Asked about the racist violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, Gov. Butch Otter today recalled Idaho’s own experience with neo-Nazi white supremacists, when the Aryan Nations was headquartered in North Idaho. “We’ve not new to that – we’ve had those problems in Idaho before,” Otter said, “and fortunately, for the most part I think we dealt with it in the right way. They weren’t welcome here. They went beyond the line.”

He praised Sen. Mike Crapo and 2^nd District Rep. Mike Simpson for their strong, prompt statements on social media on Sunday condemning racist violence and white supremacy; Sen. Jim Risch followed with a similar statement on Monday, but 1^st District Rep. Raul Labrador hasn’t responded to repeated inquiries from Idaho reporters about his thoughts on the events; his staff hasn’t returned reporters’ calls and emails and hasn’t even offered so much as a “no comment”/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here. 

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