I am a 2022 candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives for Bingham County and Butte County, Legislative District 30, Seat B, running against Rep. Julianne Young.
I am a 51-year-old US Army veteran who grew up in Bingham County on a family farm and graduated from Shelley High School in 1989.
I am currently a Internet marketing manager, small business owner, and family farm manager.
If you would like to skip straight to my platform, you can go to https://www.travisoler.com/issues/travis-oler-platform.
You can also watch an interview on Facebook by clicking on:
https://fb.watch/gyNDC01duk/
I would like to specifically address Republican voters in Bingham County and Butte County, both the folks who are officially registered as Republicans and the folks who aren’t but who usually vote for Republicans.
Julianne Young’s main strategy seems to be trying to convince Republicans to vote for her simply because she is in the same party as them and to vote against me simply because I am in a different party.
Julianne would certainly like you to ignore all the shameful things she’s done and all the bad votes she’s made and for you to just look at the R next to her name and the D next to mine.
Instead of voting solely based on party, I invite you instead to vote based on my platform and track record and based on Julianne’s platform and track record.
In fact, if you consider yourself a loyal Republican voter, I think you should definitely vote for me for the following reasons.
Below is a brief sample of JUST SOME of Julianne Young’s bad policies and bad votes that go AGAINST Republican values.
First, Julianne has said that she is “open” to raising sales taxes in order to reduce property taxes.
I will NEVER vote for a sales tax increase.
Julianne has refused to say how high she is willing to raise sales taxes.
If you vote for Julianne, then you can’t complain if sales taxes go up!
Julianne Young keeps trying to say that she never said that she is open to raising sales tax. OK, Julianne, you win! You've backed me into a corner and forced me to include a copy of your ad on my own website.
Second, Julianne voted against 2022 HB 778 and 2020 HB 515, referred to as the Idaho Patient Act.
Julianne was 1 of only 13 state representatives to vote against HB 778. That means that there were about 50 REPUBLICANS who voted for HB 778.
Because only 13 Republicans voted against HB 778 while about 50 Republicans voted for it, Julianne's vote was obviously a vote AGAINST Republican values. The 13 Republicans who voted against HB 778 have ALL received donations and support from the Idaho Freedom Foundation and its supporters.
Bingham and Butte counties’ other Republican legislators, Rep. David Cannon and Sen. Julie VanOrden, both voted for HB 778, while Julianne voted against it.
These bills ended predatory attorney fees for medical debt collection. In other words, before these bills passed it was much easier for a collections attorney to add a large legal bill on top of a small medical debt.
One of the worst predatory medical debt collections companies in Idaho used attorneys associated with the Idaho Freedom Foundation. The Idaho Freedom Foundation also gave these bills negative ratings and actively opposed them.
So of course Julianne had to vote in support of the Idaho Freedom Foundation and vote against the people of Idaho who were getting caught in these vicious collections traps.
Third, Julianne voted against 2019 HB 153, which raised teacher minimum salaries to $40,000 per year.
Julianne was 1 of only 9 legislators to vote against HB 153. That means that there were over 80 Republican legislators who voted for HB 153.
Because only 9 Republican legislators voted against HB 153 while over 80 Republican legislators voted for HB 153, Julianne’s vote was obviously AGAINST Republican values.
Why did Julianne Young vote against HB 153? The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s president, Wayne Hoffman, has said that government should stop funding public education. Once again, Julianne is voting for Idaho Freedom Foundation values and AGAINST Republican values.
Both of Bingham County’s other Republican legislators voted for HB 153, while Julianne voted against it.
Fourth, Julianne voted in committee AGAINST 2020 HB 452, the Farmers’ Right to Repair bill.
Bingham County’s other Republican legislator on this committee voted for this bill.
There was already a motion in committee to fix and then pass the bill, but Julianne voted instead for the substitute motion to hold the bill in committee, effectively killing it.
Julianne said that most Republicans in the committee wanted to kill the bill and that the bill was only sent out of committee because of Democratic votes. Contrary to Julianne’s lie, most voting Republicans on the committee actually voted against the substitute motion to hold the bill in committee.
