OPINION: Cheers & Jeers: Most Idaho, Washington members of Congress vote to save Ukraine

CHEERS .... to the Washington and Idaho members of the House and Senate who saved Ukraine — and possibly eastern Europe — from Vladimir Putin’s onslaught.

Among those voting to end a six-month drought of American military aid — a linchpin of Putin’s strategy to outlast the West — with $61 billion were:

Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch.

Idaho Republican Congressman Mike Simpson.

Washington Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse.

Washington Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

For the Republicans, this vote meant not only challenging their presumptive presidential nominee, Putin acolyte Donald Trump, but also facing up to the isolationist wing of their own Republican Party.

But the situation in Ukraine was dire. Not only were Ukrainian soldiers outmanned and outgunned but morale in the face of American indecision was wavering.

“It’s not just that Ukraine’s forces are running out of ammunition. Western delays over sending aid mean the country is dangerously short of something even harder to supply than shells: the fighting spirit required to win,” Politico’s Jamie Dettmer filed from Kyiv.

The tables could turn as Western munitions systems enable Ukrainians to target Russian military assets far behind the lines.

“Thanks to President Biden and a strong bipartisan majority in Congress — and most of all to what might be hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded Ukrainians who fought through the darkest moments — the survival of an independent Ukraine looks more certain than it did a week ago,” wrote the Washington Post’s David Ignatius.

JEERS ... to Congressman Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho.

As columnist George Will put it, Fulcher cast his lot with the “112 ignoble House Republicans voting to condemn Ukraine to death, starved of such military basics as artillery shells.”

This is nothing new for Fulcher, who has toed the Freedom Caucus/MAGA line when it comes to destabilizing NATO or undermining Ukrainian resistance.

Perhaps Fulcher has been duped by Russian propaganda.

Or he’s an opportunist who believes following the path of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is politically safer.

The fourth paragraph of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s biography is replete with his appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the early 1940s.

What will the fourth paragraph of Fulcher’s biography say?

JEERS ... to Sens. Dan Foreman, R-Viola, and Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, as well as retiring Rep. Mike Kingsley, R-Lewiston.

They’ve topped the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s voting index.

Foreman’s record is ranked ninth best.

Carlson comes in at 12th.

Kingsley is next at 13th.

That’s extreme. Nobody would accuse House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, of being a moderate. But the IFF says Moyle is a disappointment. He’s ranked 39th with failing scores on “freedom” and “spending” issues.

Just what does it take to win the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s affection?

You have to prefer spreading deadly pandemics over taking prudent public health measures.

You have to support circumventing the Idaho voters by sabotaging expanded Medicaid coverage to the working poor.

You have to embrace draining state money from your own community schools and handing it over to urban economic elites who can afford to place their kids in private education.

You have to oppose helping the third of Idaho women who need Medicaid for maternity care by expanding postpartum coverage for 12 months.

And you have to block efforts to protect children from getting addicted to vaping.

In short, you have to stop serving your constituents and quit thinking for yourself.

JEERS ... to Idaho House candidate Colton Bennett, of Moscow.

Engaged in a three-way GOP primary contest next month involving Rep. Lori McCann, of Lewiston, and David Dalby, of Moscow, Bennett is correct to bemoan lack of progress toward addressing the skyrocketing property taxes afflicting homeowners. Key to that has been Speaker Moyle’s refusal to update the Homestead Exemption — which is supposed to shield half of a modest home’s assessed valuation from taxation — for eight years of inflation.

But he should have consulted a county assessor first.

For instance, Bennett says county commissioners should have the authority to set the parameters on the tax break.

And he would freeze property tax rates on homes occupied by retirees.

Neither is permitted under Idaho’s constitution.

That charter requires taxes to be uniform across the state. To do otherwise would allow local officials to play favorites and shift taxes from one group of property owners to another. For instance, Nez Perce County commissioners could raise the exemption’s limit from the current $125,000 to $300,000 — and thereby shift taxes on to commercial property owners. Meanwhile, Latah County commissioners could lower the cap and have homeowners paying more taxes while businesses pay less.

As far as freezing taxes, that was tried in 1978 when Idaho voters passed their version of California’s Proposition 13 — which was immediately invalidated by the state constitution’s uniformity of taxation clause.

If Bennett is serious about delivering relief to taxpayers, then his course is obvious: He has to stand up to Moyle.

Otherwise, he’s simply peddling political snake oil.

JEERS ... to Idaho Chooses Life Executive Director David Ripley.

If McCann’s correct, Ripley stood in the way of lawmakers enacting a health exception to the state’s abortion ban.

While Ripley denies it, he says a law that has women needlessly suffering because they can’t get medical care for crisis pregnancies until they’re on the verge of death is “the best law in the country.”

“I don’t think the problem is with the law, I think the problem is with the understanding of the law and the present state of ethics within the (medical) profession,” he said.

Whether or not Ripley vetoed the health exception, he’s satisfied with the outcome. — M.T.