Minor Party Voices Include Some Well Worth Listening To

Admittedly, The Idaho Spokesman-Review hesitated before inviting Natural Law Party candidate George Mansfeld to its U.S. Senate debate with Democrat Bill Mauk and Republican Mike Crapo.

After all, he doesn’t have a chance to win. (Then, some could argue, Mauk doesn’t either.)

Ultimately, we invited Mansfeld. And the debate was better off for it. While the main party candidates exchanged me-toos, Mansfeld flashed a love for the U.S. Constitution and state’s rights that was naive, in these cynical times - and refreshing.

Then, you’d expect a man with a price on his head to love freedom.

Mansfeld had been sentenced to 18 months in prison when he fled with his family from Czechoslavakia. He’d followed in the steps of his father, who resisted communism in 1968.

Mansfeld, accent and all, served as a reminder that all candidates should be heard. Sometimes, third party candidates are nothing more than crackpots. Occasionally, however, their voices are the sound of freedom ringing.

Here’s a list worth checking twice

If you’re like me, you checked the list and addresses of child molesters that ran in Sunday’s Idaho Spokesman-Review - twice. The last thing you want is to have a man convicted of rape or lewd conduct with a minor living next door. The next to last thing you want is to not know about it. Civil libertarians who worry that publishing this information violates the rights of these predators should save their breath. These dregs of society have a propensity to reoffend. Forewarned is forearmed. (By the way, the Patrick D. Kelly, 27, of Coeur d’Alene, who made the sexual offender list, isn’t my friend Jerry Kelly’s son, Patrick S., 24, of Hayden. But thanks for asking.)

Tater Tots:

The Kootenai County commissioners have reason to worry that talk about building a state juvenile detention center here will confuse people. Even the architect for the proposed expansion of the local juvie didn’t know the difference between the two facilities. The county juvenile hall will need to be expanded for truants and runaways, even if the state builds its regional center here, too … I don’t begrudge the commissioners giving themselves a pay raise. They haven’t had one for five years. But I snickered when Chairman Dick Compton said the hike was needed to attract qualified candidates. Wannabes would apply even if commissioners didn’t get a raise for the next decade … Oops: Nancy Tefft’s first name was reported wrong in Hot Potatoes Thursday.