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Posts published in October 2021

Misusing history, missing the point

October 23, 2021

johnson

Weird things happen in Texas: the Astros cheat in the World Series, the state runs its own power grid that crashes during a rough winter storm leaving millions in the cold and dark, the state has had more Covid deaths than most medium sized countries. The state has created a bounty system to allow Texans – or anyone else – to hunt women who have an abortion, and get paid for it.

Austin, the Texas state capitol, has adopted the slogan: Keep Austin Weird. It works.

Two weeks ago in Southlake, Texas, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, a curriculum director at the local school district told teachers something truly weird. “Just try to remember the concepts of [Texas House Bill] 3979,” the director said. “And make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”

House Bill 3979 is a reference to the legislation passed in Texas – similar to legislation in many other Republican dominated states – that attempts to prescribe how history is taught. The idea is to apparently make certain “controversial” subjects are presented in a “on the one hand and then on the other hand” fashion.

Unless you seek to deny that it happened there is no on the other hand regarding the Holocaust, the planned, systematic effort by Nazi Germany to exterminate European Jews in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The mere idea that there is a both sides to the great crime underscores the absurdity of playing partisan political games with history.

Texas has another law going into effect in December that seeks to outlaw the teaching of critical race theory (CRT), which is not taught in high schools. But no matter. Outlawing CRT has become a talking point on the political right, a way to structure history to deny or eliminate the uncomfortable parts. The Texas political history monitors are very prescriptive about what is acceptable history and what is off limits.

As Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson recently noted the Texas history standards eliminated any of “Frederick Douglass’s writings, the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that forced Indigenous Americans off their southeastern lands, and Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists defending the separation of church and state. The standards lost ‘historical documents related to the civic accomplishments of marginalized populations’ including documents related to the Chicano movement, women’s suffrage and equal rights, the civil rights movement, Indigenous rights, and the American labor movement.”

What Texas and other conservative states want to teach isn’t really history, but rather scrubbed, sanitized mythology. Or another word for it would be lies.

Understanding the courageous history of the American Revolution, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is fundamental to the American story. But so is the fact that the Constitution treated millions of Black Americans, held in slavery, as three-fifths of a person, devoid of basic human rights let alone political rights.

Jefferson’s soaring words in the Declaration must be studied and examined but cannot be understood without also grappling with the fact that Jefferson, and many others of the Founding generation, lived contrary to their words. They owned other humans, believing them to be inferior, and were determined to exploit human capital for economic gain.

Americans cannot understand the current raging debate over voting rights without understanding that for millions of American these basic rights were won – or not – in spite of violence, intimidation and systematic efforts to prevent certain Americans from casting a ballot. Congress struggled for years to pass civil rights and voting rights legislation that was resisted at every turn by white politicians who embraced white supremacy.

You cannot fully understand the ongoing debate about efforts to prevent the extinction of Northwest salmon without grappling with the importance of the iconic fish to indigenous Americans, the first Americans whose land was stolen by whites and whose culture continues to be disrespected and marginalized.

This is not comfortable information, but it happens to be true. You can, if you chose, actually study these stories and come away with a deeper appreciation of the long path our country has been on since 1776, or even since 1619. It is a bumpy, often tragic path. But that is what history is. As the conservative writer Michael Gerson said recently, “The discipline of history teaches us to engage with discomforting, distressing ideas without fearing them.’

Here is an example of how history works – and should work – ripped from the headlines. A man many Americans rightly consider an American hero, general and former secretary of state Colin Powell, lived an important and, yes, controversial life.

Powell’s recent death spawned a host of tributes and assessments. The heroic versions featured the classic American story of Powell’s rise to the pinnacles of power as the child of Jamaican immigrants. Powell might have been president. I for one wish he would have run since a Colin Powell presidency might have altered the awful trajectory of the modern Republican Party. That he didn’t run is history.

But there is more to Powell’s story. He carried the water for the fable that weapons of mass destruction required a foolish and tragic military misadventure in Iraq, a war he might well have prevented. Powell was a brave and decorated soldier, but his role in investigating the massacre of as many as 500 civilians at Mai Lai during the Vietnam War is still in some dispute. Powell was by all accounts a strong and principled leader, but he also came out on the short end of many bureaucratic fights that, had they been exposed at the time, might well have altered history.

The point is: Powell’s history and ours is complicated, nuanced. There is no one way to look at Powell’s story – or the American story – the truth is in the sifting, the understanding, the effort to place in context. That is history.

As the great Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan has written: “As they look at the past, historians learn to behave rather like the examining magistrate of the French judicial system. What happened and why? the historian asks. History demands that we treat evidence seriously … history does not produce definitive answers for all time. It is a process.”

