I, Hari Heath, candidate for Idaho legislative House Seat 5A, do hereby declare my support for the Idaho Republican Party Platform. Before the Idaho Republican Central Committee divorced itself from the principles expressed in the Platform, by removing the “Integrity in Government Rule” at the 2016 Winter Meeting, that Rule required a candidate to make a declaration in support of the Platform. That Rule had a provision for a candidate to take exception to any portion or portions of the Platform and note any such exceptions. I make this Declaration as if the Rule still exists and do not take exception to any provision in the Platform, but rather wish to offer several augmentations to the Platform’s expression of the Principles of the Idaho Republican Party, to wit:
ARTICLE I, Section 1., A, in part states “the Idaho Republican Party recognizes that all government is financed by taxing its citizens.” this is in part true, but government is also funded by the productivity of public resources and their commercial use, such as the proceeds from Endowment Lands. Should Idaho someday recover its Public Lands which are currently occupied by various federal regimes, and implement a responsible stewardship of this diverse public resource, great potential exists to substantially reduce or eliminate some of the tax base now placed upon the citizenry.
ARTICLE I, Section 2., C, discusses the balanced nature of the income, sales and property taxes. I would augment this to include public resource productivity, as mentioned above, to reduce or eliminate some or all of our state taxes.
ARTICLE XIV, Section 2, Traditional Marriage, discusses confining marriage to a bond between one man and one woman. While I agree that this is the best form of marriage, especially where children are involved, I would augment this to proclaim that marriage is a private matter between people, their families, their community and their faith. It should not be a state-controlled matter through a licensing scheme. And further, the state should not require a state licensed minister to perform a marriage, as it does now, And even further, the state licensing of ministers is absolutely abhorrent, and a violation of the principles of religious liberty.
I, Hari Heath, the undersigned candidate for Idaho House Set 5A, make this declaration freely and without reserve, and should I succeed in election to this office, I will endeavor to always use the principles expressed in the Republican Party Platform as my guide for the people’s work, so help me God.
