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My Page: Jill Kuraitis

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Column

“I will not apologize for making an innocent comment,” said Rex Rammell, Republican candidate for governor of Idaho.

Eastern Idaho veterinarian Rammell held a press conference in Boise this morning at which he defiantly refused to apologize for his remark about “Obama tags.”

Rammell began by reading a press release out loud in which he denounced the Republican leaders who admonished him. He thinks they are overreacting, a theme which stayed with him to the end of the event.  “Instead of tearing at my flesh like the political wolves that you are, over something as insignificant as a response to a jest taken out of context, why aren’t you doing something to make Idaho a better place to live?”

Rammell insisted that because his remark was “taken out of context” that he shouldn’t be condemned.

Local TV reporter: “So you’re not going to apologize?”

Rammell: “No.”

Judge could halt scheduled wolf hunt

Wolf hunters and conservationists are waiting Tuesday morning for a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula on whether the scheduled opening day for hunting wolves can proceed.  Here is some recommended reading:

Monday’s latest from NewWest.Net’s Amy Linn is a full report on the lawsuit by 13 groups in a coalition represented by Earthjustice. Linn was in the courtroom yesterday and it’s a fascinating you-are-there piece on this controversial issue.

“Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the courtroom came when Earthjustice attorney Honnold said reintroduction won’t be a success until 3,000 to 5,000 wolves are in the northern Rockies—up to three times more wolves than today’s numbers. The statement drew audible gasps from the pro-hunt contingent.”

Also yesterday, the Spokane Spokesman-Review’s Betsy Russell had three short, informative pieces. Excerpts and links:

Gov. Otter calls statement reckless and inflammatory

The day after calls to the Idaho congressional delegation from columnists, bloggers, and constituents to respond to Rex Rammell’s statement about buying an “Obama tag” during a speech about wolf hunting tags, they have.

Rammell is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.

Governor Butch Otter said, “Reckless and inflammatory statements like these gravely damage confidence in the political process and the good citizens who serve the public. As Governor, as an Idaho Republican and as a citizen of our state, I reject and condemn this kind of rhetoric. There is no place for it in Idaho.”

“Rex Rammell’s comments are in very poor taste and should not have been said,” said Crapo. “Remarks like these should not even be made jokingly. We are engaged in a critical national debate over many major issues facing our country today. Remarks like these are not only unhelpful in that debate, but they undermine it. He should apologize for those remarks and for the perception they may have created.”

Rex Rammell says he was joking

UPDATE, Friday Aug. 28, 9:45 AM: Rammell released this: “Due to the large amount of press concerning his statement Dr. Rammell would like to clarify his comment: ‘Anyone who understands the law, knows I was just joking, because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington D.C.’”

You’ve probably heard that Jared Hopkins, reporter from the Twin Falls Times-News, reported in another one of his scoop-them-all stories that at a Republican fundraiser Wednesday in Twin Falls, Idaho Republican candidate for governor Rex Rammell gave a speech.

Hopkins wrote, “After an audience member shouted a question about ‘Obama tags’ during a discussion on wolves, Rammell responded, ‘The Obama tags? We’d buy some of those.’”

Rammell told Hopkins it was a joke.

Let’s start with some basics. What would Rammell’s mother say? Mine would have said, “Threatening the President is a felony, and you will never say anything like that again. Clear?”

What would Rammell’s father say? Mine would have said, “I expect you to take this matter seriously. And if you ever hear anyone make a statement threatening the President, you will loudly object and then call the police.”

Dad meant the law enforcement experience to make an impression on the person who threatened the President and thought it was funny, not to have the threatener arrested.

Editorial/Opinion

A crowd of about two hundred frustrated, anti-health care reform, anti-President Obama Idaho citizens heated up a hotel ballroom in Boise Saturday night.

They were there to give Rep. Walt Minnick, D-CD1, a piece of their minds.

Unlike town halls held in other states, this crowd stayed reasonably in order, although there were waves of audience-wide booing and remonstration. But they listened to a calm Minnick even when they disagreed with him, which was often. When he didn’t give an answer they wanted to hear, Minnick forged ahead and seemed unruffled by negative reactions.

“With everything that is going on around us, the tyranny that is going on around us, my question is what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about our constitutional rights?” asked T.J Lacey, who leads a group called the 9-12 Project. 

Minnick answered that he promised to protect those rights when he was sworn in. Not satisfied, the crowd broke in with questions challenging him on the constitutionality of the health care bill.

Column

These are emotional days for a lot of people in Idaho.

In one afternoon, a serial killer was sentenced to two life terms for murdering two young Idaho men, and two horrifying arrests were made for the murder of a little Boise boy.

