[Vision2020] Fw: Tom Trail Loses Chairmanship of House Agriculture Committee

[Shirley Ringo]

Idaho House of Representatives
Legislature.Idaho.Gov 

 

Trail Loses Agriculture Committee Chairmanship

 

In a sour end to a very sour 2011 Legislative Session, Representative Tom Trail was replaced as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.  (Leon Smith was also replaced as chair of the House Transportation Committee.)  This is a clear reprisal for their failure to toe the party line in certain key votes on the House floor.

 

There has been discussion recently about whether Tom Trail should become a Democrat.  It's a question that has been posed in the past - my answer has been "No."  My observation of Tom Trail has led me to see him as a solid, moderate Republican.  Currently the Republican Party, even in Moscow, has been hijacked by the extreme right.  That puts Representative Trail in an awkward situation.  It would be wonderful to see Tom Trail and Gary Schroeder work to rein their party in - we need moderate Republicans.

 

In the Idaho Legislature, Tom Trail and I have shared a passion for matters related to education.  It is ironic that one of his actions with which I strenuously disagreed related to his supporting the election of the very conservative House leadership that has now unceremoniously dumped him.  At that time, Representative Trail believed that his support of Lawrence Denney for Speaker of the House would result in Trail becoming Chair of the House Education Committee.  That trust was ill placed.

 

I have felt angry about many actions taken during this Legislative Session.  Public education has been under attack, and support has been taken away from families who are in desperate need.  This action towards Tom Trail represents the continuation of a mean spirited attitude that reflects negatively upon House leadership.

 

Representative Shirley Ringo







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