OPINION: Where’s the beef, Senator Risch?

It must be election season again because I’m seeing many down-home TV ads of Jim Risch wearing his cowboy uniform and tossing hay to his cattle, as well as a bit of BS to the voters. As a guy who grew up on the largest cattle operation in southern Idaho, it does not ring true. My father, Henry Jones, had two cattle feedyards just west of Eden in Jerome County and we rarely wore clean city-slicker cowboy clothes while working the critters. And it is not clear how often Risch gets out to Idaho to toss wads of hay around since he never seems to hold an open town hall in the state.

If Risch was really a cattle rancher, he would be raising hell about Donald Trump’s plan to bring in 660 million pounds of mystery meat from Brazil and Argentina to knock down the price of ground beef. Our producers were finally making a little money on their cattle and we are now going to have substandard “meat” products on supermarket shelves?

The one raising hell about this travesty is Risch’s opponent, Todd Achilles. Todd grew up on his family’s farm in Oregon and knows the ups and downs that face those in the farming business and how essential it is to provide safe, inspected food to the public.

Todd has also talked of the necessity of our Senators speaking out and using their constitutional powers to set trade, tariff and war policies. Risch has failed and refused to perform those essential duties and Idahoans have suffered. The importation of mystery meat just scratches the surface of acting as a presidential “yes” man. Todd has warned that the unconstitutional war against Iran has skyrocketed diesel to over $6.00 a gallon and put the cost of fertilizer almost out of reach, if farmers can find it. Risch is clearly asleep at the switch instead of protecting Idahoans.

Interest rates and inflation are both on the rise, which will hurt all but the wealthy — the constituency favored by Risch and the rest of our Congressional delegation. The Big Beautiful Billionaire Bill they passed last year proved that. It will raise our national debt to over $40 trillion and make it virtually impossible for average folks to get health coverage and affordable housing. Todd Achilles has repeatedly warned of these problems and called for urgent remedial action. To be fair, Jim Risch once warned that a growing national debt would “saddle our children and grandchildren with an incredible debt.” But that was in April 2009, when the debt was about $11.12 trillion.

In observing Risch over the last four decades, I’ve concluded that he’s dedicated to serving himself and pleasing the powers that be, regardless how it plays out with those he is elected to represent. One day he is the staunchest supporter of NATO and Ukraine, but that can change at a moment’s notice, if his position jeopardizes a presidential endorsement.

The man is in it for himself. He’s highly partisan. His principles shift with the political wind. I have forgiven all of the Vietnam draft dodgers, except for those who came up with sketchy medical excuses — Risch’s “ulcer” and Trump’s bone spurs. I prefer those who volunteer to serve the country, like Todd Achilles. He would not masquerade as a cattle rancher just to pander for votes.

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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He also publishes at substack.com/@jjcommontater.