Dawson:
You got elected in 2020, you went to the House. What made you decide to jump from the House to the Senate during last year's election?
Adams:
Yeah, it was kind of a two part [decision], right? The first one was redistricting. I was the only legislator left in my district. And the second part that ties into that was in my two years in the House, we had a consistent problem with having bills heard in the Senate. And I understand not all bills should have full hearings. I actually believe that. But when somebody brings a bill forward and it passes a body, it probably should at least get a hearing. And that didn't happen.
Dawson:
Just so you could affect more change.
Adams:
Yeah, that's the idea. And I did not expect there to be as many conservatives in the Senate. I don't think I was pessimistic. The Senate is a pretty steady body and has been for quite a while. And so the turnover was unprecedented.
Dawson:
As we just talked about, I don't think it's a secret that many of the more conservative House members have been frustrated by what they see as lack of action from the Senate, whether bills are getting stuffed into desk drawers or just by whatever other mechanism getting voted down or not being heard on the floor. Talk a little bit more about that frustration and how you hope that that might change this year.
Adams:
The frustration is real. And I would even say that some of the less conservative members of the House, we're still frustrated with that, right? Because even though the conservative bills that ended up getting put in drawers, let's say in the Senate, got more attention, they weren't the only bills that kept dying. So, it wasn't just a conservative versus moderate position. It was, “Why are the two bodies not working together?”
There was a time and there is a mechanism for, let's say, the House sends a bill that the Senate is not comfortable with, they can amend it and send it back. In my two years in the House, that never happened. I take that back, reining in the governor's powers was the only thing that we did that with. There were a host of other pieces of legislation that could have been done as far as my ability to enact change.
There's 35 senators compared to 70 House members, so you have a little bit more say, maybe, in the caucus. The caucus is a little more collegial. So when you go into that environment, it's harder to dismiss a colleague that feels something different. They're more quick to listen, in my opinion. Even after one week, there's a different feel in the Senate.
One of the, I think, concerns from a lot of folks that returned to the Senate was, “Oh, we don't want the culture of the Senate to change.” I don't want to put words in other people's mouths but people make culture, right? Rules don't make culture, people do. And so when you have the turnover that we have, there will be a change in culture. It's just the nature of it.
Dawson:
Do you like that culture, or at least the idea of being more collegial, listening, being maybe a little bit more, I don't know, deliberate, I guess?
Adams:
Yeah, I do like that, primarily because it's very rare when you're talking through an issue to get caught up in the semantics of it where, well, here's my talking point and I'm going to just rail on my talking point because I've picked this position and I'm going to dive. Whereas in this body, it appears to be more of a very thoughtful approach to the legislation, maybe taking it a little slower, slowing things down. And I think that's positive. I think think the two bodies operate differently on purpose. I think it's intentional and I think it's necessary. But there will definitely be a more conservative hue. And I think that's what the people voted for. So we're going to give it to them.
Dawson:
Yeah, dovetailing, or at least keeping a little bit of thread with that topic, I think a lot of people learned about you in 2021 after the COVID outbreak [in the legislature]. You stood up on the House floor and told people to “wake up” and that the Tree of Liberty needed to be watered with the blood of tyrants, referring to COVID policies.
What kind of feedback did you hear about that at the time? And do you think that you've changed since then, because that doesn't necessarily jive with that more traditional view of the Senate, right?
Adams:
Yeah. How am I going to phrase this? Well, I just want to specify I didn't say we needed to water the tree. I said if we need to, we will. That's an important clarification.
One of those is murder, and one of those is not.
[Editor’s note, here’s his full quote: “Now is the time to push back, to lay claim to our sovereignty of our state and to the sovereignty of every citizen. And I am confident that if it takes, as Jefferson said, a watering of the tree of liberty with the blood of every tyrant from sea to shining sea, then so be it.”]
Dawson:
Yeah.
Adams:
But I don't think I've changed at all. I think I've learned a lot in the last two years about how the operations in the body go. That was my first term. And traditionally, we're out of here in March. And after that pause, what I felt was, hey, we haven't done anything to address all these things that happened during COVID. That's what I got sent here to do. So I can't leave until we do it. And when we came back into the chambers after that, you could tell the folks that had been there for a while. Okay, we're winding down, right? Because this is where we normally start to wrap things up. And as you remember, I mean, that was the longest session in Idaho history, right? Because there was action taken after that.
So there I think it had the desired effect, although I hadn't really talked at all prior to that on the floor. And so I'm sure there was, and I know there was a little bit of, “Who is this person? Where did that come from and how do they follow that up as it pertains to now?”
