SENATOR: I do not lie

As the State Senator from Coeur d’Alene, I have been called all manner of names, and rarely react, just leaving it to reflect back on the accuser. This time is different. This time my character was impugned and I will not be silent. I do not fabricate stories, or any other information, ever.

In a Coeur d’Alene Press My Turn column last Saturday, Jessica Mahuron, a Reclaim Idaho organizer for Prop 2, wrote that she “suspected” I fabricated the story I told at Reclaim’s Town Hall last week. It’s the same story, she recalled, that I told as a member of the Senate State Affairs Committee, during a meeting on the initiative bill last session.

The story was about my encounter with a Prop 2 signature person in Coeur d’Alene last year. When asked if I wanted to sign the petition, I politely declined and kept walking. The volunteer yelled after me, “Do you want children to die?” This actually happened to me, Jessica. I did not make it up. And here’s the rest of the true story that I did not include at the Town Hall: I walked back to the volunteer and said, “Children are already covered under Medicaid through the CHIP program.” She was surprised I knew this and quipped, “Well, it’s only until they are 18.” To which I replied, “Yes, but then they’re not children anymore, are they?” And I walked on.

It is unacceptable to accuse someone of lying, Jessica. Your accusation was totally mistaken and completely out of line.

SEN. MARY SOUZA

Coeur d’Alene