<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">I don't mean to "dredge" this up, but . . .</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of today's (December 14, 2013) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">---------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="paragraph-0" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The right time to consider a voter recall</h1><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><br></p><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;">It's a safe bet voters in District 15 of Idaho had no inkling of Matt Patterson's past when they elected the now 61 year old to office in 2012.</p></span><span class="paragraph-1" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;">If they had, the odds of Patterson making it out of the primary round would have been rather low.</p></span></span><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Somehow, however, Patterson was elected without having any of his dirty laundry aired out in the public arena. His alleged past transgressions only came to light within the past month when the Ada County sheriff did some digging and found Patterson had failed to disclose a guilty plea in a 1974 case when applying for a concealed weapons permit.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Here's a little background on Patterson:</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 8px 8px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; list-style: square inside;"><li style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; list-style: disc inside;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Patterson, 21 at the time, was charged with forcible rape in May 1974. The victim, then a 46-year-old mother of five, told police Patterson forced her to have sex twice and threatened to have his dog attack her if she refused. Patterson agreed to plead guilty to a lesser assault with intent charge, receiving a withheld judgment and five years' probation.</span></li></ul></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to the Idaho Statesman, a polygraph found Patterson "was untruthful" and concluded he "did threaten the young lady in question with his dog and caused her to be fearful for her safety if she had not submitted herself to him sexually." Patterson, though, told the Statesman he doesn't remember that night, attributing the convenient loss of memory to chemotherapy treatment in 2003.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 8px 8px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; list-style: square inside;"><li style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; list-style: disc inside;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In July 1977, Patterson was charged in Ohio with rape "by means of forcibly choking and threatening" the life of a woman. He was acquitted.</span></li><li style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; list-style: disc inside;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 2007 and 2012, Patterson allegedly falsified his application for a concealed weapons license when he failed to disclose his guilty plea in Tampa.</span></li><li style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; list-style: disc inside;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also according to the Statesman, after being elected in 2012, Patterson acknowledged his campaign website mistakenly said he was a petroleum engineer and had attended the University of Southern California. His claim of being a "professional road-racing cyclist" also was disputed in an Associated Press article.</span></li></ul></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It appears Idaho's Republican party will be asking Patterson to resign his post in the coming days, but should he refuse, the only way to remove him from office before the end of this term will be by a voter recall election. While Patterson may not have a track record of doing the right thing, he should step aside and fade away. If he doesn't, we're sure the voters will happily send him packing.</span></p></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">---------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>