Capitol evergreen returns to roots
BOISE – Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s official holiday card, like those of 36 other governors across the country, marks the holiday season without naming any specific holiday.
But pictured on the front of Kempthorne’s official card is the state Capitol with a brightly lighted spruce tree glowing on its central steps – a tree that the Republican governor is calling a “Christmas tree” this year after seven years of dubbing it the “holiday tree.”
“The Christmas tree is called the ‘Christmas tree’ this year, and the governor felt that was important because that’s what it is,” said Mike Journee, Kempthorne’s press secretary.
Unlike in neighboring Washington, where a state representative has been lobbying unsuccessfully to rename the Capitol Holiday Kids’ Tree a “Christmas tree,” no one lobbied Kempthorne to make the change, Journee said. He did it on his own.
It was easy to do because there’s no official name for the 35-foot-tall donated blue spruce that stands atop the Statehouse steps.
“In the past, in press releases and things, we called it the ‘holiday tree,’ ” Journee said. “This year, it’s being referred to as a ‘Christmas tree.’ It is a Christmas tree.”
The governor’s office has received calls both ways about the name, Journee said, but there have been no formal discussions about the issue. “I think it’s pretty plain it is a Christmas tree, and that’s the tradition it comes from,” Journee said. “I think that was the impetus for doing it.”
Christian conservatives across the country have mounted an organized campaign this year to promote “Christmas” greetings rather than “holiday” greetings, but Kempthorne’s official holiday greeting card, like President Bush’s and most governors’ cards, doesn’t name the holiday.
“May the spirit of this holiday season fill your heart with love, peace and serenity,” Kempthorne’s card says. “Wishing you many blessings for the New Year, Governor Dirk and Patricia Kempthorne and family.”
The card also features a family photo from daughter Heather’s wedding last summer to Drew Myklegard.
Stateline.org, an arm of the Pew Research Center that reports on state government, surveyed all 50 states and found that 37 governors – 18 Democrats and 19 Republicans – sent greeting cards wishing a happy, but nameless, holiday.
Nine governors – two Democrats and seven Republicans – explicitly named Christmas. Four haven’t sent cards.
Washington Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire sent no official state-funded card – unlike Kempthorne – but she did send an unofficial card to thousands of people wishing “Happy holidays from the Gregoires, Mike, Chris, Courtney and Michelle.”
Not all of the 19,500 cards printed were sent out, reported Gregoire spokeswoman Althea Cawley-Murphree, but “they sent out quite a few.”
The card features a family photo and a note on the back saying that the card was not paid for with public funds and was made using recycled paper and union printing.
Kempthorne’s card went to 2,000 state and local officials, friends and supporters. The printing cost was $1,200.
Journee said first lady Patricia Kempthorne decided on the message.
“When you send something like that to as wide an audience as they’re sending it to, you want it to be something that’s appropriate for the person who’s receiving it,” Journee said.