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Pay attention

Pay attention

November 21, 2023

We're under attack.  Make that, renewed attack.

From the right.  Make that, far-right.  And the battleground is not some far off place where their blathering can go unheard.

No, they're local.  As local as meetings of your school board.  Or city fathers.  Or county fathers and mothers.  Folks you've elected to guide your schools.  Or, community.

One such small group of dissenters is "Mothers for Liberty."  Another is "City Fathers."  And, there are more.  All positioning themselves to "bring down" whatever goes against their way of "thinking."  In other words, to counter your way of thinking when you voted to fill those elected leadership positions.

The far-right angst so prevalent in Congress, at the moment, has long roots going back to wherever you live.  They've become like ants at a picnic.

The "Mom's" group, for instance.  Opposed to some of the books your kids read, put in their hands by wiser people on school boards or citizen committees of the local library after much study and discussion.  You may already have such a noisy bunch in your backyard.  And, if they've been sort of "under cover," the season for their "hatching" is now.

Rather than propose something new, they come empty-handed.  They come to "destroy" what they see as "wrong" in classrooms or other operations of local school districts.  They want to "cleanse" but offer no replacement curriculum or plan for your consideration.

That seems to be the way with anything or any group coming from the rightward "fringes."  Break, obliterate, blowup what they don't like without offering substitution of any replacement materials.

From the U.S. Congress down to your school board or city hall.  We seem to be under constant attack about something.  Go to any school board meeting these days.  City council sessions.  County commission gatherings.  Chances are you'll hear voices raised against this, that and the other.

Voices seeking not to join the discussion, but to overpower it. Voices not wanting to join in conversation, but to silence it.  To drown out any voice but their own.

I've been to city council and school board meetings over the years.  Hundreds and hundreds of 'em.  And, what I've witnessed, time and again, is whoever is in charge will usually be open to listening to the voices for awhile.  Will be patient with diversion from the printed agenda.  Will let interveners  have their "say."

That was then. This is now.  Folks like "Mothers for Liberty" have their own agendas.  Somewhere, someone - unidentified at the moment - is cranking out those agendas.  And, marching orders.  "Moms" groups in Florida or Arizona or Portland are being told what to say, how to say it and what to do if they meet resistance.

People who don't like what these groups stand for - which is often far-right thought and destruction - may have to start attending some meetings of their local governing boards and councils.

And, they may have to organize some sort of resistance to said groups because their kids' education is on the line.  Governance of their own communities is under attack.  In subtle ways, lifestyles are being challenged.

All of that by folks who don't think the way you do.  Don't have the same values you have.  And, who don't seem to care that they offer nothing to replace what they want to destroy.

Yes, we are under small attacks.  But, taken together, they represent a war of sorts.  A war on our thinking - on our values - on the way we live.  And, how we live.

Time to pay attention.

 

Dorothy’s star chamber

Dorothy’s star chamber

November 20, 2023

In his dystopian novel, 1984, George Orwell introduced us to the “Thought Police” who were assigned by their autocratic leader, “Big Brother,” to root out and punish unapproved thoughts. I read Orwell’s book back in the early 1960s when I was a rather right-wing Young Republican studying political science at the University of Oregon. At the time, I believed Orwell was warning against a future radical-left government that would stifle thought, usurping the free will of the people. That did not happen, but it seems to be occurring now, right before our eyes, in Dorothy Moon’s radical-right branch of the Republican Party.

This came to mind as I was reading a 51-page, 16 count draft “indictment” issued by the Legislative District 32 GOP Committee against Representative Stephanie Mickelsen for alleged violations of the Republican platform. Mickelsen has been a thoughtful, reliably conservative legislator, which apparently does not count with Moon’s extremists.

Mickelsen has been notified to appear for a grilling by party functionaries to answer charges of straying from the party line and, get this, failing to follow the dictates of the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), which thrives upon dark-money funding from out of state. Article XX of Moon’s platform, the Thought Police provision, authorizes party bosses to interrogate those accused of failing to follow the party line and “provide censure and/or guidance.” Those who think for themselves can be stripped of the party label for not toeing the line. It is not clear whether the inquisitors have given the indictment to Mickelsen, but a good soul provided me with a copy of the draft document.

