Labrador Letter: The Team Behind the Work

Dear Friends,

Thank you for giving me another four years as Attorney General. Serving the people of Idaho in this office has been one of the great honors of my life, and I don't take your trust lightly.

The mission of this office is protecting Idaho families. That mission takes many forms, from defending the laws Idahoans choose for themselves to standing between families and the people who would do them harm. None of it happens without the right people. Over the last four years, I've been fortunate to lead a team of attorneys, investigators, and staff who believe in that mission as much as I do, and I want to use this letter to tell you about the work we've done together.

When Idahoans make a decision through their Legislature, that law is only as strong as the people willing to defend it in court. In 2020, Idaho became the first state in the nation to pass a law protecting women's sports, and it was challenged almost immediately. When I took office, I made defending it a top priority and took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In January, then-Solicitor General Alan Hurst argued Little v. Hecox before the justices, and this summer the Court ruled in Idaho's favor. Our current Solicitor General, Michael Zarian, did the same for Idaho parents in February, when he won a unanimous decision at the Idaho Supreme Court upholding the Parental Choice Tax Credit.

Defending Idaho's laws is part of a larger responsibility to protect Idaho's right to govern itself, and few things matter more to that right than water. For more than 150 years, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's water rights in north Idaho went unresolved. Courts had held that the Tribe was entitled to rights senior to nearly every city, farm, business, and homeowner in the basin, which left families across the region facing years of uncertain and costly litigation. By the time I took office, negotiations had broken down. I reached out to the Tribe, and our Energy and Natural Resources Division helped bring more than 300 stakeholders back to the table. The agreement we reached protects existing water rights and guards against federal overreach under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, giving north Idaho families and farmers the certainty they need to plan for the future.

Protecting Idaho families also means standing between them and the people who would do them harm, and that harm takes different forms. For children, the threat is often a predator reaching them through a screen. Our Internet Crimes Against Children investigators spend their days tracking those predators down, and having joined them at their mental health training, I've seen the toll that work takes on the people who do it. For many Idaho families, especially seniors, the threat comes as a phone call, a text message, or a contract designed to take their hard-earned money. That's where our Consumer Protection Division steps in, going after businesses that break Idaho's consumer protection laws, warning Idahoans about new scams as they appear, and working to get money back for families who've been cheated. And when the worst does happen, our victim services team stays with crime victims in the cases we handle, keeping them informed and making sure they always have someone to call.

Growing up in Scouting, where I earned my Eagle rank, I learned to leave every campsite better than I found it. I've tried to live by that in every office I've held, and I see the same commitment in the people I get to work with. Together we're making Idaho a safer and freer place for your family, and I'm proud to spend the next four years leading this team.

Thank you again for trusting us with this work. We're ready to continue in that mission.

Best regards,