Never has it been more important to grapple with the American story, the strengths and weaknesses of our democratic system, and its fragile nature. Truth be told, if we don’t handle our history better and ignore the cranks and mythmakers the last chapter of the American story is going to be written as tragedy.

(photo)

Long-timers

October 22, 2021

stapilus

In a recent interview with writer Chuck Malloy, newly-announced congressional candidate Bryan Smith makes what sounds like a faultlessly logical strategic point about the politics of running against incumbent Republican Mike Simpson:

“He is the poster child of a Washington, D.C., insider.”

His suggestion is that long-time politicians aren’t exactly in great favor among the Idaho rank and file.

Ask the opinion of Idahoans out on the street, and Smith’s point seems very hard to argue with.

Smith might have run for Congress once before (in 2014, losing to Simpson), but he is clearly running from the outside. Simpson by contrast has held the U.S. House seat from Idaho’s second district since 1998, nearly a quarter-century and second-longest in the House of any Idahoan. Fellow Republican Burton French served in the House for 26 years early in the state’s history, so Simpson is nearing the all-time record. Simpson often has been close to Republican floor leadership (sometimes more than others, as leadership teams change), but he certainly is well established in the chamber. And not only that: He previously was a state representative from the Blackfoot area for 14 years, and speaker of the Idaho House for six of those years. He has spent a long time in the upper reaches of Idaho political office.

He seems like a good exemplar of a career politician, and how many in Idaho say they like career politicians? Candidates and activists never seem to go wrong trashing them.

This is more than just speculation or anecdotal analysis.

In 1994 Idaho voters passed a term limits initiative with a hefty 59.3 percent of the vote. No votes they’ve cast since then seem to indicate a change of heart; it was even sustained in other votes.

That term limit law isn’t on the books today, however. In 2002, the Idaho Legislature voted to repeal term limits, and it was so determined that it did so overriding a veto from Governor Dirk Kempthorne, who said he thought the voters’ decision should be respected. A national leader of a term limits organization called the legislature’s action “a slap in the face to all Idaho voters. The arrogance of the Legislature to repeal an issue that has been supported by four separate votes is unconscionable.''

Maybe, in another time, a lot of Idaho legislators would have paid a price at the polls for what they did. In fact, however, they did not. Scarcely any of the anti-term limits legislators were even singed at the ballot box.

There’s more evidence to consider here, too: The longevity of Idaho’s members of Congress in recent years. Senior Senator Mike Crapo will be, at the end of next year, a member of Congress for 30 years (24 of those in the Senate), plus a substantial run in the state Senate before that. (He is up for re-election next year, and seems not to be at risk, either in the primary or general election.) Senator Jim Risch will have been in the Senate for 14 years, after a state government electoral career reaching back to the mid-70s. Nearly all of the elected members of Congress in recent decades (the main exceptions being two Democrats running in rough years) who have left those posts, departed voluntarily either to run for something else or to retire.

There’s little recent history of Idaho voters throwing out members of Congress because of length of service.

The conclusion seems to be that they don’t like long-time politicians in principle, but their own guys, people they know, are okay. Or something like that.

This isn’t Smith’s only argument against Simpson, of course; he has various policy and philosophical arguments with him as well. And beyond that: They are significant players of distinct wings of the state’s Republican party.

But to a great degree, he’s running with what many Idahoans say they want, but what in practice they haven’t been voting for: Regular turnover in their elected officials.

An update from last week: Some of the names listed in last week’s column, noting the members of a Boise coffee group, were misspelled. (No, I won’t try to excuse it by there being no formal list to check them against). Be it known that proper spellings should include Ernest A. Hoidal, Vivian Klein and John Runft.

Changing the face of policing

October 21, 2021

meador

Darian Greene wants to be a cop. With the abundance of action movies and television shows focused on law enforcement, Darian’s curiosity isn’t surprising. At 15 years old, Darian (not his real name) is just starting to consider his future and, like a lot of teenagers, law enforcement has some appeal. But Darian isn’t a typical teen, at least in the sense of his career interest. Darian is Black. A Black teenage youth considering law enforcement for a career is not common in 2021. If Darian was white, his aspirations wouldn’t even be noticed. But as a Black male youth thinking about law enforcement as a career, Darian is a rarity. Frankly, this situation is shameful.

I want to be clear I am not anti-police. My father wore a badge in Southern California when I was a child. In retirement, he got recertified and once again wears the badge of a sizable sheriff’s office. My cousin wears a badge and my uncle serves as chaplain to a mid-sized municipal police department. All three are honorable men who hold themselves to the highest standard.

