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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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6 pols fail CdA Press ‘courage test’

Here's a snapshot of the graphic in which the Coeur d'Alene Press reveals the yes-and-no answers from candidates running for office in legislative District 3. You'll notice that Reps. Don Cheatham, R-Post Falls, and Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d'Alene, didn't bother to respond to the Press.
Here's a snapshot of the graphic in which the Coeur d'Alene Press reveals the yes-and-no answers from candidates running for office in legislative District 3. You'll notice that Reps. Don Cheatham, R-Post Falls, and Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d'Alene, didn't bother to respond to the Press.

In an explainer in today's Coeur d'Alene Press, Managing Editor Mike Patrick slammed six candidates who refused to fill out a list of 12 yes and no questions provided to them by his newspapers. Patrick columnized that his newspaper had gone a step further than usual in this year's voter guide. The Press compiled the questionnaire, rather than simply run profiles that allowed candidates to dodge hard questions. Patrick writes: "Six of the 21 candidates did not answer the questions. They did soknowing that the penalty for refusing to participate in the difficult portion of the publican mean that they would forfeit free publicity in the easy portion of the publication. The six have not merely failed a political courage test, in our opinion. They have failed you, voters, by declining to clearly identify where they stand on some of the most important and controversial issues confronting our state." The six? District 2 Republicans: Rep. Vito Barbieri and Sen. Steve Vick; District 3 Republicans: Reps. Ron Mendive and Don Cheatham; District 4 Republican: Rep. Kathy Sims; and District 4 Democratic challenger: Kristi Milan. Full comment by Mike Patrick here.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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