Citizens Alliance of Idaho

About Citizens Alliance of Idaho

The Citizens Alliance of Idaho (CAI) is a conservative advocacy organization and political action committee founded in 2021 as the Idaho affiliate of Citizens Alliance of America, a national organization run by Cliff Maloney, the former president of Young Americans for Liberty. Local operations are directed by Executive Director Matt Edwards, a former Los Angeles filmmaker who relocated to Hayden, Idaho in 2020. CAI’s primary activity is administering “The Pledge” — a 10-statement commitment document requiring Idaho legislators to oppose tax increases, government lockdowns, and policies CAI opposes under the banners of “election integrity” and “medical freedom,” with legislators’ compliance published as public “standings” (Good Standing, Questionable, or Bad Standing). The organization also operates Idaho Signal, a daily online political broadcast. In the 2026 election cycle, CAI’s PAC received $450,000 — representing 99.72% of its total contributions — from Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee, Inc. of Fairfax, Virginia. That national PAC received approximately 72% of its own funding from POM of Pennsylvania, LLC, a company that manufactures skill-based gaming machines currently the subject of a Pennsylvania attorney general enforcement action. CAI’s PAC directed $446,961 of those funds to Mobilize the Message LLC, a Fort Walton Beach, Florida canvassing firm also controlled by Maloney, which deployed paid door-to-door canvassers in Idaho legislative districts. A May 2022 Idaho Capital Sun investigation found that most of CAI’s early PAC funding came from out of state, including $30,000 each from Bryan Smith and Doyle Beck — both Idaho Freedom Foundation board members — and that IFF Vice President Dustin Hurst was listed as registered agent for Respect Idaho, a linked entity whose website text appeared verbatim on CAI’s site.