Trib Awards Jeers To Mendive

In his weekly Cheers & Jeers column, opinionator Marty Trillhaase/Lewiston Tribune awards Jeers to:

… to state Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene. Week 2 of the Idaho Legislature. Time for some really inappropriate, misogynistic comment from a member of the Idaho House. Attending an American Civil Liberties Union-Idaho legislative preview breakfast presentation, the freshman Republican posed this question: If the ACLU supports a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, shouldn’t it support her right to be a prostitute? His remark drew “audible gasps” from the audience. It should have been Mendive’s first clue, ACLU Executive Director Monica Hopkins explained that abortion is a woman’s right under the Constitution while prostitution is a crime. That should have been his second. The fact is many prostitutes are victims of human trafficking. GOP Caucus Chairman John Vander Woude, R-Meridian, distanced himself from the remark. More here (final item) .

Question: Do you think freshman Mendive learned anything from this controversy?