Idaho PAC funded by out-of-state gambling money targeting Idaho legislative races

Guest Editorial by Steve Taggart

The last few years Idaho has seen lots of out-of-state money pouring into our state to fund legislative races.

In 2026, we are seeing a new twist. This time, a group called Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC based in Hayden, Idaho, is targeting Idaho House and Senate candidates, funded overwhelmingly by a single Pennsylvania company that is the business of selling and placing gaming machines.

The company is POM of Pennsylvania, LLC. Its machines look like slot machines but have an element of “skill” in that that user to win must do certain tasks. The company claims that makes them exempt from gambling laws. The Pennsylvania Attorney General asserts that is just a cover to side-step gambling laws in that state and is suing the company.

So, what is the connection to Citizens Alliance in Idaho? Well, 99.72% of its funding this year has come from a national PAC called Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee, Inc., located in Fairfax, Virginia. That total amount $450,000 this year. Over 72% of that group’s money has come in the past two years from POM of Pennsylvania, LLC.

So why is gambling money targeting Idaho’s legislative races?

The answer is to step back a decade. In 2015 the Idaho Legislature banned machines that featured past horse races as the equivalent of slot machines. Apparently POM of Pennsylvania is looking for friendly legislators to spread its slot-machine-like devices to states like Idaho.

That brings us to Citizens Alliance of Idaho. That group was formed in 2021. Its President is Matt Edwards, a former film director and producer who moved to Hayden from Los Angeles when he lost his job there during COVID. He runs the organization day-to-day.

The group has historically been funded by mostly by non-Idahoans. But, it has ties to the ultra-right in Idaho, include current Freedom-Foundation board members Doyle Beck and Bryan Smith who made the largest Idaho donations to the group in 2022.

In 2024 the group started hiring groups of roughly 12 people to go door-to-door in a specific part of Idaho focused on knocking on doors and delivering literature to households that might vote in the Idaho Republican primary. Citizens Alliance targets legislators who are not hard right and bolsters those who are or want to be that kind of Idaho legislator. The group in addition to hand-delivered literature does lots of social media, texts and direct mail.

In 2024 the group backed such hard right Idaho Senate candidates as Dan Foreman, Christie Zito, Tammy Nichols, Brian Lenney, Glenneda Zuiderveld and House candidates, Scott Herndon, Elaine Price, Jaron Crane, David Leavitt, Juliane Young, Karey Hanks, and Bryan Smith himself.

The group is already working in multiple races around the state this year, with a particular focus in the Magic Valley and Eastern Idaho.

But, here is the real question. Why are these supposed conservative, Republican candidates being supported by a Pennsylvania gambling machine company who is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars here in Idaho?

Idaho voters, any time they see the name Citizens Alliance on a piece of literature, a social media post or a text should ask that question.

About the Author
Steve Taggart is an attorney in Idaho Falls and has worked in Republican politics since his teens, both in campaigns and for elected officials, including running a congressional office.