The indictment charges Mickelsen with a variety of violations of the Moon platform and IFF policy positions. Allegation 13 claims that Mickelsen violated the platform by voting for S1176, the higher education funding bill. Everyone knows that the IFF is dead set against public education, so it is no surprise that the Moonies would oppose funding it. What is puzzling is that the platform says: “We recognize the importance of Idaho’s higher education system in continuing the education of our citizens.” That may be why Mickelsen and 29 other House Republicans supported paying the bill for educating Idaho’s college students. Apparently, the IFF position overrules the GOP platform.

Mickelsen was chastised for supporting H0024, Governor Little’s Idaho Launch program providing education grants for career training of high school graduates. The IFF strongly opposed this bill, which obligated the Moonies to discipline any who favored it.

Because medical doctors and veterinarians are in critically short supply in rural Idaho, Mickelsen supported Idaho’s long-standing program to finance the out-of-state education of Idahoans who will come home to fill those needs. IFF and the Moon crowd thought otherwise so they panned her vote for S1147 to fund that program. They must think farm folks should have to Google for cures of sick cows and family members.

The indictment rakes Mickelsen over the coals for voting against an unconstitutional bill, H0314, targeting school and municipal libraries. The terms in the bill were vague, it would have clogged the courts with frivolous lawsuits and Idaho librarians don’t hand out filth to kids. Governor Little vetoed the bill, which caused the Moonies to go ballistic and censure him. The bill violated the GOP platform, which says “government is best that governs least” and “the most effective, responsible, responsive government is government closest to the people.” Local elected school boards and library district boards can handle the job of library oversight. IFF and Moon should keep out of it.

H013, which would have required schools to provide feminine hygiene products to female students in grades 6-12, died on a tie vote in the House. Most female legislators supported it to save girls from embarrassment. That was not a great concern to the IFF and Moon crowd, who fault Mickelsen for doing the right thing. Shame on the uncaring.

There are other baseless allegations in the indictment and many other responsible, caring and pragmatic Republicans are being called on the carpet by the Moon and IFF crowd. They want to chastise those who use their own brains and moral values to represent their constituents. These thought policemen should settle down and allow legislators to serve their people as they see fit. If the voters don’t like it, they can exercise a right set out in the GOP platform--“to vote for the candidate of their choice.” Mickelsen is an open door to her constituents and makes every effort to meet and communicate with them. But she rightfully thinks that Idaho legislators and voters do not need a “Big Brother” telling them what to think, say or do.

 

Going its own way

Going its own way

November 19, 2023

Is Oregon’s largest private-sector union going its own way politically?

It’s too early to say conclusively, but as it’s said in journalism, three instances make a trend, and a string of instances this year suggest the organization is already there.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 represents more than 30,000 workers, the core working at grocery stores but many in other businesses as well. Over the years, its political activities usually have aligned with those of most other Northwest union organizations in generally supporting Democratic candidates. It has been going through some changes, including by expanding.. It has long covered Oregon and southwest Washington, but in 2021 it merged with the local in southern Idaho, so that it now reaches from the Pacific to Jackson, Wyoming.

It also has sought to expand into the legal cannabis business sector. Since Oregon’s legalization, the local has tried to organize its workers and has pressed legislation to mandate cannabis businesses sign “labor peace agreements” as a condition of licensure.

When the local took the idea to the Oregon Legislature as House Bill 3183 (Cannabis Workers Rights), it drew questions about whether it would survive a court challenge. Rep. Paul Holvey, who chaired the House Committee on Business and Labor where the measure was assigned, shared that concern and, with time running out in the session, diverted the rules committee, where it died.

That result came amidst what probably felt to the local like a reversal of fortunes. As one labor newspaper noted, “from 2015 to 2017, Local 555 was a big player in a string of wins in the Oregon Legislature, including the 2015 paid sick leave law, the 2016 minimum wage law and the 2017 fair scheduling law. But in the last few years, Local 555 has had a tough time getting its proposed legislation passed.”

After the cannabis measure failed, Local 555 officials struck back. They targeted Holvey, a Eugene Democrat long close to the strong labor organizations in his district, for recall. Local 555 cited “a long list of Holvey’s anti-worker actions and questionable conduct that warrant his removal, including Holvey’s dishonest framing of his opposition to pro-worker legislation, his long-standing double standard advantaging big business interests over those of working people, a chronic lack of engagement and other instances of poor conduct.”

