Nov. 3 Letters Part 5: Our Readers’ Opinions

It depends on your vote

This presidential election offers voters a choice between tyranny, racism, uncaring, malevolence and prevarication or honesty, authenticity, rationality, respectfulness, integrity and steadfastness.

Vote as if continuing our democratic republic form of government depends on your vote. It does.

Mary Ann Davidson

Grangeville

Support Lori McCann

Even though I am not in Lori McCann’s Idaho district, I still believe she has been and would continue to be an excellent representative.

Not only does she have experience in the Legislature, but she has for several years been involved with our educational system and has managed a family ranch, her husband’s attorney office and their residential and commercial rentals.

She’s a conservative, independent thinker. She tries to see beyond the current political horizon and what will be the long-term consequences for her constituents.

It’s because of her character and experience that I ask you to support her with your vote.

Ged W. Randall

Lewiston

Vote for Fry as sheriff

I am writing to express my strong support for James Fry as the next sheriff of Latah County. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside James for many years, and his exceptional leadership and dedication to justice are unmatched.

James played a key role in the investigation that led to the first-degree murder conviction of Charles Capone in the Rachael Anderson case, even without a body being recovered. His expertise and commitment were instrumental in securing this conviction, highlighting his capability as an investigator and leader.

James is well respected throughout Latah County and in the law enforcement community. As sheriff, he will address the jail issues facing the county and continue the excellent service he provided as the Moscow police chief. His understanding of budgets and ability to collaborate with commissioners ensure he will be effective in managing the sheriff’s office.

What sets James apart is his compassionate approach to victims of violence, his insistence on accountability and his emphasis on the value of training and development within his team. He knows that a strong law enforcement agency is built on trust, community service and leadership.

Latah County needs James Fry as sheriff. He will elevate the department and serve the community with the same integrity and dedication he’s shown throughout his career. I encourage everyone to vote for James Fry.

Dan Hally

Clarkston

Don’t forget the past

People who forget the past are doomed to repeat the same mistakes again and again. Those who, even though Donald Trump himself admits he wants to be a dictator and admires Adolf Hitler, will say, “Well, yeah, but he doesn’t really mean it.” When Trump threatens to use the military to exact retribution on the “enemy within,” trust me: He means it.

Vladimir Putin denied any intention to invade Ukraine up to the day before he invaded Ukraine.

In 1938, Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Great Britain, came back from meeting Hitler waving a piece of paper claiming he had assurances from Hitler he would not invade other countries. He claimed he had achieved “peace for our time.” Within a year, Hitler invaded Poland and started World War II.

The new generations who would have Trump in the most powerful position in the world were not alive during WWII. To them, “Never again,” means nothing.

Read the poem “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemoller.

Terry Amiel

Lewiston

Election wasn’t sloppy

Why would I ever bother to read a commentary opinion from some who is telling baldfaced lies as the headline? Cindy Agidius (Oct. 13 Tribune) was telling us about the “sloppy 2020 election.”

No one thinks the election was sloppy except the losing party. Why do you print those lies?

Brad Stewart

Lewiston

Is the sign believable?

“Vote yes, pay less,” the Initiative 2117 sign reads. Catchy, but is it true? Initiative 2117, we’re told, will benefit low-income working people by cutting costs, including gasoline and energy.

A look at the other three initiatives might shed light on this claim. All four were put on the ballot by the same political committee: Let’s Go Washington, founded by millionaire hedge-fund owner Brian Heywood. If 2117 is designed to save money for low-earners, we can expect the other three measures to reflect or at least not conflict with this purpose. That isn’t the case, however.

How 2066’s repeal of “regulations that discourage natural gas use and/or promote electrification” will impact low-income people isn’t clear. However, U.S. natural gas prices are likely to rise while electricity remains comparatively cheap in Washington state.

Initiative 2124 “would decrease funding for Washington’s public insurance program providing long-term care benefits and services.” For low-income seniors, then, affordable long-term care may become a thing of the past.

