BCRCC demand for political loyalty serves no one well

Really? The BCRCC asks Jim Woodward to resign from the Idaho Legislature because they don’t like his Republican politics? How politically arrogant of them! I grew up in a Republican home in Kellogg, though I always saw my folks look for something positive in other political decisions being made. The Idaho Republican party has morphed away from that kind of graciousness and political savvy. Some Republicans in Idaho want to live in the proverbial “big tent.” The BCRCC seems determined to live deeper and deeper into a self-protecting, narrowing cave.

In Bonner County, the BCRCC models a lock-step kind of political loyalty that serves no one well. Extreme expectations of our leaders usually result in extreme decisions. Like asking Jim to turn his back on his political intuitions to do the right things for Idaho. Shame on you for disrespecting Jim and his courage to think for himself.
I’m registered unaffiliated. I almost wish I was a registered, card-carrying Republican so I could attend the next BCRCC meeting, stand up and tear the card up in front of those officials. (I can’t call them “leaders,” because leaders lead from their hopes, not their fears.)

PAUL GRAVES

Sandpoint