Tyranny is their name

We are longstanding members of the Kootenai County community. We value the freedom of every person, and we believe that government should support free enterprise and economic prosperity and should not infringe on the rights of individuals.

We strongly believe that inclusive and transparent governance for the people and by the people is an essential part of what makes the United States exceptional. Our values are aligned with protecting American freedoms and ensuring that all Americans can participate in the democratic process in good faith. This is what makes us proud to be Americans.

That is why we were appalled to learn that leaders in our own community, associated with the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, engaged in a secret plot to sabotage their political opponents rather than win the authority to govern through free elections and the free exchange of ideas, reported by the Coeur d’Alene Press on March 10.

There is a name for one-party governance through deception, and it is called tyranny. We're also deeply concerned about the apparent involvement of known anti-Semites and white nationalists in the plot to hijack our local politics across the board. What kind of leadership would place bigoted ideologues at the center of its self-serving hidden agenda?

The Kootenai County business community has a long history of proudly standing up, united, against anti-Semitism and bigotry. Today, we’re expressing the same strong principles that led Sherman Avenue businesses to close their doors to the Aryan Nations.

As we learned at that time, hate leads to violence, harassment and serious threats to our community members, and our ability to govern ourselves fairly and peacefully. It is unacceptable that anyone would seek to empower bigots in order to bring short-term gain to a political agenda at the expense of our entire region’s reputation and safety. Such reckless action risks the viability of our key industries. We refuse to allow our community’s values to be toyed with and tarnished in this cynical and dangerous manner.

Regardless of party or creed, we all must stand together against those who would engage in unethical — and potentially illegal — activity just to get ahead in politics. There are rules and regulations surrounding the use of donations for other purposes than those intended by the donors. Using business donation records as a pretext to attack business owners who donate to a cause is completely unacceptable. These machinations violate the standard code of civil society. While reasonable minds can deeply disagree on the direction of our country, turning neighbor against neighbor with dirty political tricks will only tear us all down.

We care too much about this community to stay silent and accept the bigotry, violations and dishonesty of those who would put personal power before the well-being of our country and our community. We call on our friends, neighbors, and colleagues in Kootenai County and all of Idaho to join us in standing up for the values of our Founding Fathers and against the shameful effort to empower unrepentant bigots.

Deborah Rose

Robyn Edwards

Vickie Henggeler

Mike Henggeler

Bev Twillmann

David Botting

Jim Cadnum

Anna Lewis

Bob Fish

Catherine McLandress

Myra Rega

Wayne Christofferson

Dr. Robert West

Mrs. Martha West

Ann Palmer

B. Shankar

Janet Torline

Heather Snell

Bob Thornton