{"id":17133,"date":"2021-12-15T01:45:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T01:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17133"},"modified":"2021-12-14T20:38:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T20:38:01","slug":"leaning-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/15\/leaning-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaning Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An undercurrent of political action could brew trouble for historically \u2018blue\u2019 Valley<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
From left to right: Idaho Sen. Michelle Stennett (D-Ketchum), Idaho Rep. Muffy Davis (D-Ketchum), Christina Cernansky, NAMI Idaho board member and executive director of NAMI-Wood River Valley, and Sally Toone (D-Gooding). Photo credit: NAMI Idaho<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a state firmly implanted in a sea of Republican red lie two islands, one purple-ish\u2014the Treasure Valley, and one as blue as Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s eyes\u2014our Valley. But if you ask folks who lean to or are implanted in the conservative right, Blaine County may be in for a rouge awakening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing so good,\u201d said Debbie O\u2019Neill, campaign manager for Idaho state senate candidate Eric Parker. \u201cWe\u2019ve held several meet-and-greets, we\u2019re raising money, and we\u2019re seeing more people turn out to our events (than our competitors).\u201d<\/p>\n

How that all translates into election results come November remains to be seen, of course. But O\u2019Neill\u2019s optimism is not without at least some foundation. That foundation consists of three things, at least right now:<\/p>\n

Working-class concerns (like affordable housing) are the big issues for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

The Democratic presence in the Valley is strong but changing.<\/p>\n

Eric Parker isn\u2019t just the \u201cthe guy (with the rifle) in the photo\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n

Working Class Woes<\/b><\/p>\n

The narrative in modern U.S. history is this: Establishment Republicans are business friendly and foreign affairs \u201cAmerica first\u201d and establishment Democrats are union and worker friendly and foreign affairs \u201cdiplomacy first.\u201d Those cloaks start to fray, though, the more local you get, and the more anomalies you factor. For instance, the Valley is not just rural ag land, it\u2019s resort wonderland, too. And the past two years are not normal, they\u2019ve been for most folks pandemic surreal.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns. Photo credit: Ned Burns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Read any local paper today and foremost on anyone\u2019s mind\u2014that is, anyone who resides here and works here full-time and not from inside an estate home\u2014is how the heck to afford housing, if you can even find some. That\u2019s a classic working-class issue, and in Blaine County a chunk of the Democrats are more \u201cHollywood\u201d than blue collar. Edge: any grassroots populist politician who\u2019s willing to pound the pavement to garner interest and, ultimately, votes. That describes Parker.<\/p>\n

Blue Wave (Goodbye?)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Bestplaces.net who evaluate recent voting trends, Blaine County is not just blue, it\u2019s deep blue. So anyone expecting a red wave is being optimistic at best, delusional at worst. Regardless, the polls can change when established positions change. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the impending resignation of Representative Muffy Davis, from Legislative District 26 seat A effective December 31, 2021, Legislative District 26 Democratic leaders per Idaho State Code have selected three candidates for Governor Brad Little to consider for the position. Incidentally, they are: Ned Burns (Mayor of Bellevue) Karma Fitzgerald (Vice Chair of the Lincoln County Democrats) and Don Lappin (past Democratic Precinct Captain for Sun Valley). <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Idaho state Sen. Michelle Stennett has not yet announced her intent to seek re-election. And, it looks all but certain that District 26 will be redrawn in a way that\u2019s\u2014if anything\u2014slightly more beneficial to Republican candidates than Democratic ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Guy With The Gun<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Parker, who ran unsuccessfully for state senate last year, became a household name or image at least in 2014 when he was photographed and later imprisoned for holding aim with a rifle on federal agents dealing with the Cliven Bundy affair. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not the guy in the photo,\u201d remarks O\u2019Neill. \u201cIf I had a son, I\u2019d want him to be just like Eric Parker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Parker acknowledged his role that day was a mistake he made in his youth, but he\u2019s unapologetic for what he learned from it all. And, if you\u2019re ready to pigeonhole him as an alt-right conspiracy-monger who\u2019s outlasted his 15 minutes of fame, then you have seriously underestimated and misunderstood him. It\u2019s more than apparent that Parker is getting more and more comfortable with talking about the issues of the day and the issues he is running on, not in just layman\u2019s terms but in socio-political ones. He\u2019s very comfortable meeting up with people at a pizza joint and being a listener.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLast election we did better than anyone expected,\u201d said Parker. \u201cLast election I did the legwork for this next election. It\u2019s the independents that matter when it comes to close elections as far as I can tell. So I\u2019m feeling good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An undercurrent of political action could brew trouble for historically \u2018blue\u2019 Valley By Eric Valentine In a state firmly implanted in a sea of Republican red lie two islands, one purple-ish\u2014the Treasure Valley, and one as blue as Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s eyes\u2014our Valley. But if you ask folks who lean to or are implanted in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,72,75,83,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blaine-county","8":"category-community","9":"category-elections","10":"category-idaho","11":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17144,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17133\/revisions\/17144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}