Idaho owes St. Luke’s. It’s doing what the state and federal government failed to | Opinion

All Idahoans owe St. Luke’s Health System and its employees a debt of gratitude.

As other institutions failed to bring accountability for the habitual disregard for the law shown by Ammon Bundy and his followers, St. Luke’s has stepped up.

A story Wednesday by Sally Krutzig shows the events that led up to an arrest warrant being issued for Bundy, who has refused to participate in the lawsuit against him but has issued numerous vague threats, including to meet law enforcement with “my friends and a shotgun” and a letter warning his enemies that “God will deliver them into my hands.”

As a consequence, three witnesses have backed out for fear that they could be harassed or hurt by Bundy and his allies, Krutzig reported. This is the kind of thing you usually only have to worry about when going after an organized crime operation.

It’s utterly shocking that things have progressed as far as they have with Bundy suffering almost no consequences — and winning about one in six votes for governor. It’s worth reviewing just how many opportunities — and how many failures — there were to hold Bundy accountable.

Bundy participated in not one but two armed standoffs with federal law enforcement agencies, one near Bunkerville, Nevada, and a second at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Federal prosecutors committed misconduct in the Bunkerville case, allowing Bundy to walk, and then were unable to secure a conviction in the Malheur case.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and Bundy led efforts to defy pandemic restrictions. He and his associates targeted numerous public officials, including lawmakers, a judge and a health commissioner, with obnoxious protests led by large crowds of people, some of whom were armed. In one case, these protests targeted children who were at home alone.

What has the Legislature done in response? Fail to pass a bill banning protests outside the homes of judges, lawmakers and others whom Bundy and his followers have targeted. Fail to hold Bundy and his followers accountable for destroying public property. Repeatedly float the idea of repealing the rarely enforced ban on publicly parading with firearms.

And so Bundy continued to flout the law and common decency with very few checks, apart from the occasional trespassing charge.

And finally, Bundy and his followers sent St. Luke’s into lockdown after emergency intervention was ordered to help a malnourished child, the grandson of Bundy’s ally Diego Rodriguez. They then spread absurd lies online that St. Luke’s was involved in kidnapping and harming children, leading to further harassment of St. Luke’s employees.

Those who’ve been targeted by Bundy and his People’s Rights Network report that they’ve had their personal information posted online, including pictures of family members. It’s not hard to understand what kind of threat that poses to potential witnesses against Bundy.

“It is my opinion that extremist groups like People’s Rights Network have a playbook that involves the intentional use of misinformation and disinformation to radicalize others to take action, including violent action, against individuals identified by the extremist group,” former Boise Police Captain Spencer Fomby wrote, as Krutzig reported.

It’s long past time there was accountability for these actions, and with the systemic failures so far from the state and federal governments, St. Luke’s alone seems to have been effective in imposing consequences for this reckless behavior.

Bundy remains holed up in his home, filled with followers he’s invited to surround him — including children, as seen in photos and videos from inside the compound. (Bringing children into a potential standoff situation is among the lowest forms of cowardice.)

But with accountability on the horizon, there’s hope that Bundy’s disregard for the law might be curbed. We all owe St. Luke’s thanks for taking a stand to end it.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe and newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser.