[Vision2020] Idaho Legislature Unfriending Lots of Folks

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (February 22, 2011) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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OUR VIEW: Idaho Legislature unfriending lots of folks
By Sanda Kelly, for the editorial board

If you're wealthy, straight, don't belong to a union and have no
disabilities, the Idaho Legislature likes you.

But if you take part in any social services, are gay or lesbian, have
disabilities, belong to a union or live in the wrong area, most state
lawmakers don't like you.

Lawmakers certainly don't like teachers. If they did, Idaho Gov. C.L.
"Butch" Otter wouldn't be singing the praises of public schools chief Tom
Luna's plan to get rid of more than 700 teachers.

The fact that even school board members and school administrators have
called Luna's plan unacceptable means nothing. The idea of enlarging
classroom sizes to pay for Luna's "reforms" indicates Idaho doesn't care
about its children, either.

Idaho officials don't care about the concerns and conditions of those
living along U.S. Highway 12. On Feb. 14, lawmakers rejected a proposal
calling for more public input on the shipment of oversized loads on Idaho
highways shortly after it was introduced by Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow.

Transportation problems, including hitting rocks and telephone polls along
Highway 12 because loads really are too big to make the trip don't seem to
worry officials even though people living along that route are extremely
concerned.

Medicaid recipients and supporters recently gathered at Friendship Square
in Moscow to protest planned cuts to funding that supports those with
developmental disabilities.

Senate Minority Leader Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, introduced a measure
to include adding people who are gay, lesbian and transgender to be
protected under Idaho's Human Rights Act.

This addition was rejected in 2007, and Republican Sen. Curt McKenzie, who
chairs the Senate State Affairs Committee, said he has no plan to schedule
a hearing on the bill introduced during the 2011 session that would ban
workplace and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender
identity. He said this year, like recent years, there's not enough support
among Idaho's conservative lawmakers to move the bill forward.

In a small state like ours we like to picture ourselves as neighborly, the
kind of people who watch out for, and take care of each other. We expect
our lawmakers to do the same. Instead, the state only watches out for
those with money, who don't need an education, who aren't disabled, who
are straight and who don't live along a scenic state highway. That sure
leaves a lot of us out in the cold.

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It just seems that the "powers that be" in Idaho continue their endless
degeneration into corrupt cronyism.

The Idaho that I fell in love with years ago is better than that, V-peeps.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown