Nicole, We Hardly Know You

Mountain Goat Report disagrees with my take on Nicole LeFavour as a radical activist:

He obviously doesn’t know Rep. LeFavour.  Radical or extreme she is not.

This is ironic as this was in regards to LeFavour’s slapping away an olive branch from Bryan Fischer and making it clear she didn’t want to get along because she viewed his disagreements with her over gay rights issues. I certainly don’t know Rep. LeFavour and barring a decision to support gay rights, I doubt I ever will.

What I have to go on is Rep. LeFavour’s record and it is as far to the left as anyone in the Idaho Legislature.  And it is that sense, that I used the word, “radical“  “favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms”

The other thing I have to go on is what people who are around the legislature tell me.  I hear positive things about Democrats like Margaret Henbest (D-16) and Branden Durst (D-18) but little positive about LeFavour in the way she deals with the other side.

She comes from one of perhaps 2 or 3 districts in which she could possibly be elected in this state. (She might be able to win in Moscow or the Sun Valley but I wouldn’t bet on it.) And while her Lesbian lifestyle might be enough to make many voters pull the lever for her opponent elsewhere, I think it goes even deeper than that.

Certainly, there are ways to be effective as a Democrat in this state. Mayor Bieter tries very hard to project a moderate image. He does all he can to communicate that he’s not far out there. While, I tend to think this is image, rather than reality, I respect what Bieter is able to do from a political level. The one word that everyone gives me about Henbest is “nice.” Branden Durst has a genuine idealistic quality about him.

With LeFavour, it’s another story. I’ve read nearly every entry since her blog debuted. I have to confess, I found her to be a very capable and interesting individual who fulfils her duties competently. However, her views of those to the right of her, rings oftentimes of disdain, passing judgment and psychoanalyzing.  For example, while praising Rep. Lenore Barrett (R-35)’s style, Rep. LeFavour wrote, “Helen Chenoweth was not elected on a fluke. She and Lenore Barrett represent a part of Idaho that does see black helicopters in the rain clouds…” Translation: “Barrett has good style, but she’s as crazy as all get out.”

Reading her blog as a conservative and a  Christian, I’ve felt very much like I’m being looked down upon and talked down to and if that’s the type of way she chooses to present herself than I think radical is fitting in the state of Idaho.

The reason she wins is that she comes from a far left district that basically allows for people who are far out of the state’s mainstream to get elected to office. It is a proper function of our state’s districting system as she represents the mindset of most of her district, but she will never be able to move beyond that.