District 21 Republican Sues Republican Chair

Last year's District 21 Senate challenger and Republican district chairman, Steven Ricks, has filed a libel suit against Idaho State Republican Chairman Norm Semanko, in response to a letter Semanko sent out regarding a letter Ricks sent out as part of his campaign.

As described here last December, Ricks sent out a letter before May's primary that some people believe affected the results of the primary and caused the loss of one of the incumbent House representatives in our district. Ricks, as well as being the chair of the district, was also one of the primary challengers supported in the letter, which was sent out over the names of Republican precinct committeemen in the district. The letter -- which was identical regardless of the person who signed it -- noted that it was “gladly paid for” by the Ricks campaign. Ricks unsuccessfully ran against incumbent state Senator Russ Fulcher in the primary, losing by 149 votes.

"[T]he Idaho Republican Party has a long-standing policy of abstaining from endorsing candidates in the primary,” Semanko said in his September 17 letter. “Your actions caused some voters to believe the state party had taken the extraordinary step of rescinding this policy, which was not the case.”

According to an article on the lawsuit in the Idaho Statesman, Ricks seeks a jury trial and damages of more than $10,000, saying that Semanko exposed him to public contempt or ridicule by impugning his honesty, integrity or reputation. He also names the Idaho GOP State Central Committee as a defendant.

The lawsuit appears to center around a statement in Semanko's September letter to Ricks that the May letter from the Ricks campaign used the state GOP logo without authorization, saying it was trademarked. Ricks' lawsuit includes a certification by Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa that the GOP logo is not trademarked in Idaho.

This also means, incidentally, that anyone else can apparently use the state GOP logo in any way they like.

Jarvis Votes to Raise Gas Tax

According to the Idaho Statesman, Representative Rich Jarvis was one of 27 legislators (and one of only 9 of the Southwest Idaho legislators) voting to raise the fuel tax by 7 cents per gallon.

The measure lost, 43-27.

Most legislators said they voted against the tax increase because they thought it was a bad time to raise taxes and that they were following their constituents' wishes.

Jarvis did not say why he voted for the bill.

Fulcher Favors Religious Discrimination?

In last week's Senate committee hearing to decide whether to print a bill making it illegal to discriminate against homosexuals in employment, education, and housing, Senator Russ Fulcher was quoted in the Idaho Statesman as indicating he was not in favor of such protections for religious beliefs, either.

"Senator LeFavour looks at this as a genetic difference and others, including myself, look at this as a behavioral difference," Fulcher said. "Given that, the debate becomes, 'Do you look at making provisions based on behavior?' "

However, since religion is also a behavioral difference, this indicates that Fulcher is also not in favor of the existing laws protecting people from being fired based on their religion.

For example, from Idaho's formation as a state in 1890, a law was on the books forbidding LDS members from holding office, or even from voting. That discriminatory law was not removed from Idaho code until 1982.

If discrimination based on behavior is allowed, as Senator Fulcher suggests, that raises the spectre that such religious discrimination will again be permitted in Idaho. 

District 21 Town Hall Meeting with Legislators

It hasn't been well publicized, but there's another District 21 Town Hall Meeting with legislators tonight at Reed School at Linder and Deer Flat, 5:30-7 pm.

Education Committee Shoots Down Jarvis Dropout Bill

After a two-hour debate, members of the Idaho House Education Committee voted to kill Representative Rich Jarvis' bill that would have raised the legal dropout age from 16 to 18. The final vote was 9-8, with committee chair Representative Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, breaking the tie and casting the dissenting vote.

According to articles by Brian Murphy in the Idaho Statesman and Sarah Wire in the Associated Press, dissenters were concerned about the bill's $11 million cost and whether it would actually be effective. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, who did not testify, told the Statesman that he supported the arguments that making schools “rigorous and relevant” will be more successful at retaining students than compelling them to remain in school.  

Rep. Pete Nielsen, R- Mountain Home, told the committee it is better to provide students with educational choices such as alternative schools than to force them to attend traditional classes, the AP said.

Hearings Set for Dropout Age Bill

Hearings on Representative Rich Jarvis' bill to force students to go to school until they're 18 by raising the legal dropout age from 16 will be held on Wednesday,  02/11/09 at 9:00 A.M. in room 148 in the Capitol Annex-East Side.

House Bill 58, which does nothing to provide more services or resources to students, including at the early age where intervention would actually be helpful, is expected to cost a minimum of $11 million just in daily payments to the school districts for the approximately 2,000 youth who would be affected, at the same time that schools are being forced to cut $62 million due to the economic situation.  It also does not expand the truancy court system that would actually enforce the bill.

The bill also limits parental choice by not allowing parents to give their youth permission to drop out at 16, and in fact could result in them being fined $1000 and thrown in jail for six months if their teenagers are declared "habitually truant."

Moreover, there is no indication that it will actually be successful in its goal to gain more high-school graduates. Of the 12 states with better high-school graduation rates than Idaho, 7 of them allow students to drop out at 16, and of all the states Jarvis cites as having a dropout age of 18, only one, Utah, has a better graduation rate than Idaho. Last year, the Minnesota legislature defeated a similar bill when even its supporters admitted that simply raising the graduation age wouldn't solve the dropout problem.

'Protecting' Idaho's Schoolchildren?

Senator Russ Fulcher sponsored, then postponed for a day, a bill that would eliminate one loophole in public education while enshrining another in state code.

Attendees at the recent "Keeping the Promise" Dropout Summit, held in Nampa earlier this month, learned that the Health and Welfare Department could not intervene with parents who were keeping their children out of school, because "educational neglect" was not recognized as a category. Fulcher's bill, S1017, remedies that, creating the category "without proper education" and allowing H&W to intervene.

However, Fulcher's bill also adds that a chid who is being "privately instructed at home by his parent or guardian" is considered to be properly educated -- which completely removes any teeth from the bill; a parent charged with not sending their child to school can simply say they're being homeschooled and get let off.

While the majority of parents who homeschool are doing so legitimately, some tell the district their children are being homeschooled without actually doing any instruction. Due to the way Idaho’s homeschooling law is written, any parent can say their child is homeschooled and there is no oversight, said Nick Smith, deputy superintendent as the State Department of Education at the "Keeping the Promise" summit. “Our hands are really tied,” he said. “I receive calls all the time from parents who’ve just moved to Idaho from other states,” where people are asking how to register and get a curriculum. “I have to explain, we don’t have registration, we don’t provide a curriculum, we do not regulate, we don’t oversee the process at all,” he said. “I don’t see any legislation discussed to change that.” Senator Dean Mortimer (R-Idaho Falls), who has served on the Senate Education Committee for two years, agreed, saying there was “no political will in the legislature” on that issue.

During debate on the Senate floor, Fulcher decided to postpone his motion for one legislative day to further discuss the issue with "stakeholders," whom he did not identify.