OPT-OUT: Boondoggle begone

Kootenai County commissioners on March 28 addressed a hot-button topic, the “opt-out” option. This ill-conceived and poorly written piece of legislation was imposed upon the county by two unthinking, “like-minded” commissioners. Both of these commissioners lost their positions in the last primary, in large part, because of ideological intransigence.

One of their replacements ran opposing the opt-out ordinance, the other was either ignorant of the ordinance or chose to lie about its language.

The county commissioners, by a vote of 2-1, struck down this boondoggle of an ordinance last Thursday. Predictably, the libertarian Alinskyites, who have taken positions of power in the Republican Party, unwilling to acknowledge that this issue is a major reason their pet candidates lost the primary, have resorted to name calling.

Two commissioners courageously considered the ramifications of this issue, and exercised thoughtfulness in their decision Thursday evening. The libertarians in their party have labeled them “scumbags, Democrats and Communists.” This puerile response, ignoring the positions of most of the Republicans in the county, as demonstrated by the last primary election, is shameful.

As a lifelong conservative Republican, I am embarrassed by this disturbing, juvenile behavior from officials of the Republican Party. Grow up, clean up your act and leave the Democrat handbook, Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, alone, or stop calling yourselves Republicans. Be intellectually honest, admit you are not Republicans, but Libertarians, and your “cognitive dissonance” will dissipate.

DAVE BOTTING

Kootenai County