But I could list thousands — yes, thousands — of incidents that have removed law enforcement from potential career options for Black kids.

When the phrase “defund the police” started appearing a little over a year ago, most people with level heads recognized it as ludicrous — at least taken literally. Any orderly society needs the police. Only the most optimistically naive could believe we could get along without law enforcement. Nonetheless, I am convinced we desperately needed to hear that phrase.

“That phrase woke people up,” says Janie Schutz, a longtime law enforcement officer who currently serves as relationship manager for the Center for Policing Equity. Schutz held numerous street-level and supervisory positions in law enforcement before heading up the police departments in Wadesboro, North Carolina and Forest Grove, Oregon. “Both the public and the law enforcement community needed to hear those startling words,” says Schutz.

Law enforcement is possibly the most difficult, thankless job on the planet — I’ve said it more than once. Every move a police officer makes is subject to immediate and ongoing scrutiny. Every incident is second-guessed by people who weren’t there and do not understand police training and the law. Cops are jeered, criticized, spat upon, mocked and assaulted yet the public (correctly) expects them to exercise an inhuman level of self-control. We also expect them to evaluate life-threatening situations and react properly in a split second every time. Almost no job comes with these enormous expectations.

I believe the majority of police officers are good men and women. I believe most work hard to uphold the law while supporting the communities they serve. But I do not believe “just a few bad apples” are giving the profession a bad name — it’s more than a few. Far too many egregious examples of misconduct continue to happen, every week, too often followed by cover-up actions. It’s time for meaningful change.

Where do we start? The way I see it, most police problems can be loosely sorted into two impossibly broad categories: training and personnel. Chief Schutz agrees. In addition to her long experience, she has put a great deal of research and thought into the matter, culminating in the Oregon Policing Equity Plan (OPEP). “The plan focuses on proper recruitment and then emphasizes training and policy,” says Schutz.

To help illustrate the two categories, consider the events at Hobgood Elementary School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee back in April 2016. Three uniformed police officers arrested and handcuffed four Black girls: a sixth grader, two fourth graders and an eight-year-old third grader. Their crime? They failed to stop a “fight” between two first-grade-age boys and a slightly older boy. It was barely even a schoolyard fight in the traditional sense.

Proper training would’ve ensured any intelligent officer knew that handcuffing a little Black girl in pigtails was outrageous — a wildly inappropriate reaction against a child who didn’t commit any kind of crime. Worse, none of the three officers apparently recognized the moral depravity of their actions — this problem can be mitigated by tightening the standards of who can wear a badge.

When it comes to policing in America, the first thing we need to do is get rid of the mall security guards. What I mean is that the not-too-bright white guys who desperately need to wear a badge have no place in our justice system. Well, no place outside of that mall I mentioned.

Compared to other professions, law enforcement is a no-fail mission. More specifically, police officers have the power of life and death over the public — they’re expected to be highly disciplined and able to correctly act in a split second during deadly situations. It is crucial that departments hire men and women of a caliber able to take on this deadly serious task.

The purpose of Schutz’s Oregon Policing Equity Plan is to engage in meaningful, unified, state-wide police reform. The plan addresses officer recruitment, education, training, department policy and community engagement. Schutz correctly places a very heavy emphasis on communication, recognizing its crucial place in law enforcement.

Let’s take a closer look at the plan.

Refreshingly, OPEP’s first objective will increase the working knowledge law enforcement officers have of the racial, economic and systemic barriers that deeply impact community relationships with police. The plan outlines detailed instruction the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) will conduct on historic race relations in Oregon and America. It will cover structural racism in society and the justice system — it will highlight cultural beliefs toward law enforcement and even get into the physiology of generational poverty. Perhaps nothing else is as important as cops understanding the communities they serve.

Addressing personnel issues, OPEP recognizes the unique and potentially deadly nature of split-second decision making in high stress environments. Thus, benchmarks for hiring are standardized across the state, emphasizing screening for maturity. The plan also creates an educational pathway and internship for prospective law enforcement officers. This mandatory pathway provides additional opportunities for screening and ensures candidates are educated in the above topics in addition to psychology, sociology, social work and law. It also requires completion of Black, Latino and Native studies. Finally, candidates will complete an internship at a community-based organization serving at-risk youth, communities of color, foster care, domestic violence victims or any other population with high law enforcement contact to gain meaningful experience.

One of OPEP’s most important goals is to decrease disproportionate contacts law enforcement officers have with communities of color. To this end, an outside agency will review data and develop comprehensive action plans. Another third party will monitor a department’s progress.

