Rankin To Take A Spiced-Up Oath Of Office

Ron Rankin doesn’t want to be like a tin-star deputy.

The new Kootenai County commissioner has decided the traditional oath of office sworn to by his colleagues is “bland and benign.” The oath Rankin will swear to today features an addendum he wrote.

“The one that’s on the books has been kind of stripped down,” Rankin said.

“To me, this is sort of like the old cowboy movies where the sheriff goes out and swears in six people right off the street. … To me, (the current oath) means about as much.”

Rankin’s oath is twice as long as the state-mandated version. The first paragraph is the same, but the second reads:

“And further: I will represent, and be an advocate for, all taxpayers; I will practice open-door government to encourage input on public issues, and above all, I vow to be honest and aboveboard in all my dealings while conducting the people’s business.”

It ends with, “So help me God!”

“They took him out of the oath, and I want to put him back in,” Rankin said.

Without that line in particular, Rankin contends, the oath is meaningless.

“What good is an oath if you don’t have God in it? … That gives it substance.”

Rankin said the oath of office has been changed over the years “to make it more bland and politically correct.”

First District Judge James Judd, who will administer the oath, agreed to Rankin’s request - provided the language of the regular oath is not omitted.

“I just told him that the oath - the way it was - lacked inspiration,” Rankin said. “I take this oath very seriously.”

Dick Compton, chairman of the county commissioners, said he didn’t object to the addition, but he didn’t offer much enthusiasm for it either.

“It’s kind of unusual,” Compton shrugged. “But I guess it’s just Ron.”

Rankin said he doesn’t know of any other commissioners who have wanted the oath changed. But he never has minded being a maverick.

“I don’t care what other people do,” he said. “I do what I think is right and proper.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Ward Sanderson Staff writer The Associated Press contributed to this report.