BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Nearly half a year into Raúl Labrador’s first term as Idaho attorney general, the former lawmaker and GOP party leader has made good on his campaign promise to overhaul the state attorney’s office.

Labrador’s campaign message, that he would be a more “aggressive” attorney general, resonated with Republican voters, who delivered him resounding election victories. And he’s taken electoral success as a mandate.

In his first 100 days, Labrador dropped criminal charges against an anti-vaccine activist who defied COVID-19 public health measures; won an injunction against federal water pollution regulations; shepherded a new method for public executions; and triggered an unprecedented court battle with a state agency over child care grants.

Meanwhile, former Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who served five terms under the mantra that he called “balls and strikes” fairly when it came to the law, remains a frequent target of ridicule for Labrador. Voters last year showed that they “overwhelmingly wanted a more aggressive, more conservative attorney general,” Labrador told the Idaho Statesman in his Capitol office.

“They always felt that the Office of Attorney General was taking the side of bureaucrats instead of the side of the people,” Labrador said. “We’ve been really reinforcing the fact that our role is to stand up for the Constitution and stand up for the law.”

But among the more than 200 employees working for Labrador — most of them carryovers from...

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