NIC: Nonpartisan non-issue

Here we go again with the argument that community college trustees should be nonpartisan. Judges are supposed to be nonpartisan, and in many places they run unopposed for election without a party acknowledgement and the ballot choice is simply to dismiss or retain. If you believe that they are truly nonpartisan, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. Simply look at what goes on in the U.S. Supreme Court appointments if you think judgeships are nonpartisan at any level.

This nonpartisan issue comes up with our community college trustees when local Republicans are questioning their fitness for the position on the basis of a conservative loyalty test. North Idaho identifies pretty strongly with a conservative bent. Since these trustees will have a voice in how our children are educated and in the taxes we pay to educate them, it seems that we have a vested interest in knowing where they stand on community issues.

Education in general nationwide has become a very Liberal endeavor in trying to change our value system. It has become so biased in Liberal values that it threatens our national heritage. As a relatively conservative community, we have a vested interest in knowing where these trustees stand on a lot of issues important to the community.

The Trojan horse on nonpartisan is trotted out in these instances as political cover for Liberal bias. Look no further than the Oct. 3 My Turn column in the Coeur d’Alene Press written by Evan Koch, Chair of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee. He would have you believe that non-partisan is above the political divide when it is indeed just political cover for a liberal agenda…indeed another trojan horse that liberals can hide behind.

Thanks Evan, for shining a light on this deception even though that was not your intention.

DON PHELAN

Coeur d’Alene