I'm trying to feel sorry this morning for Steven Thayn. And I just can't do it. I certainly feel sorry for Thayn's daughter-in-law, and wish the best for her and the baby she is carrying. I even feel a little sorry for Damon Mathias Thayn — to a very limited extent. Damon Thayn's domestic battery arrest and subsequent guilty plea on a disturbing the peace charge wouldn't have even made the newspaper, were it not for his state representative father. But Steven Thayn? I can't feel sorry for him. Thayn, an Emmett Republican, has tried to present himself as some sort of a leader of family values issues. He has headed up a House of Representatives Family Task Force, to study "the magnitude of the decline of the family since 1950." Back when this task force was merely a bad joke, I thought it was sorely in need of a theme song: "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1949." Oh, but Thayn was serious all right. The first-term lawmaker and father of eight acted as if he had all sort of answers about how 1.4 million Idahoans should run their households. He set himself up as an authority. He set up himself — and his family — for unpleasant scrutiny/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman.
Question: Must Family Values champions have squeaky clean families?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
in-law, and wish the best for her and the baby she is carrying. I even feel a little sorry for Damon Mathias Thayn — to a very limited extent. Damon Thayn's domestic battery arrest and subsequent guilty plea on a disturbing the peace charge wouldn't have even made the newspaper, were it not for his state representative father. But Steven Thayn? I can't feel sorry for him. Thayn, an Emmett Republican, has tried to present himself as some sort of a leader of family values issues. He has headed up a House of Representatives Family Task Force, to study "the magnitude of the decline of the family since 1950." Back when this task force was merely a bad joke, I thought it was sorely in need of a theme song: "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1949." Oh, but Thayn was serious all right. The first-term lawmaker and father of eight acted as if he had all sort of answers about how 1.4 million Idahoans should run their households. He set himself up as an authority. He set up himself — and his family — for unpleasant scrutiny/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman.
