Louisiana has a legitimate beef with Idaho politicians.

In a recent editorial, the New Orleans Times-Picayune begins: “It’s starting to feel as if the whole state of Idaho has disdain for South Louisiana.”

Last October, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, angered residents in the hurricane-ravaged area during congressional discussions about federal relief by comparing Louisiana to Iraq, stating, “Fraud is in the culture of Iraqis. I believe that is true in the state of Louisiana as well.”

In a recent article in the British paper the Guardian, new Idaho Gov. Jim Risch one-upped Craig in a statement he later said was taken out of context. Referring to the Teton Dam break that displaced 25,000 and claimed 11 lives, Risch said: “Here in Idaho, we couldn’t understand how people could sit around the curbs waiting for the federal government to come and do something. … We had a dam break in 1976, but we didn’t whine about it. We got out our backhoes, and we rebuilt the roads and replanted the fields and got on with our lives.”

Although Risch has been Idaho’s governor only for weeks, he and Craig have been around politics long enough to know that their words reflect on their constituents. They should be careful what they say, especially when discussing the personal and regional tragedies inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. Some Idahoans may agree with the sentiments expressed by the two lawmakers. But there’s ample evidence that others do not.

Many Idahoans’ feelings about hurricane-ravaged Louisiana were displayed by the warm welcome given to 300 evacuees who moved to the Gem State, temporarily or permanently, by former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and medical workers.

Bonner County sheriff’s deputies and the Fraternal Order of Police showed the grass-roots compassion of Idahoans toward suffering Louisiana when they organized a relief effort during the 2005 Labor Day weekend. After receiving a distress call from the sheriff of St. Charles Parish, Bonner County deputies collected $20,000 in cash as well as clothes, equipment and food to fill a truck and a half. They and deputies from Shoshone County intended to deliver the goods to Louisiana’s needy families and then donate their time to help patrol St. Charles Parish.

But that wasn’t all. Goods and cash donations waited for the small convoy at every stop it made in from the Idaho panhandle south to Boise. A U-Haul trailer full of goods waited for the deputies in Moscow. A parking lot full of donated equipment and food waited in Lewiston. By the time the trucks and volunteers reached Boise, where another mountain of goods awaited them, the deputies were having trouble shutting the truck door.

Along the way, the convoy was joined by the chief deputy and jail commander from Idaho County and a police officer and his father from Nampa.

Unfortunately, the convoy encountered bureaucratic red tape when it reached Louisiana and delivered its cash, goods and volunteer services with difficulty. But that doesn’t detract from the benevolent gesture. Idahoans reacted immediately when they saw countrymen in desperate straits. Neither FEMA’s stone wall that the deputies encountered nor the words of politicians can obscure the admirable feelings of the Gem State toward nature’s victims in Louisiana.