Beware of Boise

Boise, as far as I ran remember, has always meddled in the affairs of North Idaho. When I was a child in Wallace, which at that time was a boom town, with mining and logging in full swing, Boise would periodically pretend to close down the gambling and prostitution that was flourishing. My father, who was a gambler, would usually spend a night in jail. One night only, and sometimes not even that long. Only long enough for the mine owners to get on the phone and tell Boise that they couldn't operate the mines and keep miners in the region if they (the bluenoses in Boise) were going to shut down the gambling, etc. It was all a complete and total farce. Boise knew it, we knew it, but it occurred periodically just the same. Later, when I was eighteen or thereabouts, I worked for a time as a bartender. Of course I wasn't old enough to legally do that, but I did it just the same. Periodically I would be warned that the "inspectors," or whatever they were, would be visiting, and I would not work for a couple of days. This meddling by Boise was just regarded as a nuisance that we in the North had to put up with.

Quite a few years ago there was an important homosexual scandal in Boise. A large number of people were involved and it kept creeping up and up the social ladder until, finally, it just seemed to disappear. Obviously it had reached too far up the ladder and was quietly squashed. Only one person went to jail, ironically a young man from Wallace. I doubt that his being from Wallace had anything to do with it, but I always thought it was interesting. This scandal was important enough that a reporter traveled to Boise and wrote a book about it. The book was entitled The Boys of Boise.

I think we have a new bunch of boys of Boise. They are not homosexuals but, rather, politicians, and just like the Boiseans of old, they seem to think they should run the state democratic party as they choose. I don't know exactly who belongs to this group but they are miffed at Larry Grant because he didn't always follow their advice and refused to pursue the out-of-state financial support they recommended or hire an out-of-state campaign person. In spite of this, Grant came very close to winning, losing to Bill Sali who had the support of Cheney and the Republican party (they were so desperate to hold on to a Republican seat they spent lots of money and put up with Sali even though he was hardly a respectable candidate). The boys of Boise now say that Grant lost because he didn't campaign hard enough or follow their advice. The argument that he didn't work hard enough is exactly what people always say when someone loses a fairly close race - if only he'd worked harder, etc. But now that Grant has demonstrated it might well be possible for a democratic to win in this reddest of red states, Rand Lewis has entered the race, but more importantly, it is common knowledge that Walt Minnick is making phone calls and is rumored to enter. Thus it is that Boise has never ceased their meddling in the affairs of the North (and East,West,and South, for that matter). I do not wish to be dictated to by Boise and I will continue to back Larry Grant who I believe is as fine a candidate as one could ever find. Certainly a breath of fresh air after the completely useless religious bigot, Bill Sali, who just votes no on everything and therefore might as well not vote at all.

LKBIQ:
"Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
H.L.Mencken