Once again, Julianne Young was not voting for Republican values when she voted to hold the Farmers’ Right to Repair bill in committee. Instead, Julianne was voting for Idaho Freedom Foundation values because this bill was given a score of -6 by the Idaho Freedom Foundation, one of the worst scores given that year
Fifth, because of “free speech” Julianne Young voted for 2020 House Bill 455, which tried to remove the requirement that people in Idaho MUST report their KNOWLEDGE of child abuse INCLUDING child sexual abuse such as child “rape, molestation, incest . . . human trafficking . . . or other similar forms of sexual exploitation.” Idaho Code 16-1602(1)
It should come as no surprise to you that only 25 Republican legislators supported this bill while THE MAJORITY OF REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS VOTED AGAINST IT, including Bingham County’s other Republican legislator. This was NOT a bill supported by the Republican Party. This was a bill supported by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
This is a good example of how the Idaho Freedom Foundation's search for unlimited “freedom” has caused them to go off the deep end and lose all common sense.
I read Julianne’s defense of her vote on this bill, and she did a good job of throwing a lot of smoke into the air. She’s definitely a smooth-talking politician! But no, Julianne, just no.
If the existing protections against the non-reporting of child rape and child trafficking had been removed by HB 455, then other existing state laws COULD NOT make up the difference. Many existing state laws, such as Idaho Code 18-205 have loopholes that can be exploited by pedophiles.
For example, to be prosecuted under 18-205 as an "accessory" a person must “WILLFULLY WITHOLD” information when asked about child sexual abuse by law enforcement, which is completely different than non-reporting by a person who as a “REASON TO BELIEVE” that child sexual abuse has occurred.
In other words, current Idaho law that requires reporting of child sexual abuse is seeking to encourage prompt and proactive reporting in order to PREVENT THE PEDOPHILE from continuing these crimes against the same victim or other victims, whereas 18-205 only comes into play AFTER the pedophile has been reported and law enforcement is conducting an active investigation.
In the end, perhaps the best way to counter Julianne’s arguments on HB 455 is with the following--
Imagine that YOUR daughter or grand-daughter or one of the little girls in your neighborhood was raped several times over a period of 2-3 months by a trusted relative or neighbor.
Imagine that there was someone who KNEW that these rapes were occurring and had not told you or the police. Don’t you think that the person who KNEW this was happening should go to jail for failure to report child sexual abuse?
If you think we should KEEP IN PLACE Idaho’s strong protections against child rape and child sex trafficking (which the majority of REPUBLICAN legislators voted to keep in place), then I encourage you to vote for me.
Furthermore, Julianne's track record includes some truly shameful actions--
Julianne has for years accused our Republican county commissioners of being part of a global conspiracy.
Julianne’s conspiracy DVD is still being sold online for $7.
If you think our Republican county commissioners are part of a global conspiracy, then vote for Julianne. If not, vote for me. I don’t believe this baseless global conspiracy talk for a second, and neither should you.
In fact, I find myself in the curious position of having spent a huge amount of time and campaign funds defending Republicans against Julianne’s various accusations, and I think loyal Republicans should look favorably on my track record of defending Republicans when it has been the right thing to do.
Even worse false accusations against Republican opponents.
After building up a base of global conspiracy supporters, Julianne won her first primary election by accusing Republican Julie VanOrden of (in the words of one of Julianne’s supporters), “involving herself in a possible sex education program she was going to introduce into the public schools with the help of planned parenthood. It was a win win for planned parenthood. Knowing a percentage of the girls would end up pregnant and then use planned parenthood to solve the problem. Because that’s what the program would have taught our kids. She got caught! . . . The patrons of districts were devastated because they couldn’t opt out or get rid of the program. Thank-you Julieanne Young for helping is dodge that bullet.” (See image below.)
In other words, Julianne accused her Republican opponent of trying to help Planned Parenthood get more teenagers pregnant so that Planned Parenthood could make more money performing abortions. Talk about smear tactics!
