Chenoweth Rally Ridicules Opponents

Puppeteers poking fun at endangered species and Democratic rivals set the tone for a Lewiston campaign rally for U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, was the main attraction Tuesday, however, for the partisan crowd of about 130.

He pledged to pass a new version of the salvage logging law once the current version expires at the end of the year.

Young said Chenoweth is among the House freshmen targeted for defeat this year because she stands in the way of Democratic efforts to turn America into a socialist country.

“My job and Helen’s job is to turn this ship around to the great America I know where individuals have rights. I want Americans to be raised as individuals and to have the rights I had when I was born,” Young said.

The event began with a puppet show featuring characters ranging from spotted owl Mrs. Sally Sore Spot and wolf Monsieur Jacque Le Wolf to skunks named Peppie LaRocco and Dan Williams. In the skit, the owl related it needs humans to manage the forests for its survival.

“My species is in greater danger from forest fires than from extinction.”

The wolf contended federal reintroduction efforts bringing its brethren south from Canada to Idaho were a waste of money and were breaking up its families there.

“It seems America’s history is being repeated in that 200 years ago, you kidnapped African (American) people, ripping them away from their families for monetary gain.”

The puppeteers got in a couple of digs at Larry LaRocco, the Democratic incumbent Chenoweth unseated two years ago, and current opponent Dan Williams, by portraying them as skunks.

Peppie LaRocco lamented he was tossed out by voters, short-circuiting his efforts to designate more wilderness in the state.

“I counted on them not being smart enough to figure out I was really the candidate for the environmentalists and not the people of Idaho.”