Allred letter: Raul Labrador

Unsurprisingly, our U.S. representative, Raul Labrador, is in the land-use news again. Labrador is reintroducing a Trojan horse bill benignly named the Self Sufficient Community Lands Act, which would give 2 percent of our federal land to Idaho.

Labrador has endorsed Ted Cruz for president. Cruz states that he would decree 100 percent of federal land in Nevada become state property. Why would Labrador settle for 2 percent in Idaho? Depends on which 2.

Labrador proposes an administrative committee, appointed by the governor, to oversee the management of the approximately 600,000 acres. Assume for a moment that said committee could get their hands on Redfish Lake. Is there any doubt that this diamond of our Gem State would eventually be privatized?

Any hope that Labrador could mature as a congressman is routinely dashed by his recalcitrance. Labrador’s op-ed in a January issue of the Statesman wherein he likened the armed seizure of Malheur as an example of Thoreau’s civil disobedience was stupefying. I doubt Helen Chenoweth or Bill Sali would have written something so morally offensive.

Labrador needs to adopt a Simpson-like approach to public land use or find another rocking horse issue.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Allred letter: Raul Labrador."