Related to all this, the plan outlines steps to increase transparency, accountability and the voice of the community, relating to policing. It establishes community advisory councils, which will be given a clear set of roles and parameters in addition to annual reviews of OPEP.

Enacting the Oregon Policing Equity Plan should be a priority with lawmakers and community leaders across the state.

Darian Greene wants to be a cop. There should be nothing special about a Black youth like Darian looking at law enforcement as a career. If we can enact meaningful police reform across Oregon, kids like Darian might be commonplace one day. Police departments should reflect the communities they serve — in other words, it shouldn’t be the exception for officers to look like those they’re policing. When kids like Darian become cops, we are literally changing the face of policing in America. When many kids like Darian become cops, we know our efforts at reform are working.

Professional discipline

October 21, 2021

schmidt

The Idaho Medical Association has asked the Idaho Board of Medicine to look into sanctioning Dr. Ryan Cole. He is a dermatopathologist who was recently appointed to the Ada County Public Health Board by Ada County Commissioners. The IMA’s gripe against Dr. Cole is based in their reading of the statutes that prescribe lawful patient care.

But the gripe is also based on the public claims Dr. Cole has made, that he has treated patients “from California to Florida” with the questionable Covid drug, Ivermetin. So, their point: if he’s being honest, he has violated the lawful standards for Idaho physicians. It’s up to you, The Idaho Board of Medicine to investigate and determine if he has in fact broken the law, or he’s just a braggart.

I wish the IMA good luck. I also wish the best to Dr. Cole, though I disagree with his self-proclaimed actions. How can you treat such a wide expanse of patients and have a relationship with them? And just how does a pathologist, with no training in patient care have that skill? Is it any different than selling drugs online? Oh yeah, that’s mostly legal too.

But that equivocation I voiced right there is what makes policing myself and my colleagues in the medical profession so difficult for the Idaho Board of Medicine. We rarely confront each other when we see a fellow colleague straying from the “Community Standard” of medicine.

Maybe that’s because we physicians don’t spend much time establishing or reviewing that peer standard anymore. I’m pretty long in the tooth and I can’t say I have ever seen that practice in the community. It should be.

We did it in medical school and residency. We presented our “cases” (sick people) to each other with an older doc in attendance and we critiqued our diagnoses, our care decisions. I had thought this was how the medical culture would be once I got out into the community practicing. But it just didn’t happen. I wish it would.

I have some real community experience with this. I was the Chief of Staff for our local hospital. Any doctor who practiced in the hospital came under the review of the medical staff. But now a days, with the proliferation of “hospitalists”, employed by the hospitals, many doctors never see their patients in the hospital. And the possibility of reviewing their level of care is lost.

But the clinic, the office practice of medicine has never been subject to much scrutiny. The main driver of sanctions has been malpractice suits, civil litigations usually brought by patients unhappy with their treatment. You can see the pressure on physicians to make the patient happy. And then opioids became widespread and “nonaddictive” and doctors made many demanding patients happy; and some dead.

So, the Idaho Board of Medicine is in a difficult position here. They can investigate Dr. Cole, but I’ll bet those “thousands” of patients he has written Ivermectin prescriptions for are pretty happy with his “care”. At least those that are alive will swear by the treatment. Those who succumbed may think the mask-wearing nurses and doctors in the crowded hospitals didn’t give them enough hydroxychloroquine. Can you see the bind our profession has created for ourselves? And for you?

I doubt Dr. Cole has clinical partners who he presents his “cases” to. Remember, he’s a pathologist who is in the business of running lab tests, vials of blood, serum, or urine. There are few colleagues to review one’s care in that setting.

Idaho’s medical practice “Community Standard” is a sham. The medical profession loves it because it makes doctors harder to sue. Idaho’s medical malpractice premiums are very low. To prove negligence the plaintiff must get some other local doc to testify against the defendant. So, like some Idahoans prefer, we are the medical wild west.

Smith and Simpson

October 20, 2021

malloy

One thing for certain in Idaho’s Second Congressional District, aside from death and taxes, is the fact that Congressman Mike Simpson wins elections. That’s the way it has been for the last 22 years.

But that’s not necessarily the way it always will be, especially in next year’s election cycle. Bryan Smith, an attorney and firebrand conservative from Idaho Falls, is making his second run for Simpson’s job and has reasons to be optimistic about his prospects.
First of all, we don’t yet know how the Second District will look after redistricting. There’s talk, and some support, about the Treasure Valley (Ada and Canyon counties) being in the First District and the rest of the state going to the second. Conservative candidates, such as Smith, tend to thrive in Kootenai and Bonner counties, especially.

