There goes Crapo, shilling again for the big pharma companies that give him donations | Opinion

What Crapo’s paid to believe

I read Sen. Mike Crapo’s opinion on an apparent shortage of primarily generic prescription drugs with great interest. Sadly, he provided no evidence to support his argument but used language which could stoke fear in readers.

Something else he could have said was that from 2017-2022 he received $235,400 from pharma and health PACs. You can also find this information on his FEC documents. Greater transparency on Crapo’s part would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin Thienes, Boise

Trump’s priorities

Donald Trump has four priorities: Donald Trump, power, money and revenge. Do you see yourself anywhere on that list?

Has he ranted and raved at his rallies about anything else, particularly anything that would make your life better? His heroes are Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Xi Jin Ping — all dictators and autocrats. If you yearn to live like the people of Russia, Hungary or China, then by all means vote for Trump because that’s the government he’s promising.

Now consider what Joe Biden’s and Democrats’ priorities are and have been for the past three years and beyond: you and me. It’s all about freedom, democracy, and the American people. If you don’t believe that, then you’re not paying attention. ]Biden’s accomplishments are too numerous to list here but are very easy to fact-check.

And look no further than our embarrassing U.S. House of Representatives and our own Idaho Legislature to see what Republicans’ priorities are. They are now meddling in our lives in every possible way, from what we read, who we love, our personal health care, our voting rights, our children’s education and the list goes on. It’s time to vote against Republicans across the board.

Pat Entwistle, Boise

The responsible guns in schools bill

During the current Idaho State Legislative session there’s a guns in schools bill that is actually very irresponsible.

Thanks to Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-Inkom, chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee, it has been re-written into a reasonable, responsible, and well-regulated bill: S1418. I want to commend Guthrie for his tremendous effort and the amount of work he put into getting this bill to the point of being the closest we will ever get to having an acceptable guns in schools law in Idaho.

I am not a fan of all or most of the school districts in Idaho allowing employees to be armed. I have to say that in the last several years the proposals for bills allowing armed school employees have been unacceptable and scary. S1418 is the first bill that comes close to being something that the general public can be even a little bit comfortable with.

Guthrie worked tirelessly with the sponsors of H415 to come up with compromises and a workable bill in S1418. I want to thank him and the other senators on the SSA Committee who supported it – Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello; Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise; and Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland.

Many opponents who testified against S1418 want to go back to the original House bill and try to pass it. H415 has little regulation of armed school employees, takes control of armed school employees away from local school boards and allows any school employee with a concealed carry permit to be armed. H415 is a 2nd Amendment bill, S1418 is a school safety bill.

Let’s protect kids in schools not gun rights for everyone who works there.

Alice Arambarri, Coeur d’Alene

No draft dodgers for commander in chief

Having served during the Vietnam war in both the US Marine Corps infantry and as an officer in the US Air Force, I totally agree with my fellow veteran James Franklin’s recent letter expressing his disgust with our former president’s total disrespect of our military members. He regards us as losers, can’t understand why we put ourselves in harm’s way when there was nothing in it for us and doesn’t like being pictured with our wounded brethren because it makes him look bad.

Let’s not let this cowardly, draft-dodging, “bone spur” phony become president and commander and chief again.

Gary Dyer, Boise

Reality Town helps students

The program “Reality Town” is a positive program that assists students with getting a better grasp on life after college. This program assesses the degree a student could get depending on grades. Afterwards, they assign a job and ‘life’ to the students. Finally they come to the school and set up stations.

These serve as the bills that kids have to pay for. This program teaches kids a sense of responsibility, helps provide them with an accurate idea of what life will be like when they grow up, and gives motivation to the kids that they can be successful.

And overall it’s a fun experience that is made to help the kids spark a joy for whatever they may want to do in their adult lives. I recently did this at my school (Sage International) and it was a fun learning opportunity.

I admit it was a bit stressful at first. But still it provided a great chance to assimilate the skills we will need when we start living that life. And we were able to do this in an environment where we can grow from mistakes and have help to overcome them.

Zoelle Dotters, Boise

Initiative law will lose in court

The legislation to amend the Idaho initiative process includes numerous details. It might appear to be the kind of minutiae a voter won’t want to bother with.

It’s actually pretty simple. Initiative rights are in the state constitution. They ensure voters can be heard when legislators don’t listen or simply ignore them.

The latest effort is another of several legislative attempts to take away our rights. If the details seem unthreatening, here’s the easy way to decide how you feel: The proposed legislation makes it harder to exercise a constitutional right. It also makes it easier to undo the effort.

The so-called defenders of personal freedom who have the majority in our legislature continue to do everything they can at every turn to take away personal freedoms. The Idaho Supreme Court defended a previous attack on the initiative process in 2021. Should this latest attempt pass the legislature and the governor signs it, it will go before the Supreme Court again. The Legislature will spend our tax dollars fighting the losing legal battle to defend it.

H652 is a bad idea resting on a foundation of zero common sense.

Jeff Beaman, Boise