REDISTRICT: Need the best in court

I read Thursday's article about the pending legislative redistricting lawsuit with a growing sense of alarm. The idea that Kootenai County would even consider hitching our strong lawsuit with a weak lawsuit like the one proposed by Twin Falls County is a recipe for disaster for the 5,155 residents of southeastern Kootenai County, and to a lesser degree, the 40,785 residents of northern Kootenai County, all of whom would be joined to a district outside their county. In the past, some legislation has been enacted that affected only Kootenai County. A representative living more than 200 miles away (but in the same district) might see things differently than if he was a Kootenai County resident.

Kootenai County has the correct number of residents to trigger the constitutional requirement for the county to be split into three complete districts, whereas Twin falls County does not. Granted, Twin Falls County doesn't like the way their county was split, but because of their population, it would still need to share a district with another county. If Kootenai County joins that suit, the Twin Falls County prosecutor would be remiss in his duties to his county if he didn't try to leverage our strong case against his weaker one. The result could be failure of the both.

Kootenai County needs to have a specialist in this area of law if our interests are to be protected. Going to court against the Idaho Secretary of State and the Attorney General without a seasoned specialist in this field would be like trying to storm the beach of Normandy with a BB gun. Christ Troupis, who is already working on the suit for several other interested parties, is one of the best in the nation. As a seasoned expert in the field of election law who has recently successfully litigated election law against the Idaho Secretary of State in the closed primaries suit, he is the one to have if we expect to win this complex case against the huge staff and resources of the Idaho Attorney General and Secretary of State.

LARRY SPENCER

Director

Idaho Property Owners Association