For the week of March 26 - April 1, 2003

No joke

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The name-calling has begun, and it’s a sure sign the Legislature should wind up its business and go home.

It started when three Idaho Democrats, including House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet of Ketchum, voted to oppose an ill-conceived resolution calling on Congress to get the U.S. out of the United Nations.

The committee voted 4-3 in a party-line vote to send the poorly written rant about to be printed and to receive further consideration.

House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, though not a member of the committee, attended its public meeting. Following the vote, he "jokingly" referred to the Democrats as "communists." His comment was reported in a Boise newspaper.

Jaquet, who represents District 25 that includes Blaine County, said it was no joke.

Politicians are used to being called a lot of things by a lot of people—but, joke or no joke, this was over the top—especially from the Speaker of the House, who controls decorum in that body.

Blaine County’s elected officials long have been accustomed to unflattering characterizations as Brie-eating Chardonnay sipping trust-fund dilettantes by know-nothing outsiders. Blaine County residents have laughed this stuff off for years, without returning the verbal fire that could reasonably be peppered with references to spuds, Spam and downstream beer.

For members of the Legislature’s micro-minority party to be called "communists" by the House Speaker is no laughing matter, especially in this time of war. The subtext and partisan nature of the crack were abundantly clear.

Newcomb is familiar with the distress in Idaho when it was unfairly branded as a friendly haven for gun-toting hate-spewing members of the Aryan Nations. He is familiar with the recruiting difficulties faced by businesses because of the misconception that Idaho is unfriendly to minorities.

It’s a good bet that Newcomb would take offense if his good name or his party’s name were used in the same sentence with the words "Neo-Nazis," "Fascists" or "racists"—even in jest.

Newcomb owes the Democrats an apology. The full House should offer its own official rebuke by voting to censure his comments and to restore civility to debate in the capitol.

 

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