On The Way Back From Too Far Right

Wed., Nov. 29, 2000

By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com (509) 319-0354

While America frets about its image overseas as a result of the presidential election that won’t end, the Inland Northwest should take heart. Another bastion of far-right politics officially fell as two human rights advocates won Bonner County commissioner seats.

Reverberations from the Nov. 7 election of Republicans Tom Suttmeier and Jerry Clemons will be felt throughout the region. No longer will the scorched-earth politics of Commissioner Bud Mueller and his kind be held up by outsiders as an example of the type of government that’s found in rural North Idaho or Eastern Washington.

Coupled with the civil trial that closed the Aryan Nations compound this fall, the national media will have to look harder to find fault with the Inland Northwest. Now, maybe they’ll discover the impressive regional human rights movement that began in Kootenai County.

That’s not to say that everything’s hunky-dory on the human rights front in the region’s courthouses and city halls. Kootenai County still sends out the wrong signals to minority groups with the misguided English-only resolution unanimously passed by commissioners in March 1997. But things definitely are looking up in the region’s fight to change its image as a haven for anti-government activists, kooks and racists.

Bonner County is a case in point.

During the last decade anti-government activism and voter complacency enabled three hard-right ideologues at various times to win seats on the county commission. The damage was limited until 1997, when Mueller and his ally, Larry Allen, won office together and then created havoc by dismantling the county’s building department. Such was the turmoil that the Southern Poverty Law Center singled out the county as an example of anti-government extremism. That coupled with the Ruby Ridge shootout in nearby Boundary County and increased racist activity gave a black eye to Bonner County and the region.

Fortunately, Allen and the Bonner County citizenry soon rejected Mueller’s scorched-earth policies. Then, two years ago, Allen lost a re-election bid and Republicans picked Suttmeier and Clemons over Mueller and another hard-right ally during this spring’s primaries. Respect for human rights was a key part of the victors’ campaigns.

Bonner County’s turnaround provides hope. For years, Bonner County was engulfed in turmoil at all levels of local government. If it can right itself through the ballot box and by confronting racism, any community can.

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