budget to K-12 schools.
More importantly perhaps than the issue of dumping more money into the public school system, I take great issue with our elected officials- who swore an oath to uphold the Idaho constitution- blatantly and flagrantly disregarding the constitution.
THIS MONTHS EVENTS
Monday, September 19th youth volleyball at Liberty Park in Nampa from 6-8pm. There will be snacks, cold drinks, and outdoor games! Come celebrate the end of summer with other young, like-minded conservatives! Bring your friends too, ages 16-30! Let me know if you can make it! My Youth Chair Instagram is @canyongopyouthchair or text me at
208-615-9499.
Saturday, November 12!!! Mark your calendars!!! A local church, Mountain Heights Calvary Chapel in Meridian Idaho, is launching a civics ministry! I am so incredibly honored and privileged to know these men and women- dedicated Kingdom workers- who are burdened to reach their community and state on the political front. They are launching their ministry on November 12th at the Galaxy Event Center in Meridian, and will host renowned historian William (Bill) Federer PhD. as their keynote speaker. There will also be other pastors there to speak and I will be opening the evening with talking about politics in Idaho, my mission, and civic engagement. Details to come but mark your calendars now because this is an event you will not want to miss!
THIS WEEKS LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE CONTINUED:
This bill violates our constitution
Regardless of where you stand on the bill- like it or hate it, it doesn’t change the fact that the governor of Idaho and both the House and the Senate just set a dangerous precedent of disregarding rule of law and our constitution under the guise of “helping Idahoans.”That should worry all of us.
Article III, Section 16 of the Idaho State constitution states that, “Every act [bill/ proposed legislation] shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith…”
Was the bill all bad? No. Not necessarily. There were some good aspects of it, particularly regarding taxes. However, this should have been an issue dealt with in a separate bill.
I also wanted to touch on one important point that Rep. Judy Boyle made during floor debate. She pointed out that this bill and the whole special session was “disrespectful to our Constitution, to our voters, to our taxpayers, and to the incoming class (of legislators).” She continued on to state that the events of September 1st communicated a sense of mistrust in our incoming legislators and in we the people who elected them to do their jobs.
Co-Sponsors of House Bill 1:
Senate:
Senator Chuck Winder
Senator Kelly Anthon
Senator Mark Harris
Senator Abby Lee
Senator Jeff Agenbroad
Senator Van Burtenshaw
Senator Kevin Cook
Senator Carl Crabtree
Senator C. Scott Grow
Senator Lee Heider
Senator Todd Lakey
Senator Dave Lent
Senator Patti Anne Lodge
Senator Fred Martin
Senator David Nelson
Senator Eva Nye
Senator Jim Patrick
Senator Doug Ricks
Senator Peter Riggs
Senator Carrie Semmelroth
Senator Mary Souza
Senator Julie VanOrden
Senator Janie Ward-Engelking
Senator Jim Woodward.
House:
Representative Scott Bedke
Representative Mike Moyle
Representative Jason Monks
Representative Jim Addis
Representative Paul Amador
Representative Matthew Bundy
Representative Ned Burns
Representative Greg Chaney
Representative Lance Clow
Representative Brent Crane
Representative Barbara Ehardt
Representative Marco Erickson
Representative Rod Furniss
Representative Terry Gestrin
Representative Marc Gibbs
Representative Brooke Green
Representative Clark Kauffman
Representative Ryan Kerby
Representative Laurie Lickley
Representative Lori McCann
Representative John McCrostie
Representative Brandon Mitchell
Representative Colin Nash
Representative Doug Okuniewicz
Representative Ilana Rubel
Representative James Ruchti
Representative Bruce Skaug
Representative Scott Syme
Representative Sally Toone
Representative Caroline Troy
Representative Jon Weber
Representative Fred Wood
Representative Linda Hartgen
Representative Julie Yamamoto
Representative Rick Youngblood.
Email these people and remind them of their sacred oath to the constitution of the state of Idaho and we the people. Our legislature MUST not be able to violate the constitution which governs our great state for any reason… be it good or bad. The constitution is there for a reason. If it needs to be altered, the proper steps must be taken to do so. This ensures that governance doesn’t fall under the whims of governing authorities. That my friends, is historically when tyranny begins to spiral.
Dear Liberty-Lovers,
Happy September! The months are flying by and I can’t hardly believe that it’s September already!! I am currently in Europe for the rest of the month thus my delay in getting this letter out on the first Monday… again!