But they got no real support among other labor organizations. While umbrella groups like the state AFL-CIO stayed out of the fight, 14 other labor organizations in the area – including the Ironworkers Local 29, Lane Professional Fire Fighters (IAFF Local 851), Oregon AFSCME, Oregon and Southern Idaho District Council of Laborers, Oregon Building Trades Council, Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs and the Oregon Nurses Association – sided with Holvey.

With the help of paid signature gatherers, Local 555 did get the recall on the ballot. But the voters supported Holvey by a stunning margin: About 90% voted not to recall him, a number far larger than that in most contested races.

But even before that election the local was back into ballot issues, saying on June 23 it would try to reverse the recently passed House Bill 2426, which opened the door to self-serve gasoline dispensing across the state.

Oregon was known for many years as one of two states – the other is New Jersey – requiring that attendants pump gas, a rule imposed in 1951 and long thought to be immutable. It has been eroded steadily in recent years, however, first with exemptions for rural areas and then broader pandemic-era allowances. Polling showed steadily growing support for self-serve gas.

HB 2426, passed and enacted this year, did away with the self-serve ban statewide, though it still requires businesses generally to provide a staff-service option. That latter provision may keep some service positions intact. Advocates also point out that Oregon has been experiencing a labor shortage in recent years.

Local 555 does have an interest in this issue, since it said it represents “nearly 800 workers at 63 grocery store fuel stations in Oregon,” though there’s little clear information on how many jobs have been lost through the law change, and in its statement on the initiative the local didn’t offer an estimate.

Local 555 spokesman Miles Eshaia said, “We have fuel stations within some of our bargaining units and we have seen not necessarily layoffs, but job loss to attrition so people who quit, they just don’t replace them because they don’t necessarily need to, because the new law allows for half of what they had before.”

Local 555 would need to collect about 117,000 signatures by next July to get a proposed reversal on the ballot. If it succeeds at that,  the odds of passage are not good, especially considering that other organizations haven’t jumped on board. While it probably would get more than 10% support, the measure seems to be trying to swim upstream.

The local also is taking on the statehouse with a series of other ballot proposals, which aim to revamp the ethics commission, end some closed door meetings, require some financial transparency for hospitals and pass into law a measure along the lines of the cannabis worker bill that failed in the last session.

Local 555 appears to be going its own way. Will others join in?

This column appeared originally in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

Max Black

Max Black

November 17, 2023

Max Black, who was an Idaho state representative from 1992 to 2006, and who died at Boise on November 10, was a good state legislator.

I knew at the time, as I watched him at the Statehouse, that  he was a good legislator, but only years after he served did I piece together some of the important reasons why, and those reasons had nothing to do with the legislature as such.

Max was cheerful, enthusiastic, seldom critical or downbeat (in my observation), and unlike many elected officials did not seem to be a great self-promoter. He was a well-regarded legislator, though, across the chamber and among people (such as lobbyists and reporters) around it. His reputation was made on the basis of careful work and maintaining good personal relationships. Throwing shade or red meat was nowhere near his style.

So what drove Max, if not the usually expected personal aggrandizement?

I got my first clue of that one day in 2012, years after his days in elected office, when my cell phone rang while I happened to be walking through the Idaho Statehouse. It was an out of the blue call from Max, who I hadn’t seen for some years. His reason for the call: Knowing that I published books, he wanted to talk about a book proposal he had.

(A disclaimer: I am the publisher of the book I’m about to describe.)

I’ve fielded a number of such book pitch calls over the years, but this one was different from most. After leaving the legislature, Max became deeply interested in regional history, to the point of taking extensive efforts to research it from original people and materials. He became captivated by the well-known southern Idaho murder case, from the late 19th century, of “Diamondfield” Jack Davis, who was convicted and nearly (and more than once) hanged for the killing of two sheepmen.

Books had been written before about Davis (I had even read one), and their writers included ample speculation but also lots of blank area when it came to important facts of the case and Davis’ life. I asked Max why he wanted to write a new one.

His answer was stunning. He had investigated the case from scratch, walking the desert landscape and visiting people in the region to find obscure clues. His persistence led him to the point of locating the firearm and one of the bullets involved in the murder case, and unlike anyone previously he had pieced together the evidence that Davis not only did not but could not have committed the crime - and he had developed nearly conclusive evidence about who did. He even unearthed new information about what became of Davis in his later years, and scotched a number of spurious stories.

