New Ada Co. commissioners make horrible decision, appoint Labrador to health board
Editor’s note: This editorial has been updated to include a statement from the Ada County communications manager responding to concerns about an open meetings violation.
We expected newly elected Republican Ada County commissioners Rod Beck and Ryan Davidson were going to make some really bad decisions.
We just didn’t think it was going to be this quickly.
On Tuesday — their second day in office — Davidson and Beck appointed Raúl Labrador to the Central District Health board to replace outgoing commissioner Diana Lachiondo. Commissioner Kendra Kenyon abstained from the vote.
Labrador, a lawyer, former state legislator, Idaho congressman, Idaho gubernatorial candidate and former state GOP chairman, will be an unelected member of the board.
Labrador, as Idaho’s representative in the 1st Congressional District, notoriously said at a town hall meeting in 2017, “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”
Labrador also was recently photographed without a mask at Boise Towne Square in violation of a public health order.
In a guest opinion in response, Labrador called mask mandates “stupid requirements.”
“Even though I believe the use of masks is overrated and the media has been misleading the public about their effectiveness, I wear masks to enter private businesses because I want them to stay open,” he wrote. “It is not their fault that an overbearing government is imposing stupid requirements on them.”
In the early stages of the pandemic in Idaho in May, Labrador attended the opening of a North Idaho brewery, which opened in violation of Gov. Brad Little’s Idaho Rebounds reopening plan.
It’s pretty clear what direction he hopes to take the health board. It will be a disastrously wrong direction, as we are still in the middle of the pandemic, and more than 1,500 Idahoans have died of COVID-19.
Labrador replaces Lachiondo, who lost her seat to Davidson in the November election. Lachiondo had distinguished herself on the health board, championing a countywide mask mandate and other health measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Ironically, Republicans have complained that some members of the state’s public health district boards are unelected, which is the case with Labrador.
Labrador, himself, complained during his own appointment Tuesday morning about “unelected officials” making decisions.
Labrador, who to our knowledge does not have any medical expertise or experience, also complained about members of the board who he said are “so-called experts,” and said the people of Ada County and Idaho “need somebody who has a little common sense.”
We’re also concerned about an apparent violation of Idaho’s open meetings law. As commissioner Kendra Kenyon suggested, it appears as though Davidson and Beck discussed the appointment outside of any public meeting. Labrador was invited and present at Tuesday’s meeting, ready to accept the appointment. With just three members on the board, any discussion of county business between Davidson and Beck represents a quorum requiring a public meeting.
Ada County spokesperson Elizabeth Duncan issued a statement Tuesday stating that Beck had asked Labrador in December about serving on the board, and Labrador said Friday he would serve on the board. According to Duncan, “Davidson does not recall having a recent conversation with Commissioner Beck about the CDH appointment.”
If there’s any consolation it’s that the Idaho Legislature, as of this writing, is working on plans to strip health districts of powers. We’re not in favor of that, but with people like Labrador on the board, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.
In the meantime, buckle up, because if the first couple of days of the new Ada County Commission with Beck and Davidson on board is any indication, the voters of Ada County are going to be in store for many more bad decisions to come.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 12:49 PM.