As September is already upon us, that means we are only a few short months away from the next legislative session and we have some exciting things in the works. January will also host our next IDGOP convention in Boise!
It would be difficult to understate how important this time is in laying some groundwork with your legislators, precinct committeemen and women, and party leaders. Let them know who you are, what you stand for, and that you are watching them in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Make sure they know that you will not just stand by and let our state fall to big corporations and liberal agendas. They need to remember that they represent we the people.
And they need to remember that we the people are Red.
As I was considering what to write for this months report, I felt an urgency to remind we the people that we MUST be involved.
One of the hardest aspects of running for office was watching the apathy a large majority of Idahoans possess. My team and I knocked on thousands of doors, we walked neighborhoods, playgrounds, handed out information at the grocery store, spoke in places within our district and without… and that was just us. There were hundreds of others that I know personally who were mobilized trying to get people involved in the primary…and at the end of it all…we still only had 32.5% voter turnout in the 2022 primary election.
32.5%.
That’s it.
Reaching the masses is tough. It’s our job to influence our social spheres to action. But…I’ve also learned that there is an enormous amount of power in a few passionate and principled people that stand upon truth, morality, and liberty.
And I’ve been so encouraged to hear that so many of you are attending school board and Central Committee meetings, talking to your legislators, calling the governors office, asking questions, and doing exhaustive research!
That’s how we safeguard conservatism in our state.
So I want to encourage you to continue the fight.
The past few weeks have been particularly tough with lots of political obstacles for me personally and I know that’s the case for many of you too. I’ve heard a lot of discouragement the past few weeks so I want to take a second to encourage you.
It’s making a difference. All your efforts are making a difference. So keep on, keepin’ on!
To borrow a thought from President Kennedy, we keep fighting “not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.” I find that most of the time… the right thing isn’t the easy thing.
I spoke with a woman a few days ago who had such a spiritual burden for our state. We talked about the satanist community here in Idaho (one of the largest in the United States) and how our state has a target on its chest. There are many outside forces competing for power in our state and it is frankly tiring at times. I expressed that to her and she said, “honey can I pray for you?” And she did… that a spirit of strength would wash over us that are fighting and that a community of freedom fighters would continue to rise up in our state.
She asked me about my team and after telling her about the people beside me, behind me, and all around me in this, she said, “praise God that He gives us people to hold our arms up.”
No one can win this on their own. First, we need the Lord. Second, we need each other. Former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell said, “battle is a hell of a lot easier when you have someone watching your six.”
I’m so thankful for all of you and your dedication to our state.
Being involved in our community, state, and government looks different from person to person but it all works toward the same goal.
Elected officials… as you stand for liberty and justice in our communities and state… sometimes alone like Senator Zito did in the special session last week… keep standing because we’re behind you and are grateful that you are doing what you’re doing. It matters.
To the teachers who are standing up to school boards, refusing to indoctrination kids… thank you for fighting for children in Idaho. The Lord give you strength day by day. It matters.
Homeschool mamma’s and dads… if you find yourself frustrated with the kids… remember what you are shielding them from and remember that you are cultivating future men and women who will take up the mantle next to protect and preserve liberty. It matters.
To the high schoolers and college students doing the unpopular thing in advocating for the truth… You are brave and certainly not alone. Your refusal to give into the liberal agendas that are being thrown at you is invaluable to the future of our Republic. It matters.
In every way…each person in their own spheres of influence… your time, money, prayers, and action matter.
Don’t grow weary of doing what’s right. You’re not alone.
Thank you to those who continually reach out, who I see at the Central Committee meetings, who testify on the floor, who go see their legislators at the capitol, who write letters, make calls, knock doors, put up signs…Your contributions- big or small are helping secure liberty in our state.
Let’s hold each others arms up. I am praying for you as you stand in your communities. May the Lord bless you and keep you…
Keep fighting liberty-lovers!
Let’s Keep Idaho, Idahome!
Rachel Hazelip
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” ~Thomas Paine
Dear Lord, our Heavenly Father, we are living in such difficult times, where sin is becoming publicly normal. We are heading with fast pace toward same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah. We ask for your infinite divine mercy. Grant us strength, wisdom, clarity, purpuse, whatever you see it fit to fulfill our callings.
Heavenly Father, help us realize that we are not alone in this fight, open our eyes like you did with Elisha’s servant(2 Kings 6:17). In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.