He convinced me.

We brought the book, called “Diamondfield: Finding the Real Jack Davis,” into publication the next year, and from that year to this Max has been a tireless promoter of it: His enthusiasm for the work he does has been as great as anyone I’ve known.

He also has been doing ongoing research into other obscure corners of western history, and he often has shared unexpected tales from the old, and sometimes not so old, intermountain west.

His persistence and ingenuity, and ability to find help and leverage information, was remarkable.

That’s not all there was to him, of course. An obituary said that, “He found joy in creating pens, trains, violins, boxes and really almost anything out of wood and giving his creations away or donating them for others to enjoy.” That too would fit with the Max Black I saw in the context of his book.

His enthusiasm, persistence and refusal to accept anything less than the best evidence before deciding on what the story really is: These are useful qualities for a state legislator, or anyone in a position of public responsibility.

 

How? Just how?

How? Just how?

November 16, 2023

I don’t know if we all agree that folks with disabilities or low income should have access to health care services. I’d love to have that discussion.

It seems that our nation thought this, and so the Medicaid program was passed into law in 1965. But those were different times. Don’t ask me what I was under the influence of back then.

Medicaid was built as a federal-state partnership. If a state chose to enroll and abide by the federal requirements, the federal government would agree to pay no less than half of the cost, but no more than 80% of the cost. The target population back then was folks with severe disabilities and those under the federal poverty level (FPL).

Idaho might have had a different soul back then, because our legislature signed us up to enroll in Medicaid in 1966. We were an early state to enroll. Maybe the Freedom Foundation wasn’t born then. I was just twelve. It was a long time ago.

So that matching/ shared payment program applied to the traditional Medicaid folks. That matching formula (called the FMAP) is calculated every year based on the average income of the state’s residents compared to the national average.

Idaho has had a generous FMAP match for many years, often 70% federal, 30% State, based on our lower incomes. Most states are 50/50. This year we get a bump. Our state income went up. This year we will now have to pay 2% more.

For those of you here in Idaho still burning about Medicaid Expansion, this is NOT a flag to wave. I know, this is complicated and confusing, and you probably don’t even care. But how, just how are we going to get this done? Please, pay attention and understand the details.

The Medicaid Expansion population will always be supported federally at 90%. The state will only have to pay 10% of that cost. This FMAP bump only applies to those below 100% FPL and the disabled. Believe me, those folks are expensive, but deserving of our care.

I write this to teach, but also to learn. I went to a forum tonight where my local legislators were talking to the crowd about their plans for the coming legislative session. I asked if they had any reaction to this FMAP change. NEITHER representative even knew what I was talking about. NEITHER knew how Medicaid is funded.

So, I wish to ask the crowd, should we be providing healthcare to the disabled and poor? If not, just say so, and a simple vote by you legislators who represent me could disenroll us from the Medicaid program. I can write the bill for you.

But if not, if you think people with disabilities and those who don’t get health insurance from their work should have access to health care, then how, just how are we going to do this?

I have read many other plans. The Idaho Freedom Foundation foisted one a few years back when they were opposing Medicaid Expansion. It proposed everybody have a health savings account. I guess they hadn’t read that 60% of us couldn’t finance a blown transmission let alone cancer.

Paul Ryan, remember him? He quit being Speaker of the House right after he got the Trump Tax Cuts through. Maybe he saw the folly. Maybe he saw a more stable job. But his argument was to replace the Medicaid formula with block grants.

I was just entering state politics at the time. I saw the value in his proposal. Look carefully at the formula. If Idaho figures out how to save a ton of money on Medicaid, we only get 30% of the savings. Block grants would build in more incentive.

But then I spent some time in the Idaho legislature. Sorry. I was not impressed.

 

Anti-burn it down

Anti-burn it down

November 15, 2023

It wasn’t long ago when now-Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke was part of a House leadership team that was widely viewed as one of the most conservative in Idaho’s history. Across the rotunda, there was now-Gov. Brad Little who generally was preaching the same conservative gospel in the Senate.

I worked as communication adviser with the House GOP caucus at the time, with Lawerence Denney as speaker, Mike Moyle as majority leader, Ken Roberts as caucus chair and Bedke as assistant majority leader. And there was never a question about their conservative credentials. The mild-mannered Denney was labeled as “Boss Denney” by some media outlets for supposedly forcing through his conservative ways. Bedke, who later served 10 years as speaker, was a good fit for that group.