JULIANNE’S LIE AGAINST HER REPUBLICAN OPPONENT, Julie VanOrden, together with tens of thousands of dollars in donations and “electioneering communications” and “independent expenditures” connected to the Idaho Freedom Foundation and their supporters, is what allowed Julianne Young to win her Republican primary election in 2018.
You can read for yourself the evidence against this lie. I have included an image of the bill, 2018 HB 579.
This bill states specifically that “the decision to include sex education in the school curriculum shall be made at the district level by the board of trustees,” and that, “A child shall be excused from sex education if the child’s parent or legal guardian files an excuse request to the school district board.”
So HB 579 specifically included provisions to keep control of sex education with local school boards and to allow parents to opt out, contrary to Julianne’s lies.
Yes, Julianne’s Republican opponent in 2018 is the same Julie VanOrden who was appointed by Republican Brad Little to fill in for Republican Senator Steve Bair for Bingham and Butte counties. Julie VanOrden is unopposed in the general election for 2022 and should be the state senator for Bingham and Butte counties for the foreseeable future.
Is it any wonder that Julie VanOrden’s brother, who is a registered Republican, asked for one of my campaign signs? He has a sign for Julie VanOrden on one side of his property and a sign for me on the other side of his property.
I suggest to you that you do not need to be a relative of Julie VanOrden to be appalled by Julianne Young’s vicious lies.
It is very difficult in a political campaign to decide how to respond to these kinds of vicious lies issued by an unscrupulous opponent.
You can either take the high road and ignore the vicious lies, or you can counterattack by calling out your opponent as a vicious liar.
If you DON’T respond to the vicious lies, then you risk the voters believing them.
If you DO respond to the vicious lies, then you risk spreading around the vicious lies even more and you risk that your opponent will complain that you’re being too negative even though your opponent is the one who started it all.
After seeing Julianne’s Republican opponents Julie VanOrden and Donovan Harrington take the high road and suffer defeats in the Republican primaries by not sufficiently calling out Julianne’s vicious lies against them, I decided to try a different approach.
Did I make the correct decision? I don’t know. I have my doubts sometimes. As the saying goes, “Never wrestle with a pig because you’ll both get dirty.” I certainly appreciate voters’ disgust with the mudslinging between myself and Julianne Young, but if the voters in the Republican primaries of 2018 and 2020 would have chosen differently and rewarded politicians who took the high road, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
Julianne Young has paid over $2,000 to her campaign worker, Parrish Miller. Parrish Miller has stated that he wants to destroy America and that it is morally justifiable to kill police.
You can refer to my website or my other Facebook posts for screenshots of Parrish Miller's statements.
When I brought this issue up in 2020, I thought Julianne would say something like, “I was unaware of these atrocious statements, and I will never pay Parrish Miller again. I condemn violence against police and do not think America should be destroyed.”
If Julianne would have disavowed her campaign worker’s statements, then we all could have moved on.
But Julianne has refused to do this. Why?
Parrish Miller is one of the main “bill scorers” for the Idaho Freedom Foundation. In other words, because the Idaho Freedom Foundation and its supporters support Julianne Young with tens of thousands of dollars in donations and “electioneering communications,” then Julianne Young can’t disavow Parrish Miller until the Idaho Freedom Foundation does.
Julianne Young couldn’t win her Republican primaries without tens of thousands of dollars in support from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, so she goes to Boise to represent the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s values, not Republican values and not to advocate for Bingham County’s and Butte County’s best interests.
Lastly, Julianne has spent a lot of time trying to convince Republicans to vote against me simply because I am the Bingham County Democratic Chairman.
I would like to repeat what I already said in my guest column in the Idaho State Journal, that I condemn the sexualization of children. I certainly am strongly opposed to any form of sexualization of children, and I disavow anyone and everyone who would do such a thing.
“What is he really up to?” Julianne has been asking, insinuating all sorts of nefarious actions.
To put to rest any rumors or insinuations, I will give you a brief overview of what I have been up to.
