Kustra turned a resolution calling for unity into a partisan fight | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Author rebukes columnist for misreading resolution and misframing its purpose.
- Resolution asks Idahoans and leaders to seek wisdom, justice, compassion, unity.
- Writer defends prayer as civic pause while affirming policy must also advance progress.
Bob Kustra didn’t read House Concurrent Resolution 28. That much is clear. If he had, he wouldn’t have written a column so thoroughly disconnected from what the resolution actually says.
Kustra characterizes the resolution as merely “a prayer for snow and rain.” That is flatly wrong. The heart of the resolution calls on Idahoans to pray that their leaders, myself included, will be endowed with wisdom to render decisions guided by justice, compassion and unity. It is a resolution rooted in humility. It asks each of us, starting with those of us in elected office, to pause and reflect: Am I making things worse or better? The request for moisture to address Idaho’s historically low snowpack is the resolution’s final clause, not its central purpose. Had Kustra read even the statement of purpose, he would know this.
Instead of engaging with what the resolution actually says, Kustra hijacked a call for unity to deliver a partisan screed. He used a resolution about humility and self-reflection as a launching pad for attacks on ICE, the governor, the Legislature’s budget decisions, school choice policy and anything else he could fit into his word count. He is, of course, entitled to his opinions on every one of those issues. But none of them have anything to do with what this resolution says, and framing his column as a response t the resolution is intellectually dishonest.
The irony is rich.
Kustra ridicules a resolution that asks Idahoans to come together across lines of difference, and he does so by writing the most divisive, condescending column imaginable. He compares federal law enforcement officers to the Gestapo. He mocks the idea that prayer has value. He sneers at the people’s elected representatives for having the audacity to ask their constituents to join them in a moment of reflection.
This is not the behavior of a serious commentator. It is the behavior of someone who has confused cynicism with wisdom.
I said when we introduced this resolution that we should be doing other things too; “yes and yes and yes.” I have never suggested that prayer is a substitute for policy. But I do believe there is power in Idahoans coming together with a unified purpose, and I will not apologize for saying so.
Kustra served in public life for many years. He should know that the bare minimum expected of a columnist criticizing legislation is to actually read it first.
Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, is the Idaho House Majority Leader. He represents the 22nd Legislative District.