September 5, 2004 in Idaho

Republican bumper stickers denounced

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Human rights advocates and Democrats are outraged by a locally produced Republican bumper sticker that compares presidential hopeful John Kerry and Sen. Edward Kennedy to the Ku Klux Klan.

“Kennedy & Kerry – The KK Klan!” stickers were handed out at the Kootenai County Republican booth during the North Idaho Fair last month.

“That’s nasty,” said Marshall Mend, a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Rights. “I think it’s very detrimental to Idaho, detrimental to America and detrimental to Republicans. We don’t need that kind of stuff from either side.”

Mend is a Republican, which he said surprises many people because he also is a human-rights advocate.

Other local Republicans say they know of no one who took offense at the stickers and that it’s just typical political speech in a hot election year. They add that the Democrats have stickers and buttons criticizing President Bush.

Former Kootenai County Republican Central Committee Chairman Bob Nonini said he spent 40 hours at the booth during the five-day fair and never heard a negative comment about the stickers.

“We had a real positive response,” he said. “People were laughing and wanting to take them.”

Nonini said he may be naïve but never drew a connection to the Ku Klux Klan.

Mend and local Democrats said there is no other way to interpret the message.

“God, what an evil statement,” said Ron Johnson of the local Democratic central committee. “It’s inappropriate.”

The stickers do nothing to help Idaho’s image of being a haven for racists and militias and home to Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, Mend said. The task force has worked for years to combat that image and made huge gains in 2000 when a $6.3 million verdict against Butler and his group forced him into bankruptcy. Butler lost his 20-acre compound near Hayden Lake.

Also, voters in Hayden last year overwhelming denounced Butler’s campaign for mayor. Butler and two followers ran for the Hayden City Council, but nearly half of Hayden’s residents showed up to vote in what the task force viewed as a strong rejection of Butler’s hate.

Mend said he told the Republican volunteers at the fair booth that the stickers were inappropriate, but nothing was done.

The black-and-white stickers were in a large stack along with similar-looking strips that read “Don’t commit Hara Kerry!” and “Let’s not get Kerryed away!” People were encouraged to make a 25-cent donation for each sticker.

Local Republicans say they’re not exactly sure where the stickers came from, but several said that long-time Republican activist Ruthie Johnson brought them. Some say a physician, whom they think lives in Kootenai County, paid to have the stickers printed.

Ruthie Johnson and Kootenai County Republican Central Committee Chairwoman Donna Montgomery weren’t available for comment because they were in New York at the Republican National Convention.

The stickers have no attribution about who printed or paid for the items. The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said Friday that small campaign items, such as pens and bumper stickers, are exempt from disclosure laws.

Local Democrats are still reeling from their fair booth being vandalized with the same anti-Kerry stickers. Ron Johnson said that someone broke into the tent Aug. 27 and plastered a sandwich board sign with the bumper stickers.

The next day, Democratic Central Committee Chairman Bill Kersting went to the Republican booth and confronted Republican Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson and state Sen. Dick Compton, R-Post Falls. They denied responsibility, Ron Johnson said.

Watson was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment.

Ron Johnson said that two other Kootenai County Democratic billboards on private property along U.S. Highway 95 and state Highway 53 have been vandalized. Someone spray-painted “socialism” across the billboard near Hauser and changed the “t” in Democrat so it read “Democrap.”

The other billboard south of Coeur d’Alene was defaced to read Kootenai County Democrats for “higher taxes.”

Johnson said none of the incidents was reported to the Sheriff’s Department because the party didn’t think Watson would do anything.

Local Republican Rick Seward said Democrats also aren’t playing nice in this presidential election and have many slogans defaming President Bush and his family.

The Democrats were selling stickers, T-shirts and buttons at the fair that included sayings such as, “My dog never met a Bush it didn’t like” and “Republicans for Kerry.”

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