Officials Accused Of Courting Militia Idaho Politicians Have Had Contact With Anti-Government Groups, Human Rights Advocates Charge

Some Idaho politicians seem to court militia and antigovernment organizations, unlike their peers in most other states, human rights advocates say.

Rep. Helen Chenoweth has been quoted defending militia groups; her campaign speeches were videotaped and sold in a Militia of Montana catalog.

And Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, Lt. Gov. Butch Otter and Superintendent of Schools Anne Fox were speakers for leadership meetings of the United States Militia Association.

“Montana has been the only (other) place in which I am aware of any kind of political involvement of this sort,” said Larry Sabato, a government professor at the University of Virginia.

But in Montana, relationships between militia members and politicians do not extend to key state officers.

The militia movement has been legitimized in Idaho by Chenoweth and Cenarrusa, Montana Human Rights Network president Ken Toole said.

“That stuff really empowers those groups. We have had political leaders who are cautious and not very affirming of these people at all.”

Idaho and Montana militias denounce the Oklahoma violence. The Blackfoot-based United States Militia Association stresses its goal is to protect individual rights through changing laws.

But U.S. Militia Association founder Sam Sherwood has few kind words for politicians.

“These are not people of principle. They are people who want to exercise power. They become constitutionalists overnight if you have a big enough power base at home,” he said.

Last month, he was quoted as saying militia members ultimately may have “to blow off the faces of state lawmakers.”

“I never said it,” Sherwood insisted Tuesday. “We need to look at them as our friends and brothers and the process by which we resolve the problems.”

Members of the U.S. Militia Association claim to have distributed material for Idaho Republican campaigns, though it may have been without the candidates’ knowledge.

Republican Gov. Phil Batt said he was unaware that anybody helping his campaign was with a militia.

Those Idaho leaders who have met with militia groups contend giving a speech does not mean they accept the agenda. Sabato suggests their presence has more to do with votes than ideology.

“It’s just raw numbers of votes,” he said. “The militia groups have influence well beyond their numbers because they represent the manifestation of anti-government sentiment that has been very intense, especially in the West.”

In Chenoweth’s case especially, the militia story is politically damaging, said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Tricia Primrose.

“There’s more there than what she’s been saying recently in the press,” Primrose said. “This is a pattern of being out of the mainstream that I don’t think serves the district well.”

Chenoweth said she is willing to take the heat if that is the price for standing up for constitutional rights. But she said she has never appeared before a militia or courted their support.

“I appreciate all people who worked for me and that includes Sam Sherwood, because I feel Sam Sherwood is innocent until proven guilty and that’s the way the American system is and must remain that way,” she said.

Police are investigating a possible threat against Chenoweth’s Coeur d’Alene office. Press secretary Khris Bershers said a staff member reported a male called Tuesday, warning that if Chenoweth is not concerned about Oklahoma she may be concerned about one of her employees being killed.

Rep. Michael Crapo and Sen. Dirk Kempthorne have essentially avoided the controversy. But Sen. Larry Craig has drawn some fire on the issue, albeit indirectly.

In March, Lewiston staff member Susan Fagan reportedly told a Riggins audience that while she hoped people would work within the law, “Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.”

That rattled Chuck Hawkins of McCall, a criminal investigator for the Forest Service. He included the comment in a report.

Cenarrusa has been the most visible supporter of the militia movement. Last April he appeared at a Coeur d’Alene conference that included militia and anti-government groups.

Coalition officials said Cenarrusa gave the gathering a respectability “it would not have otherwise enjoyed.”

In February, Fox joined Cenarrusa to speak to a Statehouse meeting of about 80 militia leaders. Her office said she was invited to speak about education.

Otter said he spoke to U.S. Militia Association leaders to set the record straight.

“They’re good people. I think they feel the way a lot of people feel,” he said. “But I told them unless the governor made the call for their services, they’re nothing more than a gang.”

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