Canyon County Republican women decry actions of the Idaho GOP Central Committee | Opinion
Idaho GOP
The Republican Party has nearly 600,000 members in our state. While all Republicans are grounded in principles of freedom, prosperity, and opportunity, it is absurd to imagine or ask for no variation on the viewpoints or good-faith judgment of our members or elected officials.
In this spirit, the Canyon County Republican Women Executive Board expresses deep disappointment in the current leadership of the Idaho GOP. Rather than work to enact policies that represent the preferences of most Idaho Republicans, they worked to purge the party of those who do not share their fanatical, revisionist views.
Last week, the IDGOP Central Committee demoted the current and future president of the Idaho Federation of Republican Women from a voting member of the Executive Board to a non-voting position. As an affiliate of the Idaho Federation of Republican Women (which is chartered by the National Federation of Republican Women), Canyon County Republican Women is disheartened that our extensive record of volunteer service on behalf of Idaho Republicans has been discounted.
The Idaho Young Republicans and College Republicans were also downgraded to non-voting seats. Perhaps the most alarming effect of this will be the loss of two groups — women and young adults — whose engagement is so critical for the future of the Republican Party.
We are also opposed to the vote of “no confidence” for Republican Gov. Brad Little and many of our Republican legislators for their veto/vote on one complicated piece of legislation. CCRW stands with Gov. Little and those 14 legislators, including our own Julie Yamomoto, who acted in good faith and proceeded based on feedback from constituents and legal counsel and do not deserve to be held in “no confidence” or censured in any way.
Sara Adams, President; Jamie Wood, 1st Vice President; Lori Bishop, 2nd Vice President; Tracey Wasden, Past President; Theresa Bradford, Secretary; Kay Bradford, Treasurer
Death penalty
Forget the cost of the death penalty. There are far more serious death penalty issues. Rep. Horman claims that “it serves the purpose of exacting justice for the victims while deterring similar abhorrent behavior from others.” In fact, the murder rate in non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in death penalty states, and the gap has grown since 1990, per the Death Penalty Information Center. With DNA testing there is a greater chance of a conviction being overturned. If we want justice for homicide victims, shouldn’t we also want justice for homicide suspects wrongly convicted? If proven innocent after execution, what do we tell their family? Lastly, the death penalty goes explicitly against biblical teachings when stoning was used to execute people for certain sins. When asked about this, Jesus replied: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7). What saddens me is that many Christian churches do not express dismay with our state legislature over death penalty laws.
Glenn McGeoch, Meridian
Affirmative action
After killing affirmative action, Clarence Thomas said he is “painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race.” He makes an argument that instead of wasting resources on affirmative action, we should spend more resources solving foundational problems of racial minorities. He ignores the benefit of students interacting and learning from minorities. Unfortunately, by continually siding with the white conservative majority, including the democracy-killing and wealth gap-widening “Citizens United” decision, he hypocritically blew up any hope of closing the income gap between whites and minorities. He continually votes for laws that maintain the status quo of wealth gap racism. Affirmative action was flawed but better than nothing. Diversity makes us stronger and more resilient. Clarence Thomas voted for weakness and fragility. The pictures of him smiling on his VIP vacation trips around the world paid for by his white billionaire “friends,” he appears to be unaware of the plight of his Black brethren.
Kurt Smith, Boise