I decided to run as a Democrat to give voters a choice in the general election. Julianne is such an embarrassing representative for Bingham and Butte counties that she certainly deserves to face an opponent in the general election if she does win the primary election.
Independents don’t win in Idaho. And if any Independent wins a legislative or statewide race in Idaho, I have promised to run as an Independent next time.
As many of you might know, a political party’s county chair is chosen by the precinct chairs who are elected in the primaries.
Since I was planning to run as a Democrat against Julianne Young in the general election, it made sense for me to become a precinct chair to influence the local party to support my positions.
In both 2020 and 2022, I was the ONLY Democratic precinct chair in Bingham County to run for election. That means that I voted myself county chair both times, and the vote was unanimous both times.
In 2020, there was about $1,100 in the Bingham County Democratic PAC that had been languishing in the bank for years, so I voted my campaign against Julianne Young a $1,000 donation. Once again, the vote was unanimous.
In 2021, as Bingham County Democratic Party Chair, I supported local school bonds and school levies elections, which passed in Bingham County with 75%-82% of the vote.
In 2021, as Bingham County Democratic Party Chair, I sent out letters endorsing Sonya Harris’s REPUBLICAN opponent in the non-partisan school board race for the Blackfoot School District.
Sonya Harris was the only school board trustee in Idaho willing to be on Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s indoctrination committee, which accused Idaho teachers of all sorts of crazy things, none of which were happening in the Blackfoot School District. Janice McGeachin is one of the candidates supported by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
Sonya Harris has donated to Julianne Young’s and Ammon Bundy’s campaigns, so you can tell very easily that Sonya Harris is also part of the Idaho Freedom Foundation crowd.
Sonya Harris sent out hundreds of letters attacking my endorsement of her Republican opponent (an endorsement that her Republican opponent never asked for and had no control over), but voters recognized this as a blatant distraction from the real issues. Sonya Harris lost with only 32% of the vote.
In 2022, I decided to call a meeting of the Bingham County Democratic Central Committee, and I held a vote to make my website
www.travisoler.com the official platform of the Bingham County Democratic Party. Once again, the vote was unanimous because I was the only Democratic precinct chair in Bingham County.
I decided to hold this meeting to prove two things.
First, as I have said before, I am not running to represent any party’s platform, just my own.
Second, I want to make a point about how easy it is to take over a political party and its platform.
The whole approach of the Idaho Freedom Foundation is to fill up as many precinct chair positions as they can and to elect their supporters to the Idaho Republican Party platform committees and then to adopt Idaho Freedom Foundation positions as the official Idaho Republican Party platform.
Then the Idaho Freedom Foundation sends communications to Republicans saying basically that if you are a loyal Republican you should support the official Idaho Republican Party platform that the Idaho Freedom Foundation has written and that if you don’t you are a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
I suggest to you that if you are a loyal Republican you can make up your own mind what positions you support without this arm twisting from the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
In the end, party platforms are decided by the people who run for precinct chair and who run to be party delegates, and in BOTH PARTIES often the people most motivated to show up are those with beliefs outside the mainstream.
That’s why I reject every party’s platform and why I campaign on my own platform. I don’t need other people telling me what to believe. I can think for myself, and you can, too.
I am not asking you to agree with everything in my platform, but I think if you read through it you will find yourself in agreement with enough of my platform for it to be a solid reason to vote for me.
What is Travis Oler's Platform?
Travis will fight to REDUCE all homeowners’ future property taxes.
Travis supports an increase to the homestead exemption and supports legislation that cuts property taxes for ALL Idaho homesteads. No exceptions!!
Travis will fight for the farmers’ Right to Repair bill.
Sometimes farmers are restricted in their options to get their tractors and other equipment repaired, causing unnecessary delays and crop damage during critical planting and harvesting seasons. Simply put, Right to Repair is what’s fair for farmers and will help Idaho’s economy grow faster!
Travis will stand against global conspiracy nonsense.
Julianne Young has repeatedly lied when she said our local government officials and county commissioners are trained to be part of a global conspiracy!