“And now we’re not viewed as conservative enough? Give me a break,” Bedke told me in a recent visit at his Statehouse office.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation, the Legislature’s Freedom Caucus and others to the right will say that Bedke – and Little’s administration as a whole -- is not conservative enough. They’ll say that government spending and taxes are too high, and at least some conservatives go as far as labeling “establishment” Republicans as RINOs.

Bedke will be hearing plenty of “RINO talk” in a few years if he ends up running for governor. For now, he’s not shy about defending what Republicans have accomplished over the last three decades and gives props to Little’s leadership.

“He’s a good administrator and a good governor who cares deeply about the state,” Bedke says. “The proof is in the pudding. We’ve had decades of traditional conservative leadership here in the state and created a state where everybody wants to move to. Our economy is unrivaled; it’s the fastest-growing state and quickest to recover (from downturns). And now we criticize the people in the offices that have been integral in making Idaho the success that it is. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

In Bedke’s eyes, policies have reflected Idaho values. “It’s hard work. It’s pay as you go. It’s being careful with the taxpayers’ money. And we’ve been discovered. That turns out to be a pretty dang good way to manage the state. It’s a good place to raise a family, a great place to have a business and the quality of life is unmatched. That’s not to say there are things that we can’t improve on, but the success that we enjoy now is directly attributable to the decades of traditional conservative approach to government. And now that’s not good enough?”

As for his personal “conservative” values, he said, “there’s no question where I stand, and there’s no question where I stand on guns. Do I wear it on my sleeve? No. Do I demagogue that for short-term political gain? No. But don’t take my guns away and stay out of my family life. If the indicator is going to be my position on God and country, or Second Amendment, or lightest touch of government … those are Republican values that I will not deviate from and never have. I believe I can match my Republican credentials with anyone in the state.”

The state Republican Party, which once served as cheerleaders for GOP officeholders, is now calling out incumbents to not adhering to certain standards.

“The paint job is ‘Idaho GOP,’ but the mechanics are burn-it-down libertarian and I think Idahoans will see through that,” Bedke says. “They are criticizing arguably one of the most successful systems of states out there.”

Since taking office in January, Bedke has kept a relatively low profile – at least compared to his predecessor, former Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. Bedke has been traveling to all parts of the Gem State and taking some time off to manage affairs at his Oakley ranch. He talks to groups about Idaho’s success story, while giving a friendly plug to Idaho’s “LAUNCH” grants aimed at helping Idaho high school students get into trade programs.

Critics label the program as “socialistic,” but Bedke says, “I’m a big fan.” He says it’s one way that students can learn a trade, find a job and stay in Idaho – opposed to fleeing the state after graduation.

As Bedke sees it, that’s a winning formula for all – and from a conservative standpoint, a wise return on the state’s investment.

Chuck Malloy is a long-time Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com

 

A missed swing

A missed swing

November 14, 2023

So.

Idaho's junior Senator is pissed by the noise from airplanes flying over his South Boise homestead.

What a deal!

Jimmy Risch has lived out there for decades.  Noise from aircraft is not a new phenomenon for him.  He's been listening to airplanes - with his ham and eggs - for a long, long time.  When he's there.

Only now, after many thousands and thousands of general aviation and commercial flights in and out of the Boise airport over 30 or so years, does he squawk.  The airport is just a mile or so from his desert hacienda, an airport he's used many hundreds of times on his trips in and out of Boise, to and from his U.S. Senate offices in D.C..

The Boise airport has been in-place for many decades before the junior Senator and his family moved South.  He knows that.  But, now, several decades after he took up residence, he's pouting.

Risch can be no more put out about the aerial racket than several thousand Meridian residents and folks in the area of Five Mile Road, Eagle Road, Cloverdale, Linder and more.  Those "aggravating" aircraft fly over a lot of West Ada County and Boise territory.  They've done it for years.

Now, our boy wants somebody, somewhere to do something about it.  NOW!

I'd be willing to support Jimmy if he was standing up for his constituents out West -and South - of Boise.  If he was asked to front an organized group of Ada County folks, similarly unhappy about the airport, seeking a real answer to their problem.  If he was the spokesman for thousands of folks who were as unhappy about noisy aerial conditions as Junior.

