PRIMARY: Tilling for the truth

With great joy over the last few weeks, I’ve watched my transplanted strawberry plants (aka “starts”) flourish. Using organic soil and fertilizer is paying off and I’m expecting a delicious bounty. Starting from seed is a viable option, as is starting with starts while investing time and energy in my garden. Similarly, as a maligned “transplant” to my now beloved North Idaho, am I less fruitful than a native who started here as a “seed”? My efforts and inputs are as valid as my native-born neighbors.

I care deeply about the politics and culture here because this is my “forever home” which I chose carefully and moved to at great effort and expense after much soul-searching. As a lifelong Republican (excluding a wayward stint during college) and as a transplant from a state that’s disintegrated under liberal policies, I know that our elected representatives matter. The laws, rules and policies they enact shape our region and directly affect our lives.

Our party is in the lead, so naturally becomes a target. Nationally and locally, we see that leftists/liberals will stoop to any level to prevail — and that includes twisting truths, cloaking and diversion. The “North Idaho Republicans” (NIR) are deploying all of these in slick and prolific ways. But their sleek packaging doesn’t mask their intention to unseat and undermine the true conservative platform and its representatives. See for yourself at KootenaiFreedomCaucus.org/NIRrecord 

How to know who’s who? The small white elephant on the upper right corner of their yard signs is a telltale NIR indicator.

Whether a native or a transplant, be fruitful and invest in your community by tilling for the truth.

MARIANNA COCHRAN

Rathdrum