Outed Rotarian fires back

I was recently “outed” by the low growth website, as a founding member of the North Idaho Republicans.

The information was readily available on the North Idaho Republican website, as the founders had nothing to hide. Over my lifetime, I’ve been called many things, some of them unprintable in the paper. However, I find it humorous to be called a RINO, since I’ve probably voted in more general elections and Republican primaries starting with Barry Goldwater (legally, not using Chicago rules) than most of these recent Republican converts.

I’m also proud to be called a Rotarian. I’m a retired engineer with a BS and MS in civil engineering, and I first joined Rotary in the early '90s to give back to my community.

I’ve been identified by the blog in question as a local CPA. That would have to go down as Fake News but how can you trust information from a website whose cowardly authors refuse to identify themselves? How much else in there is Fake News? Most, if not, all I suspect.

Maligning Rotary International is a new low even for these folks. I wonder if the author would have preferred that Rotary didn’t try to influence the world by eliminating polio, eliminating poor drinking water, or providing educational opportunities in poor countries and the list goes on.

Or would the author prefer to step up and replace the more than the $100,000 our local Rotary Club donates back to our community through scholarships and grants to local organizations?

As the KCRCC pointed out in Friday’s paper, “The KCRCC uses the Idaho Republican Party Platform to determine who is a genuine Republican so the voter may have confidence in our decisions."

Well, I’ve read the party platform and while I generally agree with most of it, I disagree that we should abandon the 17th Amendment, which allows us to vote on our US Senators. I also disagree that we should go back to the gold standard but those are discussions for another day. Guess I’m no longer a genuine Republican in KCRCC’s eyes.

Also buried in the platform is Article II Section 2, which is quoted in its entirety as follows:

“Sec. 2 We seek to heighten the level of discourse by encouraging all office holders, candidates and citizens to be civil, dignified, honest and forthright in their discussions, actions, statements and political processes. This includes the actions of special interest groups who provide support for or against any Idaho candidate.”

Since so much of the vocal opposition to the goals and objectives of the North Idaho Republicans seems to fail the “civil, dignified, honest and forthright” test above, it logically follows that the opposition would not be classified as genuine Republicans either.

I will be casting my vote based upon my decision about who is the most qualified candidate but like many others will use the KCRCC recommendations as a guide to who not to vote for.

Hank Martin is a Hayden resident.