But he's not.

Fact of the matter is, the airport had been there for many, many years before "Gentleman James" decided to live nearby on his little acreage.  He knew the planes were there.  He knew by hearing flyover noise as he was out there looking for a homestead many years ago. He knew by driving around the airport's West end to get to his property.  Or, downtown.

What's changed is that the Boise airport is much busier than it was in the '70's and '80's.  More commercial, military and private aircraft are in the skies thereabouts.  The airport is a thriving source of income for the city and a handy resource for air travelers and home to the Idaho Air Guard.  It's win-win all the way.

What the hell does Risch expect in answer to his new outrage?  Who - or what - is supposed to do something to change the situation?

The only way to dry his tears is for him to move out of the area.  The airport is not gonna move.  The planes won't stop flying.  The noise from those aircraft won't suddenly go away.  The only answer for Junior is a U-Haul truck and some teens looking for work.

I've never been a Senator.  Never aspired to be one.  So, maybe I don't understand the depths of Risch's belated anger.  Is a Senator's anger different from the rest of us?  Is he angrier than us?  Does it take 30-40 years to get up a full head of steam on an issue if you're a Senator?

Or, is he using his years as a national politician to achieve his ends?  A little power play to get what he wants?  Silence?

Or, maybe - just maybe - he knows something we don't.  Maybe he knows some new, high-powered stealth airplanes are coming to the Idaho National Guard.  Stealth planes that, I can tell you from personal experience, are much nosier than the current crop.  Much.

I go back a long way with the Senator.  I've watched him in "action" many, many times.  On a personal note, he's even taken a drunken swing at me (and missed.)  A future Idaho Governor kept him from falling flat.  Oh, yeah, we go way back.

I'm afraid, on this one Jimmy, you're on your own.  The "chin" you're going to try hit this time belongs to the City of Boise.  Or the State of Idaho.  Or the federal Department of Transportation.  Or, the United States Air Force.

But, in the end, my friend, after 30-40 years of living in the same spot, you're gonna have to move.  Or, buy some expensive ear plugs.

I don't think you can "swing" your way out of this one.

 

What individual Idahoans can do

What individual Idahoans can do

November 13, 2023

Americans can commemorate Veterans Day twice this year. The official observance is November 11. It dates back to the armistice ending World War I, which went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. It was originally called Armistice Day, but renamed Veterans Day in 1954. November 11 falls on Saturday this year, so the state and federal holiday is observed on Friday, November 10.

It is certainly fitting that Americans join together on Veterans Day to honor and thank those who stepped forward to serve the country. But there is so much more that individuals can do throughout the year to show their appreciation and support for our veteran population. Idaho currently has about 160,000 veterans.

Although the veteran suicide rate appears to have declined in the last several years, it is still a major tragedy. About 17 veterans die by suicide every day in the U.S., according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The veteran suicide rate is 57.3% higher than non-veterans. DVA data shows that Idaho’s suicide rate is significantly higher than the national average.

These figures are likely a floor because a recent study suggests that veteran suicides may have been significantly undercounted. That is, deaths attributed to other causes, mainly drug overdoses, may actually have been veterans taking their own lives. The study indicates the real daily figure might be closer to 44 suicides per day.

Whatever the death rate, we can and must do better to save the lives of veterans. Individual Idahoans can help. We can all reach out to veterans we know who appear to be troubled. They should be informed of resources available to help veterans with suicide, substance abuse and mental health issues. DVA operates a Veterans Crisis Line that can assist on a confidential, 24/7 basis. Idaho has its own highly-regarded crisis line, the Idaho Crisis & Suicide Hotline.

The Idaho crisis line can always use additional financial support and people can find a donate button on its website. We should all make it known to our federal and state legislators that adequate funding is necessary for these and other veterans programs in order to keep faith with those who have served us well. Specific mention should be made to our Congressional delegation of the need for DVA to provide better opioid addiction treatment for newly transitioned veterans. A recent Inspector General report indicates that such treatment is currently inadequate.

Another area where individual Idahoans can lend a hand to veterans is with regard to foreigners who served alongside our military personnel. Foreign nationals who served in the U.S. military and individuals who worked for American forces in our recent wars have not received the path to citizenship they were promised. Those of us who served with foreigners regard this as a serious and regrettable breach of trust.

