The current Republican leaders of the Idaho House of Representatives proved this week they are as incapable of handling ticklish issues involving the state’s Indian tribes as their predecessors were. Also, they showed they were as willing to chase lost causes as former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb.

Despite adverse court decisions, despite ongoing good-faith negotiations between the state and Idaho tribes, House Transportation Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, and all four House leaders – House Speaker Lawerence Denney, Majority Leader Mike Moyle, Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke and GOP Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts – have co-sponsored a bill to impose the state gas tax on Indian reservations.

If Idaho legislators foolishly follow these leaders and pass their legislation, they are ignoring history and squandering money in a legal fight that has been lost twice before. The Idaho Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have each ruled that the state has no right to tax gasoline sold on reservations.

In the past, before the appeals court ruled, then-Speaker Newcomb explained his foolhardiness by shrugging and saying that the state had nothing to lose, which wasn’t correct. In 2006, when a similar bill died on a 7-7 committee vote, a legislator estimated the state price tag on the court struggle had reached $1.5 million.

All five North Idaho members of the House Transportation Committee last year deserve credit for helping block the bill by voting against it. Local legislators should give leadership’s bill the same reception this time. This is no time to kowtow. It’s time again for North Idaho to stand with the tribes, which contribute much to the state economy. It’s time to demand that legislative leaders quit attacking the tribes and learn to respect the process set up to deal with their issues.

In a state known for its flirtation with racism in the past, Denney and his followers should consider how their quixotic crusade appears to others.

By opting for legislation rather than negotiation, Republican legislators are excluding the tribes from the process – a condescending approach that’s not appropriate in dealing with the sovereign nations of Indian country. An approach that doesn’t belong in the 21st century. Obviously, the co-sponsors are pressuring the state and tribes to reach a decision on how to split gas revenue because they included a provision that suspends imposition of a gas tax, if the two sides reach agreement by July 1. However, they belittled the negotiation process again by retaining the right to rescind any settlement if they don’t like it.

Denney, Wood and other co-sponsors, of course, conveniently forget they don’t have the legal authority to impose the tax.

Rather than proceed with their divisive course, the co-sponsors should assign this matter to the Idaho Indian Affairs Council, which is chaired by Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, and includes legislators as well as state and tribe representatives. A year ago, the committee opposed the gas-tax legislation.

The state would be better off if House leaders quit stirring up trouble and encouraging another expensive legal battle that can’t be won.