Eye on Boise: Labrador slams Democratic challenger Piotrowski over ‘socialist’ tweet

During a televised debate, Rep. Raul Labrador went after his Democratic challenger, James Piotrowski, saying, “He’s not a moderate,” and reading a tweet that Piotrowski sent from his personal Twitter account in February: “@BernieSanders this tweet cost you the vote of this lifelong progressive, labor activist and socialist. This was beneath you.” The tweet was posted at 7 p.m. Feb. 3, 2016. It’s since been deleted.

Piotrowski’s tweet was in apparent response to a Sanders tweet the same day that was sharply critical of rival Hillary Clinton, including an image of a list of complaints about Clinton’s record, opening with, “Pleads guilty to being moderate and center. Has a Wall Street-funded SuperPAC. Promoted fracking. Opposes Medicare-for-all and says a single-payer system will never ever happen.”

Piotrowski told Eye on Boise that he’s not a socialist, but he described himself as one in the tweet to make a point to supporters of then-presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist.

“I’ve been called a socialist more times than you could imagine because of the legal work I do,” Piotrowski said, including representing labor unions. “So when I tweeted that out to Sanders supporters, it was trying to identify that I’m one of those folks that have been in the trenches, I’ve been called a socialist, I’ve been called an activist, I’ve been called a lot worse.”

After last week’s debate, the Idaho Republican Party tweeted a screenshot of the Piotrowski tweet, adding this comment: “We’ll just leave this here. So much for ‘moderate’ or ‘reasonable’ @IdahoDems.”

The account, @therealjamespio, is one that was opened in 2009 and has few followers. Among them, though, is Piotrowski’s wife, Sandy, and others in Idaho. In the profile for the account, it says only, “Noone’s (sic) ever had to ask which side I am on.”

The account has now been protected from public view and all but one of its tweets deleted.

Piotrowski said when he set up the personal Twitter account, “It was there mainly to keep me in touch with my children,” but also to occasionally vent about issues or post miscellaneous thoughts, including his progress on restoring an old Airstream trailer. Other posts included one saying he wanted a milkshake.

Jim Weatherby, Boise State University professor emeritus and a longtime observer of Idaho politics, called Piotrowski’s tweet “a major unforced error,” noting that “socialist” is “just about as far left as you can get in the Republican lexicon.” He added, “I think it was worse years ago when socialism was equated with communism. Obviously it’s more acceptable today than to have a declared socialist almost win the Democratic nomination for president.” But in conservative Idaho, Weatherby said, “It could hurt him. He’s a long shot to begin with. But it could.”

Piotrowski, a Boise attorney who is making his first run for office, has portrayed himself as a moderate Democrat who would seek compromise if elected to Congress, in contrast to Republican and tea party favorite Labrador; he’s made public lands access his top issue.

“I used that word in that tweet the same way it’s been thrown at me,” Piotrowski said. “To me, that’s a word with a pretty specific meaning. To actually be a socialist would involve an economic theory that I don’t espouse, an economic theory of state ownership of industry. … When I was using the word in that tweet, I was using it in the same way that people today call Hillary Clinton a socialist, call Barack Obama a socialist. It’s a shorthand for, ‘You’re farther left than I am, you’re doing things to fight corporate power, you believe in doing things to regulate markets.’ I was using it in that sense, that I get called a socialist, like all the Democratic candidates at that point.”

He said, “What I do believe is that we unleash the power of markets to create tremendous economic growth, but we’ve still got to have a legal system that rides herd on that. My economic beliefs are right in the middle of the road. I’ve got a degree in economics.”

Piotrowski said he supports a “mixed economy,” of “free markets with appropriate government regulation,” adding, “The only remaining fight in the field of economics these days is not between socialists and capitalists. It’s what’s the correct level of government intervention, not whether there should be any.”

Piotrowski said he deleted the tweet right after the debate Monday night, “when I realized that it was going to become fodder in the campaign.” The debate can be viewed online at www.ktvb.com; click on “Voter Guide” to find the hourlong video.

Piotrowski said he made the account private out of concern that it could be used to lead to his teenage daughter’s Twitter account. “I’m not very good at this social media thing,” he said. “Nobody wants to be judged on the basis of one tweet.”

He stopped short of calling the tweet a mistake. “It was a loose use of language, absolutely. It was born of frustration at how broken our politics have become, and was something I wrote at the spur of the moment in an effort to try and bring some calmness to the debate,” Piotrowski said. “I probably failed, but that was my attempt.”

The line in the profile of the Twitter account, which said, “No one’s ever had to ask which side I am on,” is something Piotrowski said comes from “an old saying among folks in the labor movement.” He said, “Which side are you on was kind of a code phrase for: Are you with the workers, or are you with the boss? I’ve always stood with working people, literally my whole life.”