Not everyone is for sale

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador can be argumentative, even combative. He seems eager to stick his nose in front of yours to tell you when he thinks you've messed up. In terms of elegant diplomacy and public relations sparkle, the second-term congressman ranks somewhere between a subpoena server and an ex-spouse.

We hope he doesn't change.

Part of the reason Labrador can and will say whatever he's thinking is because he's not beholden to special interest groups, something that can't be said for many who breathe the privileged air around Capitol Hill. In an age when many members of Congress neglect their duties while mastering navigation of fundraising trails, Labrador steadfastly sticks to his own agenda - working for the people of Idaho's 1st Congressional District, not just those who might support his 2014 campaign.

Labrador has been making national headlines as a leading Republican voice on immigration, but he jumped onto the front page of The Press this week over a fundraising issue. Labrador's well-documented dispute late last year with fellow Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner took on a peculiar political scent when Boehner planned to make a fundraising visit to Coeur d'Alene today, and Labrador's office said nothing to refute reports that he would not attend, thus allowing Boehner to upstage him on his own turf.

Turns out, Labrador wasn't sticking it to Boehner. He was sticking to his principles.

On his way out of office, Labrador's predecessor, Democrat Walt Minnick, spoke of his sorrow and disgust at the way Washington really works - with members of Congress devoting as much time and energy raising money as they do crafting meaningful legislation. Raising money isn't what Minnick went to Washington to do, and in that sense Labrador is cut from the same cloth. He has told this newspaper that if his refusal to engage in non-stop fundraising ultimately costs him his job, he can live with that. What he can't live with is the idea that he's working more for himself than for his constituents.

We don't agree with some of Labrador's politics, but we firmly believe that our nation would be much better off if Labrador's peers followed his lead in focusing on policy, not fundraising. If they did their jobs better, maybe they wouldn't need so much money to get re-elected.