Letters to the Editor

SB 1327: Puts party leaders above voters' will

Recent legislation introduced in Boise should concern anyone who believes precinct elections ought to reflect the will of voters rather than internal party gatekeeping.

Senate Bill 1327 would allow political parties to impose “additional qualifications” on precinct committeemen beyond those already established in Idaho law. On its face this may sound procedural, but in practice it creates a mechanism for party leadership to refuse to recognize or seat a duly elected precinct representative after an election has already occurred.

What makes this proposal especially troubling is its local context. The sponsor of this bill represents Legislative District 2 — the same district that includes the chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee and the Precinct 205 chairman. When combined with the bill’s emergency clause, which would make it effective immediately, the appearance is that this legislation is less about good governance and more about insulating party leadership from internal dissent.

Former President Trump has famously warned candidates about “getting primaried.” This bill raises the question of whether fear of competitive primaries is now driving efforts to change the rules — not by persuading voters, but by narrowing who is allowed to serve at the precinct level in the first place.

Precinct committeemen are elected by voters, not appointed by party officials. Allowing post-election qualifications undermines that principle and risks eroding confidence in Idaho’s election system.

Idaho’s strength has always been citizen participation. We should be expanding that participation, not filtering it after the fact.

TOM SANNER
Coeur d'Alene

RACISM: Letter writer wrong about North Idaho

In reference to Geri Hagler’s letter “Holiday change confirms racism," I firmly believe that the vast majority of the folks in North Idaho are not racist. Who gives you the right to make such a ridiculous statement? Sure, there is no doubt that there are some racists in any community. And racism can go in both directions. The good people of North Idaho were instrumental in rising up to help local officials run Butler and his goons out of their Hayden compound. I think most compassionate and thoughtful people are also really tired of hearing the race card always being played.

MIKE HILL
Post Falls

HOLIDAY: PF council cannot erase history

The Post Falls City Council’s recent decision to remove Juneteenth as a recognized holiday is a disappointing attempt to “whitewash” our shared history. Mayor Westlund’s claim that “nobody had heard of (Juneteenth) until five years ago” is demonstrably false; it has been celebrated by many since 1865 and was recognized as a Texas state holiday in 1980, decades before becoming a federal holiday in 2021.

I applaud council member Malloy for rightly identifying Juneteenth as a “crowning achievement of Western civilization.” Conversely, I am deeply troubled by the efforts of another councilman to equate other historical instances of ethnic discrimination (and there are many) with the unique scourge of American chattel slavery. While many groups have faced hardship, none mirror the systemic, multi-generational human rights abuses endured by more than four million enslaved souls. Suggesting otherwise is not just an educational failure, but an insult to their descendants, to whom we owe the recognition of the struggles of their ancestors. Juneteenth is one small way to honor a promise to never forget or allow it to happen again.  

Our city should be celebrating the progress toward freedom, not erasing it from the calendar.

LEE WALLACE
Post Falls

TRUMP: An update about Epstein

During the 2016 election cycle, a now-notorious conspiracy involving Hillary Clinton began to take hold in the minds of Republican voters. Briefly, it held that there is a worldwide cabal of pedophiles who rape, enslave and kill children. This ridiculous story gained enough traction that it may have contributed to her defeat that November.

The story was far too juicy and antagonistic for Trump to resist, adding his own embellishments over the next four years, and then became nearly rabid over it after Biden won the following election. 

Now, after years of this, we come to the Epstein files. Congress voted unanimously to compel the DOJ to release these files, and they have not complied. Three million have not been released at all, and the three million which were released are heavily redacted. 

Evidence of Trump’s involvement continues to come out, and it is in fact becoming apparent that every accusation he ever made was actually about himself and his associates. Donald Trump is the deep state.

Americans allowed this to happen, and we will all suffer for it.

DAN STRAYER
Bonners Ferry

POST FALLS: On City Council decisions

I am surprised and disappointed that the Post Falls City Council would decide not to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday and recognize Columbus Day instead. 

The Juneteenth celebrates the formal military declaration to enslaved people in Texas that they were free in 1865, some two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This is a historical fact.

Columbus discovering America in 1492 is fiction. Christopher Columbus' first voyage landed in the Caribbean. He thought he had reached India and named the people "Indians." He captured some of these people and took them back to Spain as slaves. His third and last voyage touched the coast of South America in 1502.

He never set foot on the North American Content. 

His voyages triggered subsequent Spanish and Portuguese invasions of South America, our Southwest, and Florida. 

There is solid evidence that Leif Erickson reached the North American continent and briefly settled around the year 1000 in what is now Newfoundland, Canada.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to celebrate Leif Erikson Day.

MARK WEADICK
Coeur d'Alene