Chris Carlson’s writings and wisdom will be missed

In 2005, Chris Carlson was given six months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in addition to Parkinson’s disease. Fortunately, for us Idahoans, he took a long time – 13 years – to die.

As he waged war with the Grim Reaper, the former press secretary for Cecil Andrus and Gallatin Group founder retired and began writing from his Kootenai County haven in tiny Medimont.

Books. Columns. Remembrances.

Carlson became Andrus’ Boswell in 2011 when he published, “Cecil Andrus: Idaho’s Greatest Governor.” Tongue firmly cheeked, in the forward to Carlson’s “Medimont Reflections,” the four-term governor took exception to the title as “too boastful.” And the self-deprecating Andrus referred to the “semi-biographical” book as the story of “a fading politician in the twilight of a mediocre career.”

As press secretary and an original member of the Northwest Power Planning Council, Carlson was at ground zero of major policy decisions that shaped Idaho and the Northwest in the latter 20th century. Carlson provides an insider’s view of these decisions in his 2013 book, “Medimont Reflections.” After cancer forced him to retire, Carlson used his institutional knowledge to columnize for Idaho papers.

Carlson, a “business Democrat,” called ’em as he saw ’em, eschewing partisanship for the most part.

In his final column last month, he said Paulette Jordan, the Native American Democratic candidate for Idaho governor, was “the most unqualified candidate (he’d) seen in years. It’s shameful that she is carrying the D standard.” He supported Republican Lt. Gov. Brad Little instead.

In January, he urged Congressman Raul Labrador to drop out of the race for the Idaho GOP gubernatorial nomination. He asked: “Do Idahoans really want as governor a person who like the president he idolizes, is a divider, not a unifier?” The answer from GOP voters came in May: “No.”

At times, Carlson led with his heart rather than his head, which prompted him to botch election predictions.

In 2016, he and former state Sen. Mike Blackbird visited my Coeur d’Alene office to promote the legislative candidacy of Democrat Kathy Kraack Kahn, a former St. Maries teacher. Cancer had taken a toll on Chris by then. But he was enthusiastic and convinced Kahn had a good chance against reactionary incumbent Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens. I was skeptical. After all, the House district hadn’t elected a Democratic legislator since 1994. Barbieri won with 72 percent of the vote.

On Saturday, Aug. 25, cancer finally won the battle. Interestingly, Chris died at age 71, on Andrus’ birthday, one year and one day after Andrus shuffled off this mortal coil. The pair helped transform Idaho. It’ll take some time for hyperpartisan political hacks to undo their good work.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: Land of the brave/and home of the free:/take off your shoes/and show your ID – Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“At the Airport”) … A note from a patron in the Coeur d’Alene Library suggestion box: “Every time I come here, I feel blessed. The only other place I find similar peace is at certain churches” … Sign of the Times (outside Tito’s Italian Grill on Sherman Avenue): “You treat an outside wound with alcohol. You treat an inside wound with drinking alcohol. It’s science” … Bespectacled Facebook Friend Katrina Swaim of Coeur d’Alene shares this fear: “Every time I get my eyes dilated at the vision clinic, I experience an irrational terror that they’ll be stuck that way and I’ll never be able to read again.”

Parting Shot

On this day in Coeur d’Alene history, 50 years ago, U.S. Sen. Frank Church notified Coeur d’Alene it had received a federal Land and Water Conservation grant for $57,500. This, according to the Coeur d’Alene Press. The grant was to pay for half of the $115,000 price tag the old Idaho Water Co. set for its property, including the south and west face of the prized hill and 2,700 feet of shoreline. The cash-strapped city was to pay the other half. In his informative booklet, “The Treasure Called Tubbs Hill,” late Coeur d’Alene attorney Scott Reed tells how the city, for its match, used untapped insurance money from a 1944 fire that destroyed the community center in City Park. The region owes a debt of gratitude to Reed, the late Art Manley, and other the visionaries who helped preserve Tubbs Hill.