Also problematic for Simpson is a little thing called dam breaching, aimed at saving salmon. That goes over with Republicans about as well as a speech from liberal Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Simpson would have no fun campaigning in Lewiston, where sentiments are especially high against breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River.

Simpson hasn’t put his idea about breaching in bill form, but there’s no question about where he stands. Simpson may have science on his side as far as saving salmon, but not the hearts and minds of Republicans who are openly opposed to the idea. Smith, understandably, is bleeding out everything he can about the salmon issue.

“If he (Simpson) were running the first time for Congress in this election cycle, do you think he’d ever come up with a platform to breach the dams, remove the hydroelectric power, take water away from farmers and ranchers on a plan that he doesn’t know will work? There’s no way he would do that,” Smith told me. “The only reason he has done that is because he has totally lost touch with his constituents.”

Smith says his chance of winning doesn’t hinge on bringing North Idaho into the Second District. “I’ll take whatever district we get. Idahoans are Idahoans,” Smith said.

And he doesn’t need to travel far to find Idahoans who are skeptical of longtime politicians. “He is the poster child of a Washington, D.C., insider,” Smith says.

Smith ran against Simpson in 2014, collecting more than 38 percent of the vote. It was a convincing win for Simpson, but not a devastating loss for Smith, who has never held a public office. Simpson had all the advantages of incumbency, including a fat campaign war chest, support from then-House Speaker John Boehner and an endorsement from Mitt Romney.

“I started with zero and was running against John Boehner’s best friend,” Smith says.

The landscape has changed in seven years. Boehner is out and Sen. Romney has become a pariah of the GOP, at least in the view of former President Trump and his supporters – which Smith is. “I support his policies, and if he runs again, I will vote for him.”
Smith chides Simpson for not endorsing Trump’s first run in 2016 (Simpson declared him “unfit” for the presidency) and, more recently, for siding with Democrats on the “witch-hunt” congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol.

“What happened that day was shameful, but to say that President Trump instigated it is just a political ploy to diminish him,” Smith said.

Although Smith says he’s looking forward to a “robust campaign,” he knows that defeating a long-time incumbent will not be easy.

“He isn’t going down without a fight. People are going to donate to him because he represents special interests in Washington. They are going to beat me up and spend a lot of money in the process,” Smith said.

But, Smith thinks that after 22 years, it’s time for a change.

“In the end, people want a voice. They don’t expect a congressman to change Congress. What they do expect is for the congressman to swing the bat, and at the moment we have a guy who swings the bat for the other team,” Smith says. “They want someone who will speak up for them in Washington, and I will do that.”

Smith’s pitch can play well in a Republican primary campaign. If he sticks with the script, the Second District Congressional race will be one to watch.

Chuck Malloy is a long-time Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com
 

It ain’t over

October 19, 2021

rainey

Arizona’s “fraudit” count is over.

The Cyber-Ninja has gone where numerically-challenged Cyber-Ninja’s go. Republican Senator Karen Fann has quietly faded to her chambers to avoid a nosey media. The count has been cussed and discussed ad infinitum by all sides - with varying numbers and sources. Four-million voter forms have been returned to Maricopa County election folks. The five-million-dollar show is over. Time to move on, right?

You are wrong, ballot breath!

This Arizona fiasco is simply “the gift that keeps on giving.” Even so, The Arizona Republic newspaper had to pry the newest paperwork out of legislative hands with public records requests.

Surprisingly, a third group of ballot counters has been quietly at work, finding the “fraudit” by the Ninja was off by more than 312-thousand votes. Also, the Ninja didn’t tally another 167-thousand mailed ballots in its five-months of work. And five-million-dollars spent.

This new 695-page report was produced by former Arizona GOP chair Randy Pullen and was supposed to provide a “snapshot” of the two-million ballots cast. Some “snapshot” at 695-pages.

The hand count numbers in THIS report reflect a 15-percent error rate when compared to the machine count sponsored by the Arizona Senate Republicans. That Ninja guy.

Vote counting professional Larry Moore of Boston-based Clear Ballot Group, said this is “proof the Cyber-Ninja count wasn’t real.” No kidding.

Moore is part of a three-person Arizona group called “The Audit Guys” which includes Benny White, a GOP data analyst and Tim Halvorsen, Clear Ballot’s retired technology chief. Taken together, these three carry a lot more weight when it comes to ballot audits.

The Audit Guys called the Ninja hand count a “work of fiction,” basing their statement that 17 pages extracted from the 695-page report showing a 10-percent error rate in the counting. About 200-thousands ballots.

