Sure, says Sheila Olsen, she’s disappointed the Idaho Supreme Court tossed a new political map she helped draw. And she’s saddened by an attempt to kick two fellow Republicans off the redistricting commission.
But that won’t stop the GOP legend from Idaho Falls from working with Democrats as well as Republicans when the commission reconvenes Thursday.
“You get this fighting and narrow self-interest and I think people are tired of it,” Olsen said. “You do better when you work in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I think you’re more effective.”
Olsen, 73, said she loves the Republican Party and has never voted for a Democrat, but the commission’s constitutional obligation is to set aside partisanship — including protecting incumbents. “You’ve got to do what’s best for all of Idaho.”
The attorney general’s office said last week that House Speaker Lawerence Denney and GOP Chairman Norm Semanko don’t have authority to remove their appointees to the commission — former GOP Reps. Dolores Crow and Randy Hansen. But Denney, R-Midvale, and Semanko got a private legal opinion to the contrary and say they’ll appoint two new commissioners Tuesday.
That could draw the court back in, further delaying the remapping of legislative districts for 2012 to reflect population shifts in the 2000s.
Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, however, stands behind Olsen, the widow of Dennis Olsen, who was GOP chairman during a fiercely competitive time, 1977-85.
“She’s a woman of great integrity,” said Hill, R-Rexburg. “She has the best interests of the state at heart.”
Crow, GOP co-chair of the commission, has known Olsen since Barry Goldwater was the GOP presidential nominee in 1964. “She’s just a fine lady and wonderful advocate for the Republican Party.”
TOUGHER TIMES
Olsen has been through worse than this ugliness over maps. At 29, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while pregnant with her fifth child. Rather than scale back, she started skiing and had five more kids.
After a heart attack killed her husband while he was shoveling snow in 1985, she sat the six youngest kids down and said, “Your dad is gone, but he’s fine. He can see us better than he ever could before.”
Olsen said she set aside her grief because she had children to raise.
Before Olsen got home from the hospital, Enid Davis, president of the Relief Society, had arrived to console her fellow Mormon. Davis got stuck in the snow in the driveway.
“Sheila couldn’t get in,” recalled Davis, the mother of Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ She said, ‘Well, you know, I guess people go right on living. I guess the snow still falls and I guess people still get stuck.’ ”
Nine of 10 Olsen children earned college degrees — including four with law degrees from Harvard, Columbia, BYU and George Mason.
Until her husband died, Olsen relied on a cane and his arm to support weakened legs. She now uses an electric scooter and says her secret is physical therapy and never giving in to the temptation to stay in bed.
“Stay in bed one day and you’ll never get up,” she said.
SWEETS, NO KNIVES
Dennis Olsen, also a lawyer, had a knack for sharp rhetoric. He relished the tough 1978 and 1982 campaigns to unseat Democratic Gov. John Evans — both GOP losses — and the 1980 victory of Steve Symms over four-term Democratic Sen. Frank Church.
His widow doesn’t like twisting the knife: “That’s not my style.”
Olsen’s activism includes dozens of GOP campaigns, including leadership roles for Gov. Butch Otter’s statewide races, U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, former Gov. Phil Batt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. A daughter, Maria Nate, was on the task force charged with implementing Luna’s school reforms.
Olsen’s also been a member of the Idaho Human Rights Commission; an advocate for religious, cultural and racial tolerance in Idaho Falls; and a leader in improving access for the disabled in public accommodations and the workplace.
“In today’s climate of intolerance, she reaches out to everyone and truly loves people of all backgrounds,” said Russell Johnson, executive director of the Development Workshop Foundation, which helps employ and train hundreds annually in Idaho Falls. Olsen chairs the foundation board.
Olsen has been a GOP precinct committeewoman since 1974 and was named outstanding GOP worker in the state in 1980, in part for her editing of “The Trumpeter,” a GOP newsletter.
“One of my strengths is organization,” Olsen said. “Very few people tell me no.”
For 26 years, she’s held a July 4 flag-raising ceremony in her yard. In 2010, the crowd included Otter, Luna, Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Controller Donna Jones. Begun in honor of her husband, Olsen thanks her neighbors by serving his favorite treat: cinnamon rolls.
A BIG TENT
Olsen was born in Utah, moved to Colorado at 10 and graduated high school in New Mexico. The daughter of a civil engineer father and artist mother, most of her friends weren’t Mormon.
“That’s been a blessing to me,” she said. “It’s helped me reach across barriers.”
Olsen has battled ultraconservatives in the Bonneville County GOP Central Committee for injecting themselves into nonpartisan city elections. In 2009, Olsen was treasurer for City Councilwoman Ida Hardcastle, who was targeted for perceived Democratic leanings.
Hardcastle, who won a fifth term with 67 percent of the vote, says she’s an independent. “Sheila was trying to make a statement to them to get the heck out of nonpartisan races,” she said.
Olsen cited Symms beating Church as a model of Republican unity. “Dennis drew everybody in the circle. My concern is I think we become less effective when we’re less inclusive.”
As she prepares to draw another legislative map, Olsen fears the Supreme Court’s insistence on the fewest possible divisions of counties will make for unwieldy districts.
Still, assuming the same six are around the table, Olsen predicts the commission will succeed, swiftly.
“We’ll do what’s necessary to follow the law closely,” Olsen said. “I’m quite confident it’ll be the same thing, 6-0, because we will work together for the good of Idaho.”
Dan Popkey: 377-6438