Julianne Young’s baseless global conspiracy gossip and false accusations have divided us and hurt our local government officials who work hard for us every day. This nonsense needs to end now!
Travis will support adequate funding for education so that we can have GOOD SCHOOLS.
Only 9 out of 105 legislators, including Julianne Young, voted against 2019 House Bill 153, which raised starting teacher minimum salary to $40k/year. We can’t have good schools in Idaho if we don’t pay teachers a livable wage!
In 2021, Julianne voted for the original language of House Bill 66, which was designed to SABOTAGE local school bond and school levy elections.
Travis will support law enforcement and first responders.
Travis will sponsor legislation similar to Georgia House Bill 838 that makes it illegal to harass and intimidate police officers and other first responders. That way Ammon Bundy and other Idaho Freedom Foundation supporters can be sent to jail if they seek to harass and intimidate the police.
The state of Idaho has done a thorough job protecting gun rights, and Travis will not seek to undo any of those rights! Period! Don't let false accusations fool you!
Who is Julianne Young?
Leader of the Freedom First Society
For years Julianne Young has carefully developed a cult-like following in Bingham County as a leader of a global conspiracy group, the wacky Freedom First Society, an offshoot of the long-discredited John Birch Society.
The Freedom First Society engages in bait-and-switch tactics, promising to talk about the Constitution but instead largely pushing its global conspiracy theories.
The Freedom First Society claims that Fox News and presidential nominees from BOTH the Democratic and Republican parties are part of a global conspiracy.
I don’t see that in the Constitution.
The Freedom First Society says it wants the “Confiscation of the Conspiracy’s assets and repayment of trillions stolen from the American people.” The Freedom First Society doesn’t explain where they will get these trillions of dollars from, but that sounds pretty extreme to me.
I don’t see any mention of a global conspiracy in the Constitution or any Constitutional provision that could reasonably be applied to allow the confiscation of trillions of dollars.
I could go on for pages and pages about the non-Constitutional teachings of the Freedom First Society, but I think these examples will suffice.
Global Conspiracy Accusations
See Julianne’s conspiracy videos on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEVildv5wucIJpn77ua-zPw .
Julianne Young has repeatedly accused our local government officials of being part of a global conspiracy. Julianne’s false accusations have divided our county while creating a large group of followers and volunteers who push her baseless global conspiracy theories.
Idaho Freedom Foundation Puppet
Julianne Young has received thousands of dollars in contributions from board members of the radical libertarian Idaho Freedom Foundation and tens of thousands of dollars in donations and advertising support from out-of-area and out-of-state allies connected to the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Julianne needed to spend twice as much in the 2020 Republican primary in order to win by less than 300 votes! Julianne knows she is dependent on out-of-county support connected to the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
Tom Loertscher, a Republican legislator for 20+ years, said in the Post Register on April 30, 2020, “The Idaho Freedom Foundation is not conservatism. It is actually something else that is disguised as conservatism . . . They’re preaching anarchy at every level and that is a sad thing.”
Frank VanderSloot, the richest man in Idaho and a top Republican donor, in an interview posted on April 27, 2020, with East Idaho News has called the politicians allied with the Idaho Freedom Foundation a bunch of “wingnuts.”
Julianne Young followed the Idaho Freedom Foundation by voting AGAINST 2020 House Bill 452, farmers’ Right to Repair, voting AGAINST 2022 House Bill 778 and 2020 House Bill 515, which ended high attorney fees on medical debt collection, voting AGAINST 2020 House Bill 538, which restricted vaping device access for teens, and voting FOR 2020 House Bill 455, to limit the mandatory reporting of child abuse and child sexual abuse, including child rape and child trafficking.
Bingham County and Butte County voters deserve a state representative who will listen to them and vote for bills that will help Bingham County and Butte County families.
Please vote for Travis Oler in the 2022 election for Bingham County's and Butte County's Idaho State Representative for Seat 30B.
