GOP Idaho lawmaker wants apology after confrontation at fair

MOSCOW, Idaho – A northern Idaho senator says he stands by his comments after law enforcement video showed the Republican lawmaker in a confrontation at the Latah County Fair.

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported Tuesday that it had obtained bodycam video from the Latah County Sheriff’s Department showing Sen. Dan Foreman of Viola in a heated exchange with an unseen and unidentified male on Sept. 14 – the first day of the county fair in Moscow.

Video footage shows a deputy approach Foreman, who told the deputy that the unseen man was rude. The footage does not show what the unidentified man was saying to Foreman before the lawmaker became agitated.

“This guy says I’m not doing my job, and he’s lecturing me on the Constitution,” said Foreman.

Foreman then shouted insults and cursed at the man after the deputy asked both of them to move along.

“Go straight to hell, you son of a bitch,” Foreman can be heard saying out of the view of the camera.

Foreman later told the newspaper that he won’t return to the fair until he gets an apology from management for how he and other Republicans were treated.

Foreman, who ousted an incumbent Democrat in the 2016 general election, says Moscow is the only town in his legislative district where he doesn’t feel welcome. He also described the man as “an example of the nuttiness of the loony left” that he describes is all too common in Moscow.

Only Foreman can be heard yelling in the video.

This isn’t the first time Foreman has raised eyebrows for his blunt behavior. During this year’s legislative session, Foreman unsuccessfully attempted to introduce legislation that would have classified abortion as first-degree murder for mothers and doctors.

Foreman also faced scrutiny over an email response to a constituent’s concerns over climate change. Foreman called global warming “nonsense” and said it was a scam used by left-wing fanatics to raise taxes.