We love Demagoguery Week

Rep. Branden Durst (D-18) has a post up declaring this week, “The Annual We Hate Idaho Children’s Week.” Among other things, he excoriates the vast majority of the legislature:

• Majority party budget writers embrace the fallacy that unprecedented cuts to the public education budget are necessary (totalling over $100 million) despite having over $150 million in rainy day funds in the bank.
• Majority party members of the House Health and Welfare Committee all but close the door on the passage of a statewide daycare licensing bill intended to keep pedophiles out of the child care business for the fifth year in a row.
• Despite opposition from nearly all education experts, the Majority members of the House approve passage of HB256, which, according to the experts, will likely lead to unsafe transportation conditions for school children.
• Majority party budget writers cut funding for treatment to children with Cystic Fibrosis, likely leading to increase hospitalization and probably much worse.

And the reason? They hate Idaho Children. They personally despise and detest the little kids. Though Durst claims his post is in jest, the title and the tone suggests that he believes Republican colleagues are more monsters than men.

If I’d been in the legislature, I may not have gone along with the Cystic Fibrosis vote. But the request actually originated from Here’s quote from the Statesman:

Supporters say no one’s health will suffer because a list of drug companies and other sources will pick up the slack.

“If I wasn’t confident that these people were going to receive the medication they need, I wouldn’t be supporting the department’s decision,” said Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate.

In addition S. 1082 applies to adults over 18, not children, unless there’s been an amendment added that I don’t know about.

As for the day care vote, the Democrats were as usual far too ambitious here with a bill that began regulating day cares that cared for as few as four kids. Legislators remain unconvinced that more regulation is going to produce better day care centers. Regardless, it will have no impact on Rep. Durst’s contituents because the City of Boise regulates all day cares operating within the city even if they only have 1 child. So do Idaho Falls and CDA.

Finally, regarding the budget, I guess if we are to assume that this year is the only “Rainy Day”  we have then it makes sense to take a big dip into the rainy day fund. We don’t know how long this recession is going to last. So keeping our state with a solid reserve is a strong fiscal decisions.

Yes, I know Rep. Durst will claim I didn’t show the whole post, because at the end, he said he was “jesting” about forty-nine members of our legislature being child-haters. I guess he’d understand if Republican legislators publicly jested about Democrats being baby-killers and communists but at the end claimed they were jesting.

As an elected official, Rep. Durst and all the legislators have got a different standard to live up to than a normal blogger. They have to work with one another. Durst’s critique of the Republican plans would work a lot better if he left the name-calling out of it and stuck too facts.