Anger, Spite and Farce Plague Idaho Politics

Half the Body Politic is Insane

Liberals are angry. They aren’t getting what they want at the ballot box, so they’re attempting to disrupt popular will. It was evidenced last week in Kootenai County, where they shouted down Republican State Legislators at a public meeting. One liberal may also have bitten a security guard.

Things were noisy in Twin Falls on March 1^st. They shouted, booed, and hissed as Republican Legislators answered questions about the current legislative session. They were warned that more outlandish behavior would bring the program to an end.

I shared with friends at the event that for many the frustration is with President Donald Trump, and state legislators are the surrogates for the liberal’s unhinged anger.

Credit Bill Colley.

Nine legislators were aligned on stage. There was only one Democrat among them, State Senator Ron Taylor from Blaine County. He was situated at the left end of the table figuratively and literally. He was among a group of four on the left side of the stage who most often voted to appease the liberal mob.

Profiles in Gibberish

He was joined by men like State Representative Lance Clow, who paraphrased John Kerry in explaining that he voted in committee against a bill that he later supported in a vote of the entire House. I would say that was a clumsy attempt at rhetorical sleight of hand.

But for the craziest thing I heard all day, it came from Representative Jack Nelsen from District 26. In the lobby after the event we chatted and I told him that many of his constituents aren’t happy that many of his votes mirror those of liberal House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel.

I’m not making this up. I hear it from many of his constituents, and I hear it from many of his party’s foot soldiers. They backed him as their party’s nominee. Now they’re hearing complaints from the public when they go shopping and out to eat. He’s put them in a difficult spot and I’m not sure he’s aware and possibly he doesn’t care.

Jack Nelsen States the Obvious

The man told me he doesn’t consider himself a Republican or a Democrat, but a fiscal watchdog. First, I also don’t consider him a Republican! Second, he had made an impassioned defense of spending your tax dollars on the Launch Program, which provides money to business owners who are allied with the power base. It’s a wealth transfer.

For all his talk about expanding the trades in Idaho, I know that the building trades are shopping for his primary opponent. You may not know this, but the builders are a powerful lobby. The lobby represents construction trades, lenders, and realtors. Cross them at your peril.

There’s spite in Idaho politics. Two million people will pay more for eating because a powerful legislator is holding up grocery tax repeal. Because a relative of another legislator sponsoring the repeal says mean things about the power broker. Can you define petulance?
There’s a farce when the Speaker of the House attempts to jail a former legislator for tossing out a cheap gag gift. A toy crow. The Speaker accuses Ron Nate, now President of the Idaho Freedom Foundation of destroying state property.

Moyle showed up for work one day last week in a bow tie. All he needed was a seltzer bottle to complete his application for Clown College. You can’t make this stuff up! And these people got a raise! At your expense!

I may have my differences from time to time with the various liberty groups serving in the House and Senate, and they often get portrayed as being loopy. In comparison to what?

Our Leaders Don't Even Know They're Clueless

I was talking to a priest Saturday afternoon as he stood outside his confessional, and I told him I had just sat through 90 minutes of a political forum. I said it had almost put me to sleep and I asked him if he could imagine that happening at a political event. He rolled his eyes and laughed.

His reaction is why the public finds so much of modern government a joke, and no longer trusts institutions. Oh, and we surely have no respect for the baloney legislators are selling. A large number of people in government are certifiable. Because they’ve had a complete break from reality.

Credit Bill Colley.