Over this past weekend, Minnick staffers distributed an article by the Congressional Quarterly touting Congressman Minnick’s “independence”. According to his staff, “Walt is far and away the most independent person in Congress, and [yet]is still seen as a valuable member of his caucus thanks to his experience outside of politics.”

No doubt many operatives in the state’s media will happily pass along this sales job - so necessary for Minnick to succeed in convincing Republican voters of the 1st CD that he deserves to be returned for another term.

But the truth is something else again.

Many of us have suspected that Minnick is being given wide berth by Democrat leaders to help him con Idaho voters into believing that he is not really a liberal, not really a Democrat. But when the chips are down, leaders like Pelosi know they will get his vote.
That theory was tested and proven just last week.

Democrats are pushing hard to increase the number of abortions committed in America by creating a tax-funded “right” to free abortions. Their first stride in that direction targets low-income residents of Washington, D.C. – most of whom are black – by providing, for the first time since Roe v. Wade, government-paid abortions. Most Republicans and many Democrats were appalled by the action and fought Speaker Pelosi on the House floor to ensure that American taxpayers were not further burdened with the guilt of abortion-on-demand.

For a moment, it appeared that Pelosi might lose. But she held the vote open and began calling her markers. After appropriate pressure, she persuaded four Democrats to switch their votes.

According to the Family Research Council, Idaho’s Walt Minnick was among those who folded like so much wet paper.

There is no big surprise here regarding Minnick’s pro-abortion politics. What is rather surprising is the lack of integrity he demonstrated by switching his vote on such a vital moral question. Rep. Minnick's vote shows a complete disregard for the deeply held religious and moral convictions of most Idahoans; his initial opposition to paying for abortions in the nation’s capital suggests that even he is troubled by the implications of greatly expanding the nation’s abortion rate.

The vote also raises troubling doubt about Minnick’s claims to be a “fiscally responsible” legislator. At a time of astronomical deficits – what can justify expanding government spending on something as heinous as abortion?

Congressman Minnick has repeatedly cast votes designed to confuse voters – but those votes were “throw-away” matters, cases where the radicals running Congress had the luxury of accomplishing their outrageous designs while giving vulnerable members like Minnick a free pass to look good back home.

But when it matters, when push-comes-to-shove, Minnick proved his first loyalty is to Speaker Pelosi – not the people of the First Congressional District of Idaho.