Relationships Matter: When Politics Reaches the Family Business
My husband, Tom, and I have learned that political disagreements do not always stay at the Statehouse. Several dairy businesses stopped doing business with him after my votes and public statements became points of disagreement. The loss affected our family income.
I want to tell this story carefully. It begins with what happened to our family, but it raises a larger question: What happens when businesses that rely on government decisions also work to influence who makes those decisions?
The businesses
Hank Hafliger is connected to Cedar Ridge Dairy. His family moved its dairy from California to Idaho. USDA records compiled by the Environmental Working Group show about $2.76 million paid to the Idaho Cedar Ridge Dairy LLC recipient through 2024, plus a reported $1.62 million in 2025 disaster assistance. Cedar Ridge also received a $1.25 million Paycheck Protection Program loan. These are records for the business, not a claim that Hank personally received the money. www.idbeef.org
Arie Roeloffs moved his dairy from Tulare, California, to Idaho in 1992. He is associated with Riverbend Dairy near Wendell. One Idaho Riverbend Dairy recipient record shows approximately $2.89 million in USDA farm payments from 1995 through 2024. Arie has publicly objected to my votes on water funding. www.farmprogress.com
Bill Millenkamp was raised in the Midwest and moved to Oregon as a teenager before building his Idaho cattle operation. USDA records show approximately $239,000 paid to Millenkamp Cattle Inc. from 1995 through 2025. The company also received a $4.05 million PPP loan, which the published record says was forgiven. That is one company’s record, not a complete accounting of every Millenkamp-related business. millenkamp.com
I believe people should be free to build businesses and employ their neighbors. I do not believe it is government’s constitutional responsibility to pick winners and losers in business. When businesses receiving public money end a relationship with my husband in part because of my votes, Idahoans have every reason to examine what those businesses receive from government and what they ask it to provide.
The workforce question
Idaho Dairymen’s Association CEO Rick Naerebout has said 90% of Idaho dairy workers are foreign born and estimated that as many as 50% may lack legal work authorization. As a state senator, I have also sat through presentations in which speakers estimated that the figure could be as high as 70% across Idaho dairies. I am sharing what was presented to me; I have not independently verified that estimate. Foreign born does not mean undocumented, and neither estimate establishes the status of workers at any particular dairy. A University of Idaho study found no reliable statistical estimate of how many Idaho dairy workers are undocumented. www.kmvt.com
There is also a question about public costs. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated a $405 million annual net fiscal burden in Idaho in 2023 associated with unauthorized immigration, including costs it attributes to U.S.-born children. Separately, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that undocumented Idaho residents paid $71.9 million in state and local taxes in 2022. The tax payments matter, but we cannot subtract $71.9 million from FAIR’s figure: FAIR presents its estimate as a net burden, and the studies use different years and methods. Neither study tells us the taxpayer cost of Idaho’s dairy workforce. www.fairus.org
The need for workers may be real. Need does not put anyone above the law. Employers, companies, and corporations must follow the same laws as everyone else. If federal law does not provide a workable path for year-round dairy labor, the answer is to seek a change through Congress, not to excuse a proven violation because a business needs workers.
The water question
Water matters deeply in the Magic Valley, and dairies and milk processors are substantial users. A study of six southern Idaho dairies found average groundwater withdrawals of about 50 gallons per cow equivalent per day for dairy operations. That figure does not include all the irrigation water used to grow feed. It is a regional benchmark, not a meter reading for any business named here. elibrary.asabe.org
A 2026 dairy tour listing describes Riverbend Dairy as having more than 10,000 cows. At the study’s average rate, 10,000 cow equivalents would mean roughly 500,000 gallons a day in on-site groundwater withdrawals. A supplier reported that Millenkamp’s Idaho Jersey Girls milked 15,000 cows in 2018; 15,000 cow equivalents would mean roughly 750,000 gallons a day at that rate. Those figures illustrate the scale, but reported cow counts are not the same as measured cow equivalents or actual water withdrawals. I have not found a reliable current herd count for Cedar Ridge. hoards.com
The processors add another layer. In an Idaho water-right proceeding, Chobani reported using about 1.7 million gallons of water a day on average at its Twin Falls plant, with peaks near 2 million. Jerome’s 2024 wastewater plan reported about 400,000 gallons a day of historical wastewater discharge from Idaho Milk Products. An older technical paper reported about 1.25 million gallons a day of wastewater from Glanbia’s Gooding operation. Water used and wastewater discharged are different measures, so those numbers should not be added together as though they represent the same thing. research.idwr.idaho.gov
Feed production may be an even larger part of the water picture. Millenkamp’s website says its operation farms approximately 10,000 acres of irrigated land. Acreage alone, however, cannot tell us how much water was diverted in a given year. And water use by itself does not establish a taxpayer cost. To understand that cost, we need to examine water rights, infrastructure funding, rates, and who pays them. millenkamp.com
Follow the political relationships
The Idaho Dairy Industry PAC’s published April 2026 endorsement list names Brent Reinke, Casey Swensen, Grayson Stone, and Cherie Vollmer. The PAC also advertised a fundraising reception with Reinke, Swensen, Stone, and Vollmer among the participating candidates. These are documented political relationships. An endorsement does not prove how a candidate will vote, but it gives voters a reason to examine each candidate’s positions on public spending, water, and dairy labor. idahodairymens.org
Kevin Moxley is running as an independent against Representative Clint Hostetler. The National Democratic Training Committee highlighted him in January 2025, saying he had taken more than a dozen of its courses. Its post included a screenshot in which Moxley said he had met with Idaho Democratic Party staff about filing and planned to set up an ActBlue account. bencodems.org
I’m so puzzled about why the Idaho Dairy Industry PAC would endorse Kevin Moxley over a true conservative like Clint Hostetler. Actually, I’m not. That was sarcasm. Their positions on this issue align, and the PAC needs someone who will vote for its special interests.
Many of these dairymen moved here from California. Are they bringing their political influence to Idaho and making our state look more like Gavin Newsom’s and Nancy Pelosi’s California? When I see government money flowing to their businesses alongside their political endorsements, I have to wonder.
By justice a king gives a country stability,
but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down.Proverbs 29:4
“No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.”
James Madison in Federalist No. 10:
Trying my hand at creating a AI song.
Who Holds the Line.
https://suno.com/s/snIVx7bGX1uAdyrm
Thank you for putting the truth out here for all to see, if their eyes are open, and to hear, if their ears are open!
Great article! Thank you for all of the data provided; very informative! JMHO, having looked at the details of two “independent” candidates provided on their respective websites, both appear to me to be Democrats posing as Independents in order to get the vote of disenchanted MAGA/MAHA constituents. Both favor Proposition 1, which is a very big red flag. I do not personally know any conservatives who favor or support that abomination of a proposition.