I'm always willing to come to the table and I've always been willing to come to the table and talk. It's when you stop talking and are just ready to close up shop when the people's work isn't done. This type of work in the legislature, you deal with confrontational issues. So there will be confrontation. People who shy away from that, [who say] confrontation is unhealthy in government, are really selling themselves short and what our entire structure of government was built on.
I imagine that on a host of issues this year, emotions will run high. The important part to remember is that's okay. That's part of the process. And at the end of the day, you go back to your district and you have to answer to your voters and then your opposition has to go back and answer to theirs.
Dawson:
So then what are your priorities for this year?
Adams:
Well, I'm on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, so a big goal for me will be to start to slow the government spending that's been ballooned. It ballooned because we printed $1,000,000,000,000 and flooded the market with money, and then our revenue streams got high. And so it's hard to tell … we talk about surpluses, but it's really hard to know what is and isn't a surplus and what isn't a response to this to the printing of money that we've had.
I have several issues that are close to my heart, and I will carry a couple of social issue bills, which I tend to stay away from, mainly because social issues are ideally solved by the society. When they can't, then it comes here. And that's unfortunately where we are. But, you know, I have a piece of legislation that I ran last year, the Pause Act at the end of the year. Even though COVID is not as important of an issue, maybe people don't have it quite in the front of their minds, we still have companies in this state that discriminate based off of vaccine status, and that's a problem. So both ways, by the way.
I don't want that here. I don't think it's healthy for the state. I don't think it's healthy for the people. And so you can expect to see that come around again. And then I have another piece of legislation that will definitely be hitting. I'll be taking it through Senate State Affairs this year and it deals with the National Guard and their being activated to go into combat zones without Congress using their Article One, Section Eight powers.
I'm not anti-war. I'm a Marine. However, I am anti constitutional law, unconstitutional war. I want us to follow the rules. If you're willing to put somebody's life in danger, even someone who signed up for it, then you better be able and willing to put your name on the line that says this is worth risking your life for.
Dawson:
Talk a little bit more about what are you expecting out of the Senate this year with such a large turnover, both in terms of raw numbers and ideological preferences?
Adams:
My guess is there will be more legislation that gets printed so the public can see and they should. I mean, they sent their representation here. Some of those bills will be heard and there will be hard debates and the chips will fall where they may. Some of those bills will still not be heard because you still have to get consensus in a committee to get it to move. And that's hard to do.
Dawson:
Not to pigeonhole you, but you're one of the younger legislators. Do you think that that perspective of being 33 and having those different experiences at a different stage of your life helps you see issues in a different way than your colleagues?
Adams:
Yeah. I think everybody that is in this in the legislature brings their own perspective. You know, the House has a 28 year old now in James Pinsky. So the Idaho legislature in the last three years has gotten much younger.
I don't know if my age is the factor. I mean, I do have young kids. And so some social issues, I see it firsthand. My kids are being exposed to it. I think some of the background that I bring isn't just my age, though, for being 33. I've traveled the world. I have done a lot of things, seen a lot of things. I bring that perspective, too. And so I do, I mean, obviously everybody brings their own thing and everybody's proud of what they bring to the table. I'm afraid to say I might have learned more than I brought, but it makes me more effective at doing this job and being able to represent my people.
Dawson:
I guess lastly, since we talked a lot about policy, what is your favorite thing about the Capitol or the legislature in general?
Adams:
Let's do the legislature and not the Capitol. I like the Capitol, but, I mean, it's a beautiful building.
Dawson:
Hey, you got your own office now. [Editor's note: Due to the lack of office space and twice as many members, representatives in the House who don't hold chairmanships or leadership positions are given cubicles to work from.]
Adams:
I have a door!
I think my favorite thing about the legislature is that I know I'm working for other people. Like, I know I'm here representing someone else. I was not an elected official in any capacity three years ago. I intentionally was not. It was something I actively avoided. And so there was a tendency to think of people in here as very self-serving. I have not seen that. Now, that's up for the citizens to ultimately decide, but as far as the issues that I've worked on, the legislation that I have worked on, people who work in this building who are elected and come here, they know very well who they're working for. As for me, I work for the people in my district first. And then for all the citizens in Idaho, and that keeping the focus on that and me being able to observe that in the body and know even if we disagree on these contentious issues, we're still working for the people we represent.
Follow James Dawson on Twitter @RadioDawson for more local news.
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