As I said, the whole damned thing just “keeps on giving.”

Now, other states are trying to mimic the work done in Arizona. More millions of dollars are being picked from the pockets of folks who want D. Trump back in the Oval Office.

It would all seem ridiculous if somehow you forgot the whole damned scheme is the work of Trump and his lackeys to undermine public trust in future elections. That takes it from the realm of “ridiculous” to “damned serious.”

The 2022 off-year election is just about a year away. The disgraced and twice-impeached former President is already marshaling his minions with the continued claim he “is the rightful Commander-In-Chief” and “Biden lost in 2020.” He’s making libelous claims at the top of his voice as he tries to make us all think the upcoming election will be a work of fraud if “his candidates” don’t win.

And, in a handful of states where Biden’s edge in 2020 was close, the cries of “fraud” and “cheating” are already heard from local watering holes to State Houses. How many of these states will actually conduct some sort of “fraudit” remains to be seen. But, the more that join the farce, the more “regular folks” will hear about it and all the accompanying talk of election “irregularities.” Which there weren’t!
In some ways, what Trump is doing is attempting a verbal “coup.” He’s trying to get us to disbelieve voting outcomes when he doesn’t win. His thinking is, if he can get enough Americans to doubt the stability and honesty of a national election in 2022, he can return to the White House. Especially if the numbers in many states are close. And, he’s got elected Republicans by the dozens drenching themselves in his “unholy water” as accomplices.

I know, for most people, elections are some “far off” thing that doesn’t merit attention ‘til the week before. For many years, it’s been that way. It’s different this time. Dangerously different.

This “unindicted co-conspirator” and international con artist has about 20-25-million Americans listening to his every word. Right-wing hate radio/TV are making his lies seem real with their constant yammer of support. Those folks live in a world foreign to the rest of us. Their “reality” can cause them to be a force to be reckoned with at the polls and elsewhere.

We can’t turn our backs on these people - the Trump believers and voters. National media needs to keep up-to-speed on their comings and goings. We - all of us - need to remain faithful to our traditional foundation of truth, honesty and respect for our system of governance. Our respect for free and fair elections. And the validity of their outcomes.

Here in Arizona, our “fraudit’s”done. The Ninja’s gone. Peace reigns in the Valley. Except for the bilge emanating from right wing radio. A constant reminder of what could happen if we don’t pay attention.

Burdick on the bench

Burdick on the bench

October 18, 2021

jones

Many Idaho court watchers figured the former Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, Roger Burdick, would slow down to smell the roses when he retired at the end of June. It was not to be. On September 25, Burdick played an instrumental role in the arrest of two individuals on a variety of charges in Bingham County.

While traveling on the Interstate near Blackfoot, Burdick called State Police to report that a man in another car had pointed a firearm at him. The news report of the incident did not indicate what might have evoked this aberrant behavior, but that is of little import. An arrest was made and a number of incriminating items were discovered in the gunman’s vehicle--meth, fentanyl, and four firearms. The man, a formerly convicted felon, is facing a long prison term if convicted on these new charges.

This latest episode in Burdick’s life is an interesting twist on a legal career that started as a public defender in several Magic Valley counties, then to election as Jerome County Prosecutor, capped by a remarkable forty years as a judge. He was appointed as Jerome County Magistrate Judge in 1981, as District Judge in 1983, as presiding judge for the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) in 2001, and as the 53rd Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court in 2003. He was chosen by his peers to serve two 4-year terms as Chief Justice. He distinguished himself by hard work, a keen sense of justice and fair treatment of all who came before him in each position.

I started practicing law in Jerome in 1973 and met Roger when he came to town in 1976 to practice with another Jerome attorney. He was a worthy opponent--prepared, congenial, honest, down-to-earth, a man of his word. He also kept things lively with a robust sense of humor. I moved to Boise in 1982, but kept track of Roger’s ascension through the judicial ranks from that vantage point.

After joining the Supreme Court in 2005 and serving twelve years alongside Roger, I am amazed at the impact he has had on the development of Idaho law, the improvement of the judicial system and the advancement of the rule of law.

Roger’s work in the water arena stands out, both as SRBA judge and as a member of the Supreme Court. His decisions have helped to modernize the protection and administration of this most precious resource.

With many years of service on the Idaho Judicial Council, which evaluates and recommends judges for gubernatorial appointment to the district and appellate courts, Roger was instrumental in placing highly qualified men and women in those key judicial positions. Idaho takes a back seat to no state with its excellent judges.

Roger was a leader in efforts to professionalize Idaho’s public defender system, to improve management of Idaho’s courts, to support problem-solving courts which help criminal defendants get their lives back on track, to dramatically improve Idaho’s guardianship and conservatorship laws, and to inform the public about the workings of the court system.

