One-Part Harmony Means Dull Music

And then there was one.

County Clerk Dan English now is the only elected Democrat remaining in Kootenai County following Prosecutor Bill Douglas’ announcement Monday that he’d switched parties. Now, every courthouse officeholder and all legislators who live in Kootenai County are Republicans. That might be good for the Grand Ol’ Party. But it isn’t good for Kootenai County. Or informed debate. During his tenure, Republican Gov. Phil Batt was correct when he said more Democrats are needed in the Legislature. He was concerned that lawmakers would fail to debate important issues if everyone thought alike. Belonged to the same caucus. Or was afraid to counter Republican leadership. His concerns have proven prophetic since, as the Republican majority routinely has steamrolled Democratic ideas and objections.

Now that Kootenai County has become a mini version of the Legislature, who’s going to safeguard the opportunity for effective public dissent - especially when dissenting views run counter to the wishes of local Republicans? Increasingly, the Republican Central Committee is taking stands on local government issues, from the Coeur d’Alene community center to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe fuel depot. Is local government to become no more than a wing of the GOP central committee?

Of course, Republican Party dominance in Idaho and Kootenai County is only half the problem. The other half is the weakness of the Democratic Party. Liberal social policies that work well in Massachusetts and Hawaii fall flat in Idaho. Democrats need to seek and support moderate-to-conservative officeholders, like the late Jim Stoicheff of Sandpoint, who was respected on both sides of the aisle.

Above all, Kootenai County Democrats should quit being so persnickety. At least one former Democratic officeholder complained privately that Democratic candidates must run a gauntlet to get widespread party support. They need to be pro-choice, pro-labor, pro-gay rights, pro-teachers’ union and pro-environmentalism. To be less than 100 percent in those five key areas means a candidate will have lukewarm party backing. That’s fatal for a party on life support.

On the other hand, maybe nothing can be done. Maybe Douglas’ flipflop Monday will be viewed someday as the official end of the Kootenai County Democratic Party. The beginning of the end occurred a few years ago when popular former Democratic Sheriff Pierce Clegg became a Republican because he opposed his party’s social policies. Now, almost every Kootenai County candidate who hopes to succeed is running as a Republican, including Sheriff Rocky Watson, who served a term in the late 1970s as a Democrat.

Cynics would say Douglas changed parties to increase his chance of being appointed judge someday. No Republican Idaho governor is going to appoint a Democrat to fill an occasional vacancy for District Court judge. If that is Douglas’ goal, he’s simply bowing to political reality - finally.