[Vision2020] Pocatello Journal editoral on Republican politics in Idaho

[DonaldH675 at aol.com]

How far right do Visionaries think the Republican Party will steer this 
legislative sessions - and more to the point, what can be done about it?
Rose Huskey 

>From the Pocatello Journal editorial page





 
 

Majority party shows rightward drift, ideological bent

Last week's upheaval by Republicans of ldaho Senate committee chairmanships 
has the likely effect of steering future legislative efforts further to the 
right, if that is possible. 
Replacing Sen. Gary Schroeder, of Moscow, with Sen. John Goedde, of Coeur 
d'Alene, as chairman of the Education Committee sends a clear message to critics 
of the present charter school system that amplification of current problems is 
likely under the new chairman.

Schroeder's tenure as chairman had been marked by legislative decisions 
sometimes at odds with his committee. Apparently Goedde's philosophical bent is 
more palatable to the Republican caucus. 
With Sen. Don Burtenshaw, of Terreton, replacing retired Sen. Sheila 
Sorensen, of Boise, as the chairman of the State Affairs Committee, we will likely see 
the constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriages resurface with a 
vengeance. Sorensen, aware that Idaho already has a law stating marriage must be 
between a man and a woman, used her seniority status last session to help 
block the constitutional amendment from reaching the Senate floor.

There are a handful of difficult, time-consuming issues to resolve in the 
upcoming legislative session: Sunset of the sales tax, water rights, charter 
schools, funding for institutions of higher learning, prison overcrowding and a 
constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriages. Five valid issues and one 
red herring confront the upcoming Legislature. 
When the Republican caucus replaces moderate chairmen and women with more 
conservative lawmakers, it doesn't take a palm reader to divine what direction 
the majority party will take and what issues they will spend precious time 
debating. There are truly relevant issues facing Idaho that demand the undivided 
attention of our legislators. Banning homosexual marriages is not on that list.

Legislators demean themselves, the Statehouse, state government and the 
people they represent by spending an iota of their time revisiting an issue that is 
of little, if any, import to the governance of our state. 
Perhaps it is expecting too much from our lawmakers, once they begin 
breathing the rarefied air inside the Capitol, that they approach the upcoming season 
with a degree of common sense by tackling the more formidable issues before 
wasting taxpayers' money on ephemera. But common sense is an uncommon commodity 
in the reactionary wing.

Time spent on this ideological, chest-thumping issue will be time lost to 
real concerns. Let's hope the consequence is not another mad, slapdash, 
Stooges-like run to the finish line, well after the nominal 60-day limit for the 
session has passed. 


"One cannot level one's moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are 
just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between 
doing something and doing nothing is everything." Daniel Berrigan
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