MY TURN: Voters, don't be fooled

Kootenai County residents. Beware and be smart. Please.

The latest barrage of sweet slick political flyers have hit our mailboxes. Pay close attention to super slick No. 1, the KCRCC led by Brent Regan. That flyer is perfect for recommending who NOT to vote for. The KCRCC does NOT represent time-tested real conservatives who have governed reasonably and logically forever. KCRCC candidates do NOT want to govern. They want to tear down and theoretically rebuild better. The problem is, they only know tear down.

We have all seen how they 'govern' in the last couple years. They do not have mutual respect. They act like children. They interrupt any attempt to compromise. They interrupt for any reason. They are crude and vulgar. They do not follow long-tested protocol. They have no clue what they are doing. Often they do not participate in "ask the candidate" forums. They simply follow a very lousy leader who only divides and disrupts. Is this what we want for our children?

Pay attention to what candidates say. Do they just gripe about what is and use cool grab words to fire you up? Like meaningless 'woke' and 'RINO' and of course commie and socialist and so much more. What are their solutions? What do they believe? God and guns? That will not cut it; we need more for good government.

I have noticed, reading some of Brent's columns, that he says very little about 'his' candidates who are currently elected. There is a good reason for that. Many of them are flunking out. They just cause trouble and chaos like getting an entire office of longtime employees wanting to quit because the elected officer will not listen or cooperate with all the employees who have been there for years. How about a federal tax evasion guilty verdict? The list goes on and on. They are disruptors with no clue how to govern. Many act like controlling narcissists. Have we ever run into people like that? Do they cooperate with others? Or do they order others?

Last, but not least, is the NIC fiasco that happened when Brent got a majority in the NIC trustee election. What a mess. No need to repeat it all, other than to say it did cost us taxpayers plenty and still is costing in big ways more than just money. The NIC trustee election is critical for future Kootenai County prosperity and sanity. We need adults on school boards. Spoiled children do not make the grade.

Do not be fooled with the "RINO" phrase. That label is now being attached to many very fine long-term conservative Republicans who have kept Idaho on a level path for many decades. The history of many of them is as patriotic as can ever be. Please do not support trashing people who have served our country admirably again and again for decades. Labeling good long-term Republicans a RINO is just regular-old lying about good people. Liars have become abundant in recent years.

We have lived in Kootenai County for 44 years and have always voted. Our world has changed dramatically in the last few years. So much division and anger and road rage. Labeling public schools as the enemy is sick. Help us all get back to sanity and order and mutual respect.

Brent always closed his columns with "It's just common sense."

Here is a quote from Albert Einstein on common sense: "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

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Rick Harlow is a Cataldo resident.