Ballis Speaks with Forked Tongue

Hi friends,

Last week, a few friends and I met with Morgan Ballis for coffee then last night, I attended the debate between Ballis and current Blaine County Sheriff Steve Harkins which was hosted by The Advocates, The Hunger Coalition, and an organization called the Alliance of Idaho. (I imagine you are already familiar with the first two groups but click the link to check out the third.

The following is an informal report based on both interactions with Ballis.

— It is worth mentioning at the start that the format of the debate seemed very geared towards showcasing Ballis. Four questions had been submitted by the sponsoring organizations and four questions were pre-submitted by undisclosed individuals. Those eight questions bore a surprising consistency with Ballis’ talking points at the private meeting we had with him.

— When asked what would inform his decision making and leadership, he said the Idaho and US Constitutions. On the surface, that seemed like a great response but once probed further, it seemed that that was not a sincere sentiment.

— He said that he had always been a life-long Republican and emphasized his military service but that he changed to Democrat in February of this year for two reasons, 1) he thought it was the better path to election in Blaine County and 2) he implied he blamed Republicans for the trauma that resulted from him and his wife having to go to Utah for an abortion of a seriously ill baby in utero at 21 weeks as that was prohibited in Idaho. (He said this was not private info so I am sharing. He shared other details which he asked that we keep private so I am honoring that request.) When discussing the trauma of the abortion, he cried at both meetings and at the second he emphasized had to go to UT “because of the REPUBLICANS.” I capitalized that as he emphasized it and used a tone of anger.

— At the public meeting, he stated he is the only “real Democrat” that has ever run against Harkins. He repeatedly recounted his track record and efforts to create an LGBTQ liaison officer at Hailey PD, his fight for Blaine County students to use the bathrooms of their choice according to their gender identification, to “foster change” and more. He used terms like diversity, collaboration, and coalition frequently.

— His tone at the public meeting was much different from his tone when he met with my friends and me. When speaking to our small group, he tried to imply he’s conservative but while speaking to the audience at the public meeting, he said he’s a “real Democrat” which leaves voters wondering who he really is.

— He wants to find a way for illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses in order to reduce the amount of interactions with the sheriff’s office so that more important issues could be prioritized. As a drivers license is accepted as legal identification to vote, does this not mean that all those here illegally in the valley – potentially thousands – would then be able to vote? He did not mention anything about ensuring that only citizens could vote.

— He said he would emphasize collaborating with nonprofits in the valley – he never once said he would focus on protecting the rights of the citizens who vote for him. I said, “But as sheriff you don’t represent nonprofits, you represent the people. And the well-funded nonprofits in not only our county but in our country already have a great deal, some would argue, too much influence.” He did not have a response to that. It goes without saying that this is not his Constitutional commitment.

— He said he wanted the sheriff to collaborate more with the city police departments around the valley and that that is not happening.

— He said as a school resource officer, he wanted to meet with all school clubs/teams, not just the football and basketball teams, as according to Ballis, those two teams get all the attention, so he made an effort to visit all clubs/teams once. One of those clubs was the LGBTQ club. He featured LGBTQ issues on his Facebook page, but that info has since been removed. A friend who texted with him said he is big on DEI and when challenged about that, he suggested meeting my friend in person so she could evaluate his character and credentials. While character and credentials aren’t unimportant, beliefs in general and in particular around DEI and CRT are important, but he wanted to focus on character and credentials. To be perfectly clear, I have no problem with LGBTQ or Ballis’ support of those students, I share this information as it illustrates that Ballis panders to whichever audience he’s addressing.

— He said he opposed the medical mandates issued around the valley during the Covid era. He said he thought all the Covid protocols were nonsense and that he opposed them and didn’t trust the federal government.

— When asked about an incident that had been reported to Ballis in which a WR high school girl was harassed and threatened by some high school boys (gang members), Ballis said he had handled the situation appropriately. Further, he claimed he is good friends with the father of the girl. According to a friend, the family, however, says that Ballis did nothing in response to the reports of threats and that one of the boys continued his threatening behavior outside of school by following the family around the Family Dollar store in Bellevue so the dad confronted the boy in defense of his family. The father pushed the boy and the boy tripped, hitting his face and breaking some teeth. The family felt things had to escalate to this before Ballis and the school reached out to them. They think the school or Ballis didn’t act because the gang member teens are Peruvian, i.e. they are being given special treatment. The point is, Ballis is charged with protecting students but failed to do so when an actual threat was reported to him. In addition, while he expresses confidence in his handling of the situation, the family has a different perspective.

Another attendee to the debate last night shared with me that he had seen Ballis speak on three different occasions and that Ballis had given different answers to the same questions at the various events. This person was grateful I asked who Ballis is given that he had told me last Tuesday he’s been a lifelong Republican and only left the party in February but told the crowd last night that he’d left the Republican party in 2020 under Trump so we could return to the Constitution. The person shared that Ballis had cried at the other events as well.

My general sense is that this is a man trying to get elected and who is willing to say, for the most part, whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear. This should terrify all residents of Blaine County whether Democrat, Republican, Independent, or other as no one can possibly know who he really is or what he really believes. Inasmuch as honesty, directness and integrity reflect character, his contradictory statements do not reflect well. One has to wonder whether he is lacking or attempting to conceal his true beliefs.

That is not a risk Blaine County should be willing to take.

The primaries are on May 21st. The Democratic primary is open to all voters, the Republican party is restricted to registered Republicans. Voters may only vote in one primary.

Please feel free to alert me to any factual errors in this report and please feel free to share this.

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Folks,

A contact sent me the following about their experience with Morgan Ballis subsequent to reading my email. It has been lightly edited for clarity. Please feel free to reach out to me with other important information pertaining to the interests of valley residents – confidentiality will be assured.

From the contact:

I have concerns regarding Ballis given my job working in a Community Campus building. There have been numerous incidents of school lockdowns during which he isn’t following the procedures he implemented, when he isn’t around, and during which we are to follow his policies but aren’t given appropriate and necessary information.

I have concerns about him from a safety standpoint of protecting the schools and the kids and the community I have experienced about 10 incidents since August that have left me feeling no where near safe or nowhere close to trusting in him and his leadership. In one incident when there was a lockdown in one building, he didn’t even respond – because he was holding a gathering to get votes and support in the building next door!!

From my experience [working at CC and interacting with Ballis], it’s been a mess and continues to be one. It has not left me with the desire to support his running for sheriff. My understanding is that it is he who has brought and implemented the protocol to the valley that all schools have adopted that teachers are given the information as to a safety situation and then they are to make a choice as to how to handle it ( lockdown, run, fight). This is intense enough, but the issue is many of us in district buildings or other schools have experienced about 10 incidents this year where we were not told what’s going on while the safety situation is occurring, we only hear about the incident with the “all clear” signal. Anyways, I’m not impressed nor do I feel safe to do my part in an emergency with kids that are put in my care and I can’t get any of “the powers that be” to deal with the gaps.

I reached out to you because your letter was spot on to what I am seeing from a different point of view on him.