For more information, please read or view:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEVildv5wucIJpn77ua-zPw
https://www.postregister.com/news/state/school-bond-levy-elections-could-end-for-march-and-august/article_4e6efd4a-2a24-5da6-abed-0c5378addf80.html
https://www.postregister.com/opinion/guest_column/it-s-not-just-school-districts-hb-could-be-detrimental/article_821b565d-7186-57e8-b7e6-79a41d408c96.html
https://www.postregister.com/chronicle/news/local-leaders-voice-concerns-over-hb/article_eea8665e-178b-5225-b537-9f7bfff6e1ee.html
https://www.postregister.com/opinion/guest_column/the-idaho-freedom-foundation-s-attack-on-farmers-right-to-repair/article_a303ae7c-5df8-5d3e-b37f-f4d3ed6c7ac5.html
https://julianneyoungidaho.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEVildv5wucIJpn77ua-zPw
News
Friday, July 31, 2020 1:21 AM
The Idaho Freedom Foundation opposed HB 452, the farmers’ Right to Repair bill, which was designed to help Idaho farmers get their tractors, grain combines, and other critical equipment fixed in a timely and cost-effective manner. Idaho drivers enjoy the right to take their vehicles to the repair place of their choice, but under current laws, Idaho farmers sometimes do not have the same rights. Sometimes Idaho farmers are forced to repair their farm equipment only at the manufacturer’s dealership.
Monday, May 25, 2020 9:37 PM
I served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged in 2004, and for years I have been a volunteer adult leader and merit badge counselor for local chapters of the Boy Scouts of America.
My experiences with the U.S. Army and the Boy Scouts of America inform the opinions I hold today as a candidate for public office.
My favorite 1st Class requirement of the Boy Scouts of America instructs the scouts to “discuss . . . the constitutional rights and obligations of a U.S. citizen.”
We as U.S. citizens have constitutional rights, but we also have constitutional obligations. There are people in this country who like to talk about their constitutional rights but who forget their constitutional duties. But I am confident that my former scouts will not be among that number that forget or ignore their constitutional duties.
Over and over again, I would emphasize to the scouts in my care that freedom is not free, that if they enjoyed any right it was because someone else had sacrificed for that right or someone else had fulfilled their constitutional obligations in order to provide that right to them.
With the scouts watching, I would draw two columns on a chalk board, one labeled Rights and the other labeled Duties (or Obligations). For each and every right there would be a least one corresponding duty.
For example, we cannot obtain our right to a jury trial if no one is required to serve on the jury. The scouts would be amazed that all 12 jury members unanimously must declare a person guilty. The scouts would also be amazed to learn that they could be sent to prison if they refused to serve on a jury without a valid excuse--that was how important it is for a constitutional obligation to be fulfilled.
The scouts and I would discuss our rights as U.S. citizens to the pursuit of happiness and peaceable enjoyment of our property. But in the other column under Duties I would list the corresponding duty to obey the laws of the land and the duty for the 11-year-old boys to register for the Selective Service when they turned 18. For the large majority of boys, our discussion was the first time in their lives that they learned that they might be required to serve in the military and sacrifice their lives if their country needed them.
On this Memorial Day, I suggest to you that sacrificing to fulfill our constitutional obligations is what provides to ourselves and others the rights we all enjoy as U.S. citizens.
For example, although no one is legally obligated to run for public office, if elections remain consistently uncontested, then the right to vote has been largely taken away.
I am the first Democrat in the last 8 years to campaign for the Idaho state legislature in Bingham County. For the first time since 2012, when they go to the polls during a general election in November, the voters in Bingham County will be able to exercise their right to choose which one of two candidates they prefer to represent them in the Idaho legislature.
While I am not LEGALLY obligated to campaign for the Idaho legislature, I definitely feel MORALLY obligated to do so in order to provide the voters of Bingham County a more complete right to vote during the general election this November.
I am running to represent the voters of Bingham County, not to represent organizations with headquarters in Boise or Colorado or North Carolina or DC, etc. Over the course of the next several months if you come to believe that, I hope I can count on your vote in November.
