These Bozos didn't sneak into the Idaho Legislature
Jim Fisher
March 11, 2007
Lewiston Morning Tribune
"How did we get such legislators?" some people have asked me since members of committees in the Idaho House killed two pieces of legislation, one creating minimal standards for small day-care centers and the other protecting the privacy of domestic abuse victims.
Drawing on my vast experience as a legislative reporter and a longtime student of politics, I had the answer right on my tongue: "We elected them."
And then we re-elected them.
By "we," I mean we Idahoans in general. Most of the legislators responsible for the above embarrassments do not represent north central Idaho (although Rep. Paul Shepherd of Riggins does).
But that doesn't mean they are from another land. One, Tom Loertscher, is from another corner, the most southeastern district in the state.
Loertscher is the guy who voted against the day-care standards while posing the question, "What can we do to keep Mom at home?"
That outraged many working moms, who have little choice about leaving home during the day. Some of them do that because their families would be short on cash if they did not, but others do it because the state's welfare reform act told them they must.
Yes, Loertscher voted for that 1996 act.
But let's give thanks that Loertscher's spouse apparently has not had to do that. Loertscher is a successful farmer.
How do I know that? According to the Environmental Working Group's Web site of federal farm subsidies, Loertscher has received more than $900,000 in subsidies in the last 10 years, $765,000 of it through the Conservation Reserve Program.
That's $90,000 a year, most of it for leaving his land uncultivated.
Who's the welfare queen, eh?
But that hasn't stopped Loertscher from criticizing others for getting government benefits. Two years ago, he called them "seagulls feeding at the landfills of government programs."
And none of that has stopped Loertscher's constituents from returning him to office, time and time again. He served seven terms in the House from 1989 to 2002, and returned to the Legislature in 2005. He is now chairman of one of the House's most powerful committees, State Affairs.
If you say that's just southern Idaho, look closer to home. Not far north, Loertscher's fellow Republican Phil Hart of Athol was elected to the House with a distinction of his own:
He hadn't paid his federal income taxes for seven years.
It wasn't that he forgot to pay them. He decided in 1996 that the government had no constitutional right to collect them.
So he quit paying, after he filed a lawsuit alleging the government was incorrectly applying the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Which amendment is that? It's the one that reads, in full, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
Surprise, surprise: The courts didn't buy Hart's claim. In 2003, the year before Hart was first elected to the House, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal of lower court rulings against him.
Next month, Hart will be back in court again, but not at his choice. He will be asked to tell U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge why he has not cooperated with the Internal Revenue Service as he pays the taxes he owes.
Hart told the Spokesman-Review's Erica Curless that he has been paying the IRS money, but it won't settle for that. It wants to know the names of people who bought Hart's self-published book, "Constitutional Income: Do You Have Any?"
The government also wants the names of people who bought Liberty Dollars from him. The Justice Department says use of the dollars -- produced as an alternative currency in Indiana by the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code -- is a crime.
The feds are also curious about two trusts, including one in Hart's daughter's name, that own his home. They say they need information about them to learn just how many tax dollars he owes.
If you wonder how such a person got into the Legislature in the first place, see my answer above. Hart was not only elected, but he defeated five-term incumbent Wayne Meyer of Rathdrum, one of the House's more solid citizens, in the 2004 Republican primary.
Last year, Meyer wasn't the only one who considered that a fluke, so he filed for the position again. In the May primary election, Hart defeated him 57-43 percent.
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Fisher is editor of the Tribune's editorial page. His e-mail address is jfisher@lmtribiune.com.
Originally posted at http://www.lmtribune.com/03112007/opinion/414558.php
The editorial posted here is provided by permission of its original publisher and does not necessarily reflect the views of Idaho Public Television.