It was interesting to work with Roger in the extremely important job of dispensing justice to parties in about 135 cases per year--mostly civil disputes, but around 10% of the State’s most important criminal cases. He has a finely honed sense of justice--sensitive to the concerns of each side, but dedicated to come down on the side with the best argument under the law. It is a tough business and I witnessed a number of occasions where Roger ruled against the side that he would prefer to have won. That’s what an excellent jurist must do.

Roger has taken senior status on the Court so he will occasionally participate in cases where another Justice has a conflict. I know he will continue to do a good job there. I only hope he can resist getting involved in any more law enforcement matters where his opponents are armed to the teeth.
 

The Delta flights

October 17, 2021

hartgen

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who flies in and out of Twin Falls or other Southern Idaho airports that Delta Air Lines is trimming its Salt Lake daily flights from three flights to one for Twin Falls. The COVID pandemic has affected the airline industry all across the country as fewer people fly and the airlines have imposed mask restrictions and other measures.

Sure it’s a loss but probably a temporary one. Flights in and out of Twin Falls have varied over the decades, rising and falling with customer demand and the overall economy. The same pattern exists for other small regional markets. The new alternative flight to and from Denver siphoned off some eastbound travelers who previously were changing planes in Salt Lake City and sometimes again to get to the East Coast.

The airline industry has had to reshape flight schedules and frequencies all over the country. Western smaller communities such as Twin Falls, have been among those hurt the most because they’re often farther away from Boise or other regional hubs such as Spokane.

Losing flights is no community picnic, but is mostly one of temporary inconvenience.We see this same pattern in other Western communities with similar smaller airports and long distances to the closest hubs. These locations have suffered similar ups and downs over the decades. Just this year, for example, flights in and out of Pocatello were reduced, while air traffic to Idaho Falls has remained steady, and Lewiston picked up additional air service direct to and from Denver.

Years ago when airlines were subsidized by tax dollars to serve smaller communities, there were bigger planes but often little frequency. With the ending of airline subsidization, airlines have had to make difficult choices on which cities to serve and how often. That affects airports directly.

Other factors have played an influence here too, beyond the COVID pandemic. More fuel-efficient planes, often with extra seating, allows airlines to shape flight patterns to meet changing demands and conditions.

To some degree we saw the same during the economic contraction in the 2008 – 2011 recession. As that contraction lessened, flights returned to Twin Falls and its major hub, Salt Lake City. Boardings and freight both took a hit and certainly, customer convenience and amenities declined.

On the upside, the current economic environment gave airlines the ability to drop most “pet” and “emotional support” animals as flying partners, which was a good thing. If you’ve flown next to a yapping toy dog or a meowing cat, you know true annoyance. People were taking advantage of the pet rule as a way of saving money and get fie-fie on a flight without putting fie-fie in the cargo hold. The airlines put up with this for too long and new restrictions are a welcome change.

As to the future, no one should worry that the flights to and from Salt Lake City will return. They will, as the economy improves, the pandemic lessens and business and convenience travel pick up again. In the meantime, we still have a daily flight to and from Salt Lake, as well as the new Denver connection.

These two represent about what the Magic Valley can support currently. You can still fly pretty much anywhere by boarding in Twin Falls, which has free parking, and a modern terminal that befits the size of the market.

The city, the airlines, and economic development efforts have all made it clear that air service to this smaller community in the West will continue and they deserve credit for staying with it despite challenges.

The Magic Valley is still more than hundred miles from Boise and almost twice that far from Salt Lake City. That distance hasn’t changed. The geography of location means that were subject to changing transportation patterns. They affect cities large and small, including Boise and Twin Falls. So take heart, Southern Idahoans. We’ll get the flights back. We just don’t know when.

Stephen Hartgen, Twin Falls, is a retired five-term Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives, where he served as chairman of the Commerce & Human Resources Committee.  Previously, he was editor and publisher of The Times-News (1982-2005). He can be reached at Stephen_Hartgen@hotmail.com
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The honest ire of Betsy Johnson

October 16, 2021

meador

A refreshing gift to political moderates came on Thursday when Oregon state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) announced her long-considered candidacy for Oregon’s governor. Johnson, a blunt-spoken, middle-of-the-road Democrat with 20 years of service in the Oregon Legislature, is ditching her caucus for the moment and running unaffiliated. In this wide-open race, Johnson is a welcome addition.

