Anti-tax crusader Rankin dies

The American flag flew at half-staff Tuesday over the Kootenai County veteran’s memorial – the very place Ron Rankin worked so hard to create.

Rankin, the fearless and feisty former Kootenai County commissioner and anti-tax crusader, who ran most always unsuccessfully for every public office from governor to a seat on a local highway district, died early Tuesday morning, two weeks after having double bypass surgery. He was 75.

In his dying days, he edited the photographs that will accompany his book about the memorial, telling the story of the local people who died serving their country.

“The only thing yet to be written was the forward, he was telling mom what he thought was important to include,” daughter Kerri Thoreson said Tuesday. “I think he had a sense he was done.”

The legacy of Rankin will live on.

There are the colorful stories of his political adventures that range from publishing his opinionated tax protest tabloid “Vox Pop” to making former Gov. Cecil Andrus mad enough to call him a snake oil salesman.

“He was just a natural-born politician,” said Alice Rankin, who celebrated her 55th wedding anniversary with Ron in June. “He had the gift of gab and loved people. He was so gregarious. And he was a good organizer.”

Then there are the more tangible reminders, like the annual reduction in Idahoans’ property taxes.

Some people think Rankin’s campaign for property tax relief and run for governor forced Gov. Phil Batt to reduce by a quarter the amount of property taxes that go to fund schools. The amount, which last year totaled about $70 million, is replaced by sales tax dollars.

“That’s $500 million in property taxes that weren’t collected (since 1995),” said Laird Maxwell of Idahoans for Tax Reform. “Property tax is onerous and Ron had a great big ol’ heart. He understood that people were getting taxed out of their homes.”

And most people, friend or foe, will remember Rankin’s sense of humor, which is evident by the strategic location of his grave at Forest Cemetery. Alice Rankin said the plot is in front of where the Memorial Day celebration is held each year so people can look at the large marble marker and say “Oh, there’s where old Rankin is buried.”

“He’ll be front row and center,” Alice Rankin said about her U.S. Marine who served in World War II and in Korea, surviving the Chosin Reservoir campaign.

Fellow veteran Dusty Rhoads said Rankin is not replaceable and few people could have raised the money and completed the vision for the veteran’s memorial.

“I’d call him a big man in more ways than just his size,” Rhoads said. “He was a Marine through and through, and he had the interest of veterans at heart. And he worried about taxpayers, too.”

Rankin moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1965 from California, looking for a quieter place to spend more time with his wife and five children. He had gotten heavily involved in Republican politics in California, and at one time told Ronald Reagan, who was running his first gubernatorial campaign, he was too liberal. Alice Rankin said her husband’s biggest accomplishment was turning the California Republican Assembly more conservative.

Once in Idaho, Rankin earned a statewide reputation as a blunt and bombastic anti-tax activist who got the 1 percent property tax initiative on the state ballot in 1992 and 1996. Voters rejected the measures to limit government to 1 percent property tax increase each year.

To further emphasize the need for property tax relief, Rankin ran for governor as an independent in 1994 against Batt and Democrat Larry EchoHawk. After winning the election, Batt kept a campaign promise to reduce property taxes that funded schools, replacing it with sales tax dollars.

Batt vividly remembers the tough debates and admired Rankin for sticking to his principles. He added that Rankin never let him straddle a question.

“I thought he added a lot to the discussion of current political matters,” Batt said. “Ron was his own man, a colorful character. He was a happy warrior. It always seemed like he had a chuckle and a grin on his face even if he was laying into you.”

Rankin also had fiery exchanges with former Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, whom he ran against in 1992.

“It was always fun to joust with him,” Reed said. “Ron Rankin seemed to fill the room. He loved attention and was very, very good at getting it. He was agile at capturing headlines.”

And he was shameless about his need to get in the newspaper, keeping a scrapbook of every article that included his name. He would rank the stories by where they ran in the newspaper and whether they had a photo.

“The county and the state aren’t going to be the same,” said Don Morgan, a fellow conservative who served with Rankin on the Kootenai County Property Owners Association board and worked on the 1 percent initiative. “There are very few people who regularly are willing to take on City Hall. He had an amazing way of connecting with people.”

But his ideas weren’t always popular.

He ran unsuccessfully for office in Idaho 10 times in 30 years, before he finally got enough votes in 1996 to defeat six-year County Commissioner Bob MacDonald.

He was disruptive from the start. He demanded that the judge change his oath-of-office pledge because it was “bland and benign.” Then Rankin gained foes when he insisted English become the official language of Kootenai County. The commission unanimously approved the measure.

Rankin left office after losing the brutal 2002 primary to Republican Rick Currie. Even though it was a blow, Rankin said he realized that losing elections is how government is supposed to work. Besides, the commission gave him lots of work by appointing him the curator of the veterans’ memorial, which Rankin called his legacy.

Tuesday’s commission meeting was solemn as Commissioners Dick Panabaker and Gus Johnson took a few minutes to remember Rankin.

Fighting tears, Panabaker said he didn’t like Rankin when he first took office, but as the years went by he grew to respect the man.

“Ron turned out to be a good friend,” Panabaker said. “Either you like him, or maybe you didn’t, but you always knew where he stood.”

Johnson said Rankin made people better politicians.

“He made government better by watching it,” Johnson said. “A lot of people didn’t like that watchdog.”

Besides politics, Rankin also was active with the Boy Scouts and the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints. And he regularly donated blood to the Inland Northwest Blood Bank. But, most of all, Rankin was proud of his children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

“We were his most proud accomplishment,” Thoreson said. “He thought we all hung the moon. It’s neat having a parent that thinks that.”

Memorial services haven’t yet been scheduled.