GOP: Central idea is lost

The other night, I attended the Kootenai County GOP Central Committee meeting. Before the meeting, I met a man handing out literature in the parking lot. His concern was over Medicaid expansion and how Idaho’s Legislature has refused to adopt it. This decision has adversely affected him and he just wanted people to listen.

He found little sympathy. Members of the Central Committee walked by, ignored him, and in one case I witnessed, berated him by saying (in family-friendly words) “I have mine, you get lost.”

What was the most disappointing for me, however, is that inside the meeting, many on the committee were aggressively touting their own worthiness for representing the public at the lowest level in government. Yet while they banged their self-righteous shoes on the table, they ignored the person they claimed to represent when they walked through the door! It was shameful.

I don’t see how anyone can call themselves an “elected official” and carry on with such rude arrogance toward a citizen, let alone the many who would benefit from Medicaid expansion in Idaho.

DAN GOOKIN

Coeur d’Alene