Trib: Jeers to carpetbagger Littlejohn

In his weekly Cheers & Jeers column, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune gives JEERS to Alan Littlejohn of Athol, an ex-California firefighter who is running for the Legislature from District 2:

Who would have thought he’d give greedy, selfish, hypocritical California carpetbaggers a bad name? Littlejohn, who is challenging Rep. Eric Redman, R-Athol, in the May 17 primary, didn’t mind the high California taxes that set him up in style in northern Idaho. The 53-year-old retiree - yes, 53 - lives on a $68,000 annual pension he earned as a firefighter in the Golden State. But now that he’s here, Littlejohn won’t spend one more dime on taxes than he has to - and he’d like to spend much less, even if it means depriving your kids of a decent future.

If Littlejohn had his way, the supplemental property tax levies that support virtually every school in the state would be at risk. He’d require all of those to pass by a near-impossible two-thirds majority rather than 50 percent plus 1.That’s a bad deal for students in 94 of Idaho’s 115 school districts, which rely on those local property taxes to backfill years of neglect at the hands of state lawmakers. But it’s an instant windfall - possibly as much as $186.6 million statewide - for property owners who don’t care about the schools. Littlejohn also told the Spokesman-Review’s Betsy Russell he’d starve higher education. More here.