Silly Sali goes down-
Walt Minnick has served on the Board of the The Wilderness Society.
Minnick was elected to Congress yesterday with a big Republican crossover who were embarrassed and fed up with “The Idiot.”
Minnick was at one time a CEO of wood-products company Trus Joist International. That might worry people, but at that time he was one of the first woods product leaders who said the Forest Service did the industry and America no service by selling sub-marginal timber at a loss to the taxpayers to keep mills alive in places they never should have been built. His statements and activity on this helped a lot bringing down these environmentally ruinous timber sales.
Minnick will probably tend toward the “let join hands and talk (with people who don’t want to talk with you and vice versa)” viewpoint; but Sali was offensive in so many ways, I celebrate.
Note: “That idiot [Sali] is a real idiot,” the phrase that has been following Sali around, was uttered by the Idaho State Speaker of the House, a typical conservative Republican.
Story in the Idaho Statesman. Minnick defeats Sali in 1st Congressional District. John Miller. Idaho Statesman
. . . and a bit more on Silly Sali . . . Democrat Minnick Wins Idaho’s First District, Sali Refuses to Concede Minnick 51%, Sali 49% with all precincts in, but Sali says he’ll wait “until things turn out” before conceding. By Jill Kuraitis. New West. Note. Sali finally conceded that he lost.
New. More on Minnick beats Sali. Idaho: Change in Congressional District 1? by Randy Stapilus.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
One of two reasons I bothered to go to the polls. Vote against Sali and vote to save our community library.
One additional bit of positive Idaho conservation news: Blaine County (one of maybe three blue counties in the whole state) passed an open space bond measure by a 53-47 margin. Two years of taxes to bring in $3.5M. Pretty exceptional in this economic environment. This highlights the importance of wildlife values to residents here, despite the disconnect with the Idaho legislature.