Of course, with rigid political ideology all the rage these days, ideological purists on both sides of the aisle will ignore Johnson’s well-known record of bridge-building and downplay her importance in this race. That’s okay for now. But Johnson’s no-nonsense voice will be difficult to disregard the closer we get to the primary.

“Having to choose between another left-wing liberal promising more of the same or a right-wing Trump apologist — is no choice at all,” Johnson stated in an email to her supporters. “Oregonians deserve better than the excesses and nonsense of the extreme left and radical right… That’s why I have decided to run... as an independent leader unaffiliated with any party and loyal only to the people of Oregon.” In the Democrat caucus, such words would most often be glibly spilled in an effort to win an election. Republican, too, for that matter. But when Johnson says it like that, I have no trouble believing her. She’s frank, she knows what she’s doing and she means what she says.

Johnson caught my attention when she ran the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) aeronautics division back in the 1990s. She was chosen for this role for a reason — it wasn’t a random assignment. Why? Because Johnson was the first woman certified by the U.S. Forest Service to fly external loads on forest fires. Yep, Johnson is a licensed helicopter and fixed-wing pilot and the Forest Service certified her to fly helicopters carrying an airborne dump tank used to fight forest conflagrations. This is no small achievement. She flew as a commercial pilot and then, in 1978, established the company which became Transwestern Aviation. The firm now serves as the fixed base operator (FBO) at the Scappoose airport.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Johnson earned her undergraduate degree in history from Carleton College before attending the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College, where she was awarded her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1977.

After working for ODOT, Johnson moved over to the Oregon Pilots Association (OPA). As vice president of legislative affairs for the lobbyist, she pushed legislation to create the Oregon Department of Aviation. Johnson has played key roles for the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Oregon Public Broadcasting Foundation and the High Desert Museum. Johnson currently serves on several boards including the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. In addition, she is the current president of the Samuel S. Johnson Foundation.

Johnson was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2000. Representing the southwest corner of Oregon’s District 1, Johnson quickly made a name for herself as a consensus-builder who got things done. Two years later, she moved north and handily took District 31, earning a landslide victory when she was reelected for her third term.

Johnson’s third term was interrupted when she was appointed to the empty seat of Oregon Senate District 16. She was reelected to four terms — once in a fairly close race and thrice by huge margins, in what’s almost become a Betsy Johnson trademark.

Johnson’s two decades as a Democrat in the legislature produced a voting record that’s about as centrist as it gets. Her tenure was marked by leadership roles in several key committees — her low-key style never seeking headlines but her achievements keeping her in Oregon news anyway. Notably, Johnson has served on the powerful Ways and Means Committee since she was first seated in the Senate.

It quickly became known that, if you testified before one of Johnson’s committees, you’d better have come prepared or you’d face her withering wrath. That honest ire, by far, is my favorite Johnson attribute — but, then, I’ve never been on the receiving end of it. Johnson is possessed of a refreshing blunt-spokenness, a penchant for telling it like it is in language that is exceptionally, um, direct.

Johnson comes from a timber family so she’s got long-time ties to the state’s lumber interests. Her moderate Republican father, who served six terms in the Oregon House, influenced Johnson but she abandoned the GOP when it tacked too far right. In recent months, Johnson has aligned herself with a broad swath of disaffected voters who are disgusted with the mess in Portland and troubled by the state’s current lack of strong leadership.

If you know me well, you’ve probably heard me say I’ve met every Oregon governor who served during my lifetime except Tom McCall. I’ve known and followed some better than others but one characteristic nearly all of them shared was their unyielding commitment to this state, above everything else. Oh, yes, there have been several opportunists among the lot — don’t get me started on the one occupying the governor’s seat right now — where the commitment to the state is well down the list. But most of them loved this state and its people. Clearly, this doesn’t mean I agreed with them on matters of policy or practice but I genuinely admired their sense of responsibility and duty to Oregon.

Johnson will unquestionably join the august ranks of those governors totally committed to our state. She has nothing to prove to anyone, least of all herself.

Naturally, Republicans will eye Johnson’s independent campaign as an opportunity. Will a Johnson campaign act as a spoiler to split the left-hand vote? Will Johnson’s campaign achieve the momentum to garner enough centrist support and be a serious contender? Could the Democrats eventually coalesce around a candidate like Johnson? Can enough moderate voters come together to overpower the ideologically unyielding true believers on both sides? Or will a red tide roar in, securing a successor to Vic Atiyeh and washing out a Johnson campaign?

I believe I know the answer to a couple of those questions. But I could be wrong and the others are anyone’s guess. Whatever the case, this race will likely be the most interesting Oregon gubernatorial contest of my lifetime. And Betsy Johnson jumping in just made it even better.