VanderSloot expresses concerns about the Idaho Freedom Foundation, protests and ‘the club’
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IDAHO FALLS — Frank VanderSloot says he got “a big education” about the Idaho Freedom Foundation when he visited Boise earlier this year to advocate for legislation.
The foundation is an ultra-conservative group that has been in the news lately for advocating against Gov. Brad Little’s stay-home order. The Idaho Freedom Foundation joined with the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance and Health Freedom Idaho for a Disobey Idaho rally in Boise April 17 where hundreds of protestors showed up.
Last week, Sarah Brady was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing after Meridian Police asked her several times to leave a playground. The Idaho Freedom Foundation posted the name and photo of the police officer who took her into custody on its Facebook page with a message that said, “Let the Meridian Police Department know how you feel.” Dozens of protestors then showed up at the officer’s house.
Brady apologized Friday and said she did not expect Ammon Bundy and the Idaho Freedom Foundation to take the protests as far as they did.
“This is crazy…that we have people in our community who are out there advocating that we disobey the law because they don’t like it,” VanderSloot tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Then to attack the police officer, who his job is to enforce the law, and to put his name advocating that people show up at his home and tell him and the public and the police force how we feel about him and the job he’s doing? What in the world? But this is typical of what we see from the Idaho Freedom Foundation.”
VanderSloot says he learned about the foundation’s tactics when he met with lawmakers in January to discuss the Idaho Patient Act, a bill that offers transparency in medical billing and puts some regulations on medical debt collection practices. The bill passed and was signed into law by Gov. Little.
The Melaleuca CEO says most senators and representatives supported the legislation, but there was a group who voted against it because it hurt Rep. Bryan Zollinger (R-33). Zollinger works for Medical Recovery Services, a medical debt collection business based in Idaho Falls.
“We met with one lawmaker and were told, ‘We are really upset with you because you are taking on one of the members of the club,'” VanderSloot recalls. “He said, ‘We’re a club here. Don’t mess with the club. We are all together and that’s how we do things around here.'”
In the video interview above, VanderSloot explains what he learned about “the club,” the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s involvement and what he wants people to know weeks before the primary election.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation responded to VanderSloot’s claims here.
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DISCLAIMER: In 2015, Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot provided the seed money to launch EastIdahoNews.com. For a short time, he was an owner. He has never had anything to do with the operations of EastIdahoNews.com. In 2017, he totally divested his ownership.