Initiative 2109 would decrease funding for “early learning and childcare,” among other things. Where does that leave working families with young children? Moreover, it would repeal a certain excise tax for “individuals who have annual capital gains of over $250,000.” Who’s saving money here?

No, a consistent pro-working people stance doesn’t come through in these four initiatives. This calls into question the claim being made about 2117. Let’s be wary of believing that sign. “Vote yes, so I can pay less” might be more accurate.

William Engels

Pullman

Dawes backs public ed

Thousands of dollars from outside of Idaho have been pouring into Idaho District 6 (Latah, Lewis and part of Nez Perce counties) to defeat me as a candidate for House Seat B, by promoting my opponent and telling lies about where I stand on various issues.

These efforts are supported by the American Federation for Children, a conservative dark money group based in Dallas, Texas, which uses millions of dollars from the billionaire DeVos family to promote school privatization policies passed into law in several states. Now they are targeting Idaho’s “pro-public school” candidates using postcard mailers, phone calls, polls and text messages with false statements to sway this election.

If you receive any of these items or messages, please ignore them.

I am a retired educator who is passionate about supporting our public schools, the centers of our rural Idaho communities. If I am elected, you can count on me to do everything possible to make sure our public schools receive the support they need, including well-maintained facilities, to move Idaho up from the bottom of the list of states in funding per child, where we have been for many years. I will not support any kind of “voucher” or “tax credit” scheme that will affect public school funding. As your legislator, my duty will be to the Idaho Constitution to “establish and maintain a general, uniform, and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

I would be honored to represent you in District 6. Please vote for me.

Kathy Dawes

Moscow

Vote for Julia Parker

Julia Parker is running against Dan Foreman for the Idaho District 6 Senate seat, a race that all voters regardless of party affiliation should be keenly aware of, especially after Foreman, at a recent candidate forum, embarrassingly made national news by telling a candidate in another race, who is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, to go back to where she came from. This immature and ill-informed response is indicative of the kind of leadership he has displayed as a senator representing our district.

District 6 has a clear choice to elect Julia Parker who has already shown maturity and sound decision-making as a mother, as a nurse specializing in elder care and as an elected official on the Moscow City Council. She is well-informed about a multitude of issues our district faces and as our senator will represent the majority of her constituents.

Karen Jennings

Moscow

Nation’s soul is at stake

The 2024 presidential election will be our most consequential since 1860; at stake is the very soul of this nation.

Will this republic remain a representative democracy striving toward a more perfect union with liberty and justice for all, or betray the founders’ vision, the Constitution and the brave folks who’ve served, died and were maimed protecting democracy here and around the world and join authoritarian Russia and North Korea under the thumb of a dictator?

How sad is it that some Americans believe scientists, scholars, historians, economists, generals and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceiving them while a reality TV star with decades of adjudicated fraud and exhaustively documented lying is a beacon of truth and honesty?

Sad as well is the current state of the Republican Party. It isn’t conservative; it’s extreme ... .

The Trump camp is still claiming the 2020 elections were rigged and he actually won despite offering zero credible evidence. Trump-appointed judges tossed their court cases, his ex-administration folks have denied his claims and a Trump-funded investigation couldn’t find fraud, yet on it goes ... . He’s already sowing the seeds of doubt in 2024 and no doubt will claim victory no matter the outcome ... .

There are apparently a lot more people guided by unbridled emotion than patriotism, so this race is historically close and many on the right predict violence if it doesn’t go their way.

Fascism has reared its ugly head and that head is sporting a comb-over.

Johnnie Martinez

Lewiston

Vote for Lori McCann

Please join me in voting to reelect Lori McCann to the Idaho State House of Representatives, representing District 6.

Lori’s vast experience in business, education, agriculture and having served for three sessions uniquely qualify her for the position. She is a moral, ethical person and is a true leader in our community. Lori listens and is committed to doing the best job possible for her constituents.

Vote Lori McCann on Tuesday.

Dale R. Alldredge

Lewiston

Understanding freedom

Judging from his website, Brandon Mitchell seems like a decent fellow, and his campaign signs claim that “freedom counts.” So what’s not to like?

Well, Mitchell, along with so many of his Republican colleagues, seems dismayingly confused over the definition of freedom. Freedom to vote? Nah. Freedom of a woman to make her own reproductive decisions? Nope. Freedom of local schools and communities from state control? No way.

Kathy Dawes actually understands where “freedom” counts. Freedom from discrimination. Freedom to make decisions about their own health care. Freedom from government overreach.

Vote Dawes for a more free Idaho.

Tim Steury

Potlatch

The wrong direction

My grandfather, the son of German-speaking immigrants, fought for his country against the Germans in World War I. He, along with my grandmother and many other relatives, grew up in the Uniontown area at a time when the Mass was, of course, in Latin but the sermon was in German. My grandparents and great-grandparents, like many of your readers’ forbearers at one time or another, endured anti-immigrant political rhetoric that swept the country at that time.

A little more than a century ago, when Woodrow Wilson was president, German-Americans were vilified: they were the invading Huns. Some, including Hans Kuhnwald, the concertmeister of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, were interred. Throughout the country, the German-American press was heavily censored; libraries had to pull German books off the shelves. In 1918, a German man, Robert Prager, was lynched in Illinois, fueled in part by the xenophobia rhetoric of politicians looking to promote U.S. entry into WWI to fight the Germans.

Hateful speech targeting immigrants has ramped up to a near-fever pitch at some recent Donald Trump rallies. We should not forget what those just a few generations ago withstood. These were our own grandparents, great-grandparents and beyond. The Germans, the Chinese, the Italians, the Irish, the Mexicans, the Native Americans, the African Americans. All of them. All of us.

We are so much better than the dark xenophobic vision that pretends that we haven’t seen all of this before. That is not the direction our country should go.

David Thill

Clarkston

Vote yes on Prop 1

Since the Republicans closed their primary in 2011, it’s been 13 years of increasing bad luck for Idaho politics and the election of legislators who represent the people.

At the time of the primary, the minority of voters is electing the majority of legislators and other office holders.

For the past 20 or more years, Idaho has seen an influx of people with a desire to push legislation further to the right and set up fiefdoms. They fail to recognize the integrity of our communities. Their desire for ideological control fuels disharmony in all manner of relationships.

Tens of thousands of dollars of out-of-state money tilt the political table in Idaho. Prepackaged legislation arrives from out of state and far right loyalists do what they are told.

The Republicans’ “loyalty” expectations are hindering qualified candidates who care about representing the people of Idaho. In some counties, Republican central committees have held punitive tribunals to censure elected officials for representing the well-being of their constituents. These committees also set themselves above others to “vet” candidates in any and all races. These “vetted” candidates are often more concerned about gaining the approval of the far right than in doing what is best for Idaho’s citizens.

Opening up the primaries is a first step to restoring majority representation in Idaho politics. Let’s return to choosing talented and capable legislators and others who work for the majority of the people of Idaho.

Vote yes on Proposition 1.

Sandra Goffinet

Orofino

He’s no Washington

Tom Nichols writes in The Atlantic that Donald Trump is the tyrant that George Washington feared: “Trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that Washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation. They are the incarnation of Washington’s misgivings about populism, partisanship, and the spirit of revenge that Washington lamented as the animating forces of party politics.”

Washington also feared, in the midst of constant political warfare, some citizens would come to seek “security and repose in the absolute power of an individual,” and that eventually a demagogue would exploit that sentiment. Voila. Enter Donald the demon dumpster.

Nichols also says no other president in history, even the worst moral scoundrels among them, is more the antithesis of George Washington than Trump.

Yet somehow “Washington’s nightmare” has convinced his millions of brainwashed minions that he should rule this country with the undisputed right to do whatever he wants with it? Holy buffalo chips, skatman. Gadzooks.

Washington would never have given control of this country to a hateful, lying, misogynistic, xenophobic, narcissistic, racist criminal grifter. And a treasonous despot to boot. And neither can we.

Mike Epstein

Clarkston