The Veterans Service Recognition Act (HR 4569) provides for the naturalization of foreign nationals who have served or are serving in the U.S. military. The Bill passed the House last year, but not the Senate. It is supported by many organizations, including the American Legion, and should be enacted into law. Idahoans should call upon our Congressional delegation for action on the bill. During several months with the Army in Okinawa in 1968, I served under Captain Dietmar W.L. Zurell, a German national serving to acquire citizenship. He was a great addition to our American family.

Idahoans can also urge our delegation and the President to speed up processing of visas for Iraqis and Afghans who put their lives at risk by helping Americans in those two wars. We have recently heard of the problems that Afghans have encountered in getting visas, but there are up to 100,000 Iraqis who are still waiting for our promises to be kept.

I spent most of my service in Vietnam living and working with South Vietnamese soldiers. We were friends. We trusted one another with our lives. They believed in America and one of my greatest regrets is that we did not lift a finger to keep them from a dreaded fate when the Communists took over their country in 1975. We should never turn our back again on those foreign friends who risked their lives for American troops.

Please have a thoughtful Veterans Day.

 

Local election influences

Local election influences

November 10, 2023

Local elections, like those last week in Idaho cities and school districts, often are decided because of local considerations and concerns. A city mayor or school board member may be long-established and uncontroversial and thereby win another term, or may be the subject of hot debate (for good reason or not) and be dropped by the voters.

Some other patterns do turn up, though, and one this year in Idaho and other places involves candidates promoted by far-right groups or local Republican Party organizations. In last week’s elections in Idaho, quite a few of these candidates didn’t succeed.

These cases, all involving offices officially non-partisan, involve different kinds of stories.

The Boise mayoral contest, for example, had partisan overtones. The city has become increasingly blue over the last couple of decades, and the incumbent mayor, Lauren McLean, has long been identified as a Democrat. Her opponent, Mike Masterson, has said he formerly was a Republican but is no longer; nonetheless, an informal R seemed attached to his name as a D was to McLean’s.

All other factors aside - many concerns and issues were raised, and some may have affected a number of votes - the vote McLean received is not far off from what most credible Democratic candidates normally receive in the city. Seen in that way, Boise followed a partisan pattern.

Although the state’s second-largest city, Meridian, is a far more Republican place, the dynamic actually looked similar. Mayor Robert Simison, like McLean seeking a second term, has been relatively centrist and mostly uncontroversial. His chief opponent, Mike Hon, described himself: “I’m a conservative. And I think Meridian is mostly a conservative place. So that’s why we want to focus on family values.” Simison won with about  70% of the vote.

There aren’t many other large population centers around the state where the dynamic works that way. But an informal R label this election proved less useful for a number of candidates than it often did in recent years when, for example, candidates for the North Idaho College Board and the West Bonner School District board have ridden those endorsements to wins.

In the West Ada School District, two incumbents, Rene Ozuna and David Binetti, were challenged by well-funded challengers with strong local Republican connections. Both incumbents won, however.

The Idaho Ed News reported that the two highest profile contests for the Coeur d’Alene School Board resulted in losses for the two candidates supported by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee; the two winners apparently (to judge from their fundraising and lists of supporters) appear to have gone into the contest with eyes open and strong organization.

The story was similar with the Coeur d'Alene city council election; one observer snarked, “Frankly, after this, maybe #idgop #KCRCC should persist in "rating and vetting" and producing lists of candidates to put in front of voters. It's the kiss of death.”

In Nampa, the connections to party organizations are thinner, but you can suss them out. In one faceoff, Stephanie Binns, an educator, took what would look like the Democratic side on hot issues, and contractor Jay Duffy took the Republican side; Binns won with 60% of the vote. In the other hot race in the district, the result went the other way, though the “informal R” got just 51%, in a very Republican community.

On the eastern side of the state, results in the Idaho Falls School District were strikingly similar.

In Caldwell, all three incumbents, facing challenges from the right, prevailed.

You can cite countervailing examples, but the number of centrist winners in this week’s contests were notable and may amount to a serious pattern.

There’s been talk over the last year of more centrist voters, groups and candidates pushing back against the strong campaigns from the right. Such efforts succeeded at the community college board level (in some places, not all). And they may have succeeded again this November.