The Idaho Freedom Foundation awarded its 2016 Ralph Smeed Lifetime Achievement Award to Lenore Hardy Barrett, a former state legislator from Challis.
Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman presented the award Saturday night in Boise to honor Barrett’s tireless efforts to stand for liberty in Boise.
“Lenore’s legacy lives large in the Idaho Capitol,” Hoffman said. “She always sought lower taxes for Idaho families and small businesses, advocated against government healthcare takeovers and advocated legislation to aid ranchers in protecting their livestock from wolves.”
Barrett served in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1992 until 2014. Before her departure from the legislature, she chaired the House Local Government Committee, where she helped address transparency and urban renewal issues, among others.
During her legislative tenure, she earned a reputation as a fearless defender of individual rights, the U.S. and Idaho Constitutions and personal responsibility.
“Though special interests tried to ruin her good name, those who know Lenore understand the important role she has played in the fight for liberty,” Hoffman said. “She has blessed Idaho with her service more than we could ever express.”
Barrett joins an elite group of freedom fighters who’ve received the Ralph Smeed Lifetime Achievement Award. Past recipients include Ralph Smeed, Maurice Clements, Don Brandt, Stan Hawkins, Elizabeth Hodge and Dan Symms.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation stands as the Gem State’s leading voice for conservative principles and government accountability. Founded in 2009, the Foundation operates a policy shop, a news website and the Idaho Freedom Index, the state’s only scorecard that measures legislators’ support for limited government.
