Senator McGee has a somewhat checkered past. Taking a free trip to Turkey by Gulen's Pacifica Institute will surely boost his reputation. Idahoans vote him OUT!!!
Kevin Richert: Why are Idaho politicos doing the Turkey trot?
- Idaho Statesman
The good news: Several Idaho legislators were unhurt this week in a deadly bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
And no, the lawmakers were not traveling overseas on the state taxpayers’ nickel.
But that still leaves some nagging questions. What exactly are Idaho lawmakers doing touring Turkey in the first place? And what does a nonprofit group hope to accomplish by squiring Idaho legislators around for 10 days?
There are — in life and in politics — no freebies.
This tour was bankrolled by the Pacifica Institute, a group of Turkish-Americans seeking “to develop social capital — the creation and extension of positive connections within and between disparate social networks.”
To that end, whatever it means, the group is picking up lodging, meals and in-country travel for at least six lawmakers and some spouses. The lawmakers paid for their own airfare.
The details are sketchy, since this is not an official state trip, but here’s who we know was on the tour: Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg; Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston; Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell; Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum; Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello; and Rep. Donna Pence, D-Gooding. (Of course, McGee hasn’t found the time to talk about his June travels through a Boise subdivision in search of “the promised land,” and the drunken-driving guilty plea that ensued. So this gives him one more odyssey to explain.)
Getting beyond the development of “social capital,” is there tangible capital to develop here? Probably. Turkey is the world’s 15th-largest economy, according to a 2011 Senate resolution promoting Idaho-Turkish relationships, though Turkey didn’t even make Idaho’s Top 25 export markets list in 2010. But this isn’t a trade mission designed to boost Idaho’s $5.15 billion export industry.
This is a ... what, exactly? In an email Friday to our Dan Popkey, Hill described the trip as a chance to visit Turkish schools, universities and families, and meet with “many government, education and religious leaders.”
Something perfectly legal yet oddly hinky. There’s a reason why most newspapers resist accepting junkets paid by industry; the appearance of undue influence is unavoidable. As rules of thumb go, politicians could do worse.
A PROMISING PANEL
Give the University of Idaho credit. After stonewalling in the aftermath of the Aug. 22 slaying of graduate student Katy Benoit of Boise, the university has been doing a lot of the right things.
The university has released some records and has gone to court seeking to release records pertaining to Ernesto Bustamante, the former assistant psychology professor who is believed to have shot Benoit 11 times before taking his own life.
The U of I recently named a three-member panel to review its safety and security procedures. And the panel includes a home-run pick, Linda Copple Trout, a former chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court. She gives this review instant credibility.
I still believe the U of I has a lot to answer to. I want to know whether it ignored warning signs about Bustamante, who openly discussed his psychological disorders in class. (And, as I’ve said before, I have a personal interest: My oldest son, a U of I senior, took a class from Bustamante.)
Let’s hope this panel, which includes administrators from the University of Montana and Oregon State University, asks the right, tough questions.
REX RAMMELL REDUX
Former U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell will face only a misdemeanor charge of battery stemming from a confrontation on his Idaho County property.
The Lewiston Tribune had reported Rammell would face a felony — which, if it stood, would preclude the perennial candidate from seeking office again. But when a formal complaint was filed last week, the charge was a misdemeanor.
The article weaves a bizarre tale of events leading up to Rammell’s arrest. He had let William Shira’s older son, daughter-in-law and two children live in a house Rammell leased. Instead, Rammell told the Tribune’s Kathy Hedberg, about 15 people who moved in without his permission.
On Sept. 8, a confrontation turned physical. Rammell tried to make a citizen’s arrest, charging Shira with trespassing, but a deputy charged Rammell with battery. All this comes after Rammell and a business partner moved the Shiras’ belongings off the property and, according to the Tribune, blew up a mine the Shiras claimed was full of gold.
Somewhere, Yosemite Sam must be proud. © 2011 Idaho Statesman
Kevin Richert: 377-6437
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