OPINION: Cheers & Jeers: Library fans are standing for freedom

CHEERS ... to retired Lewiston High School librarian Mary Ann Funk and her fellow self-described library fans who are mounting a local defense of liberty.

The group has presented a resolution of support for the library, which the Lewiston City Council will hear May 13.

The measure comes weeks after Gov. Brad Little acquiesced to the book-banning wing of the Idaho Legislature by signing what he acknowledged to be a “stinking library bill.” The measure targets libraries for a $250 fine plus legal and liability insurance costs if they resist efforts to remove materials someone deems to be “harmful” to minors.

Until it takes effect on July 1, no one is quite sure what kind of legal deluge is headed toward public and school librarians. But the author of this yearslong effort, Idaho Family Policy Center President Blaine Conzatti, is a self-admitted theocrat who two years ago told the Idaho Capital Sun: “We really do have to choose: It’s Christ or chaos.”

In any event, people such as Idaho Falls Library Director Robert Wright says he has his city attorney’s telephone number on speed dial while Meridian Library District trustee Jeff Kohler mused about stopping minors at the library door — unless they brought a parent along.

“We couldn’t risk the legal liability otherwise,” he said.

Enter Funk, whose resolution offers a breath of fresh air:

It reiterates a library’s historical mission “as a means for people to access and borrow books to enhance knowledge and be able to attain and read books for pleasure and the pursuit of knowledge.”

It cites the synergistic relationship between the First Amendment’s guarantee to free expression and the right “to have a free and unfettered access to books in our public libraries that meet the cultural and social needs of all patrons.”

It’s a reminder that libraries support self-government by providing citizens with “free, equal and open access to information.”

Not that ordinary Idahoans need reminding. During a series of legislative hearings on the bill, testimony overwhelming opposed it — and a recent Boise State University Public Policy Survey found 69% trust librarians more than they do politicians.

But a statement of support from the elected leadership of Lewiston — as is happening in other communities across the state — is an act of defiance against a special interest-dominated Legislature that would substitute its judgment for our own.

CHEERS ... to Gabriella Green, the spouse of University of Idaho President C. Scott Green.

So far, she’s the sole donor — having contributed $25,000 — behind a political action committee, Idaho Deserves Better, which has one target: Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Viola.

As Idaho Education News’ Kevin Richert reported this week, Idaho Deserves Better’s third-party campaign has already devoted $18,558 to advertising against Foreman.

It’s not as if Foreman hasn’t earned it. During two terms in the Senate — first in 2016-18 and currently — Foreman has gone out of his way to fight the economic engine in his Latah County-based district.

He famously called Moscow a “cesspool of liberalism” and accused the UI of pursuing a “left-wing, exceedingly liberal agenda.”

Last year, he was among eight hard-right Republican senators — including Riggins’ Cindy Carlson — who opposed allocating $1 million to help the UI cover security costs in the aftermath of the Nov. 13, 2022, murders of students Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Wash.; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene.

This year, Foreman was among 12 Republican senators — again, including Carlson — who opposed the UI’s budget bill.

And whatever you think of the UI’s bid to acquire the for-profit, online University of Phoenix, Foreman helped sabotage a legislative attempt to keep the proposal alive.

If Foreman is not going to be supportive of the UI, why shouldn’t Green exercise her right as a private citizen to hold her state senator to account?

JEERS ... to House State Affairs Committee Chairperson Brent Crane, R-Nampa.

If ever there was a time to get a voter’s guide out, it is this spring’s primary election.

Too often, candidates for office are refusing to answer questions. Latah County GOP Central Committee member Dave Dalby, who faces Colton Bennett, of Moscow, and Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, blew off the Lewiston Tribune’s Laura Guido. When Idaho Education News compiled its profile of the District 6 challenge former Sen. Robert Blair is waging against Foreman, the incumbent did the same thing.

Secretary of State Phil McGrane proposed preparing a guide that would include candidate information — and presumably people like Dalby and Foreman would have a tougher time ignoring their voters.

Although the state Senate agreed, Crane buried it in his desk drawer.

McGrane tried again this year. It would have been too late for the spring primary campaign. But had the bill passed, the secretary of state’s office could have prepared a voter guide in time for the Nov. 5 general election.

Again, the Senate agreed.

And, again, Crane refused to give it a hearing.

What’s Crane afraid of? That some voters in Canyon County might get ideas about supporting someone else?

JEERS ... to U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch as well as Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, all R-Idaho.

They’re behind a measure — the Don’t Develop Obstructive Infrastructure on our Terrain (Don’t Do IT) Act — that takes aim against the Lava Ridge Wind Project, which would place 370 wind turbines across 146,000 Bureau of Land Management acres in southern Idaho.

The problem lies in its mechanics — essentially giving state legislators a veto over federal land management.

What’s next? Allowing lawmakers to block timber sales, grazing permits or mining leases?

And if Idaho gives its lawmakers final say about the use of federal lands in the Gem State, what’s to stop Nevada legislators from permanently blocking the nuclear waste repository that remains key to implementing the Batt Settlement Agreement at the Idaho National Laboratory?

Pander today and open Pandora’s box tomorrow. — M.T.