When the news of Tuesday afternoon’s arrests in the murder of eight-year-old Robert Manwill of Boise hit the internet and airwaves, it was nothing Boiseans didn’t expect, but still very painful for not only the thousands of sorrowful volunteers who spent days searching for Robert, but his father, his extended family and thousands of others, including me.

That the prime suspects are Robert’s own mother and her boyfriend is sickening. Wednesday, both were charged with first-degree murder and the repeated violent torture of the little boy.

Call to Participate

Up to 50,000 people can join conference calls with Rep. Walt Minnick of Idaho’s First District. The first will be August 19 and the second August 31, both at 6:00 PM Pacific Time, 7:00 Mountain Time.

Minnick said because it isn’t possible to meet with people in every town or community to talk about health care, but “the telephone town hall is an easy and free way for my constituents to learn more and to tell me what they think.”

“I also hope to announce soon an event organized specifically to bring together representatives from seemingly divergent interests for a serious and substantive discussion to find Idaho’s ‘common ground’ on health care and how it is impacting our economy,” Minnick said. “I want to take back to my colleagues in Washington, D.C., a set of principles to bridge the current divides, a set of principles upon which the vast majority of Idahoans can agree.”

To join one of the telephone town halls, constituents should call one of Minnick’s offices to ask to be listed for the call. Find the numbers on Minnick's website.

[more]

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter Want Train Service Restored to the West

Is this train bound for Boise?

Under the boiling sun on the sizzling cement platform at the historic Boise Train Depot, U.S. Senator Mike Crapo and Boise Mayor Dave Bieter announced the probable return of Amtrak to Boise.

Speaking to a crowd which included lots of guys in railroad hats, the announcement from Crapo that “we’re working to reestablish the old Pioneer Route” brought sincere cheers, and they weren’t the staged kind often heard at these kind of events.

A preliminary analysis from J. L. Patterson Associates, a transportation engineering firm in California, should be ready this week, and “we expect a positive evaluation from the report,” said Crapo. [more]

Stimulus Money

Having once written that Boise’s Vista Boulevard, a main artery into the city from the interstate, was a “tasteless trail of trashiness,” I’m happy to hear that the Vista Interchange project broke ground this morning.

In a press release, Governor Otter said, “For thousands of people a day, the Vista Interchange is the Treasure Valley’s gateway to commerce. It provides a primary link from Idaho’s largest airport to our largest metropolitan area. It’s the first part of Idaho that many people see on the ground, so it plays an important role in our efforts to attract and retain quality employers who provide the kinds of careers our people need.”

Anybody who follows Idaho politics knows that Otter is a madly enthusiastic road-builder, and has spent a lot of political capital fighting for the money he thinks is needed. There is a backlog of road and bridge repair and new construction of over $240 million dollars in the state, and the past two legislative sessions have been mighty power struggles between the governor and the legislature to allocate money to address it. [more]

Supreme Court nomination

Idaho Republican Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch each issued statements Monday saying they’ll vote against the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Each object to her stance on the Second Amendment and other topics.

Crapo: “Judge Sotomayor has distinguished herself throughout her career, serving as a strong role model for many as she has excelled in her chosen field. She has demonstrated one of the greatest things about America—the opportunity to become whatever you want with your God-given abilities. I enjoyed my meeting with her and found her to be a personable individual.

“However, after having studied her positions and taken careful consideration through the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings earlier this month, I have concluded that I cannot vote to confirm her to a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court. Her testimony was evasive and lacked substance; in some circumstances, it was misleading and even contradictory to her own previous statements and writings.

“Most particularly, I found a number of her rulings and writings to be of great concern. First, she rejects that all Americans have an individual 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In the Maloney case, she wrote that the right to bear arms is in fact not a “fundamental” right. If confirmed, she may very well be on the Court to hear that very case, Maloney. Even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Idaho, has ruled the opposite way in a similar case--that the 2nd Amendment is binding on the states. Should Judge Sotomayor’s position in Maloney be upheld by the Supreme Court, Idahoans would lose their 2nd Amendment protection against state gun control laws.

“Also troubling is that she has made statements acknowledging that her experience allows her to choose the facts she wants to see when determining a case, rather than applying the law. And she has repeatedly stated that U.S. judges may look to foreign law to interpret the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the United States to maintain our country’s standing in the world community. The U.S. Supreme Court has directly reviewed ten of Judge Sotomayor’s decisions, and eight of those have been reversed or vacated. Most recently, the Court reversed a decision noted in an unsigned and unpublished opinion without any analysis regarding Ricci v. DeStefano, commonly called the New Haven firefighters case. [more]

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