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<DIV align=left><SPAN class=detailheadline>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?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=detailheadline>Rose Huskey </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV align=left><SPAN class=detailheadline>From the Pocatello Journal editorial page</SPAN></DIV>
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<TD align=middle><!-- AdSys ad not found for opinion:middle.2 --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SPAN class=detailstory><B>Majority party shows rightward drift, ideological bent</B><BR><BR>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.</SPAN>
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<P align=left><SPAN class=detailstory>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.<BR><BR>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.</SPAN>
<P align=left><SPAN class=detailstory>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.<BR><BR>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. </SPAN>
<P align=left><SPAN class=detailstory>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.<BR><BR>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. </SPAN>
<P align=left><SPAN class=detailstory>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.<BR><BR>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. </SPAN>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Verdana size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">"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<BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>