Congressman Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, says he won’t debate his Democratic opponent, Kaylee Peterson, because she’s not worthy.

“It is the view of the Fulcher team that the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in ’22 has not mounted a viable political campaign for the upcoming general election and that her strategy may be to use public debates with Mr. Fulcher as her primary means of gathering attention,” a Fulcher aide told the Idaho Statesman. “We are willing, able and eager to debate and run our own campaign, but unwilling to be the primary enabler for hers.”

What nonsense.

Fulcher has all the advantages in this campaign — he’s the better financed, better-known, Republican incumbent in a Republican state running in a Republican year.

Peterson is a novice.

How could sharing the stage with her possibly derail his march toward a third term?

Unless, of course, it’s not Peterson who has him worried.

Maybe it’s the questions she’s likely to ask. For instance:

l What have you got against Idaho sportsmen, anglers, target shooters and outdoor enthusiasts? You went out of your way this year, joining with 56 Republican extremists, to gut the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937. With the 11% excise tax Pittman-Robertson attaches on hunting firearms, ammunition and bows and arrows — as well as a 10% excise tax on handguns — Pittman-Robertson has generated more than $15 billion for such things as hunter safety programs, shooting ranges, conservation easements, elk and deer management and restoration of wildfire-damaged areas. In that 85 years, it has provided Idaho programs with $263.5 million. Kill Pittman-Robertson and you impose a 16% budget cut on Idaho Fish and Game’s programs.

l What’s your problem with your former fellow employees at Micron Technology? You voted against the CHIPS Act, which targeted $52 billion toward encouraging more domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. Passage of CHIPS was instrumental in Micron’s decision to build a $15 billion plant in Boise. Without it, the ribbon-cutting ceremony would have occurred in Asia.

l When did you turn against military veterans? Twice, you voted against helping more veterans who got sick after being exposed to toxic burn pits — used to dispose everything from trash to munitions, hazardous wastes and chemicals — in Iraq and Afghanistan. As many as 3.5 million people who answered the call to service have been afflicted with ailments such as cancer, asthma, high blood pressure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Had Congress followed your lead on this, most of them still would be waiting for help from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

l When did you lose reverence for the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power? During the course of the past two years, you have distinguished yourself by voting to decertify the results of the 2020 presidential election — even after insurrectionists acting at the behest of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. None of your other Idaho colleagues took that step. You also refused to establish an independent commission to investigate the insurrection. As the evidence has mounted implicating Trump in the events leading up to and including the insurrection, you’ve remained silent. Answer this question: Is Joe Biden the legitimately elected president of the United States?

l Russian President Vladimir Putin can always count on your support. Why? You weren’t in office a month when in early 2019, you joined 22 GOP House members in voting against a bill blocking then-President Trump from achieving one of Putin’s cherished dreams — the dismemberment of NATO.

Even after Putin invaded Ukraine and NATO proved more than equal to the task of resisting Russian aggression in Europe, you joined 62 House Republicans in opposing a resolution expressing congressional support for the alliance.

Add to that your decision to join 57 House Republicans who opposed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine — a vote the leading Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Texas Congressman Mike McCaul called “historic,” which “could determine the course of this war, and to vote no is a vote for Putin.”

l If a Republican does it, does that make it OK? You refused to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., for a social media post depicting the murder of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D- N.Y., and an attack upon President Biden. And what about reports that you manhandled a female Capitol police officer in order to evade a metal detector early in 2021?

l Do you agree with your own state Republican Party that abortion should be banned, with no exception to save the life of the pregnant woman?

l When congressional delegations from Washington and Oregon, along with the Biden administration, ultimately settle the fate of Snake River salmon and steelhead — as well as the future of the four dams on the lower Snake River — will you have a seat at the table? Who’s writing this bill — you or members of Congress Idahoans did not elect?

l How many press conferences in Idaho have you held during this term? How many town hall meetings have you held with constituents during the same period?

If you run into the congressman, you might want to ask a few of those yourself.— M.T.