Taking One Right On The Chinook Magazine Chides Chenoweth Over Her Salmon In A Can Statement

Freshman Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth is “James Watt in a skirt,” says Outside magazine.

The Boise Republican joins such figures as Sonny Bono and Alaska Sen. Don Young in the publication’s February list of Congress’ newest movers and shakers on environmental issues.

Chenoweth said she did not know how to react to the comparison to Watt, President Reagan’s Interior Secretary and an arch enemy of environmentalists.

During her campaign, Chenoweth attacked plans to restore Idaho’s salmon, and contended sockeye were not really endangered.

The magazine, a 475,000-circulation monthly for outdoor enthusiasts, took note of Chenoweth’s campaign comment: “You can buy a can of salmon off the shelf in Albertsons.”

Now Chenoweth is on a congressional committee that will hold hearings on reauthorizing the Endangered Species Act. She said the panel will look at such issues as whether Snake River sockeye salmon should be protected when they are abundant in Alaska.

Chenoweth is “dedicated to grouchy Old West values and feisty rhetoric,” Outside said. But it asked, “With her district filling up fast with Internet-surfing California refugees, will she be forced to show her progressive side?”