Idaho’s 10 most embarrassing news stories of 2022: Flaunt it if you got it, Gem State

You love Idaho. I love Idaho. Everyone loves Idaho.

But, wow, it’s mortifying here sometimes.

With 2022 becoming a speck on the horizon, let’s take a moment to reflect on last year’s cranium-slapping newsmakers. To bask in Gem State humiliation. Nobody does it quite like we do.

As usual, what embarrasses some of us clearly does not embarrass all of us.

So before you fire off an outraged email telling me what an embarrassment I am to Idaho, well — duh!

I’ve lived here for decades. It’s required.

Bundy for governor

Ammon Bundy is the Energizer bunny of attention seekers. Banging his anti-government drum, he deserves a lifetime achievement award in the Idaho Embarrassment Hall of Shame.

In 2022, he kept the slimeball rolling by running for governor. (Or would that be anti-governor to him?)

What’s truly humiliating is that 101,837 Idahoans voted for Bundy! For a person involved in not one, but two, armed standoffs against federal authorities. For a guy who moved to Idaho to get wheeled around in office chairs by cops.

Bundy ran as an independent after dropping out of the Republican primary, which already had its far-right Hall of Shame member (Janice McGeachin, more on her later). And Bundy wasn’t that far from snagging as many votes as Democrat Stephen Heidt, who got 120,158. Gov. Brad Little won easily with 358,585.

Patriot Front ‘riot’ fail

In June, Coeur d’Alene was the site of “another black eye for the state of Idaho, which continues to struggle to shed its reputation as a haven for extremism, white nationalists and white supremacists,” as a Statesman editorial put it.

Thirty-one members of Patriot Front, a neo-fascist hate group, were arrested after being discovered in the back of a U-Haul truck. Armed with riot gear, they were hiding near Coeur d’Alene Pride in the Park, an LQBTQ celebration. “They came to riot downtown,” Police Chief Lee White explained. All the men in the failed attempt were charged with a misdemeanor: conspiracy to riot.

The white nationalists hailed from at least 11 states, according to The Associated Press — but only one member hailed from the Gem State. Hey, that’s positive news, right?

Drag Kids debacle

Hatin’ on the LGBTQ community was an Idaho pastime in ’22. That’s why Boise Pride Festival yanked an event called Drag Kids from its festivities in September.

To be specific, organizers did it because of safety worries. And by the time the decision came, sponsors already had begun bailing, including Zions Bank, Idaho Power and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Even after Drag Kids was nixed, sponsors continued sprinting away, including CapEd Credit Union and Idaho Central Credit Union.

On one level, the fuss was predictable. The term “drag kids” is going to provoke people. Period.

Still, there was a disconnect with reality.

“Festival organizers envisioned a short performance where kids could put on sparkly dresses and lip-sync to songs like Kelly Clarkson’s ‘People Like Us’ on stage,” The Associated Press reported. “But others, including Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, expected a lurid scene where children would ‘engage in sexual performances with adult entertainers.’ ”

In a statement, Moon (more on her later, too) claimed “out-of-state companies” were “financing the sexualization of our children.”

Despite the debacle and national spotlight, Pride Fest otherwise went on mostly as planned. Some companies not only remained as sponsors, but issued statements of support. Among those? J.R. Simplot Co. and Blue Cross of Idaho.

Shhh! It’s Central District Health Dept.

Few things anger Idahoans like science. That’s why Central District Health Department “voted to make itself irrelevant,” as an Idaho Statesman editorial quipped in May.

Board members voted to “stay silent” on whether to recommend children wear a mask to reduce the spread of COVID. In other words, they purposely were spineless, clueless — or both. “We’re not telling parents, ‘Don’t do it,’” board member and now Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said. “We’re just telling parents, ‘Decide for yourself.’ ”

But you’re a health department, dude. As one of my favorite Statesman editorials of the year explained, “that would be like the Food and Drug Administration saying, ‘We’re not telling people, ‘Don’t eat that salmonella-tainted peanut butter.’ We’re just telling them, ‘Decide for yourself.’ ”

Pathetic.

McGeachin, please don’t go

This annual humiliation compilation won’t quite be the same ever again. Not without former Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. For years, she has been a dependable, prolific, all-star queen of embarrassment.

McGeachin’s worst moment in 2022 arguably was a taped speech she delivered at the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Orlando. The March event was put together by Nick Fuentes, “a political commentator,” the Statesman pointed out, “who has supported Russia’s authoritarian leader (Vladimir Putin), voiced support for preserving American white identity and been labeled a ‘white supremacist’ by an FBI agent.”

That’s the kind of company you want to keep, right? Actually, it might be if you’re running for governor, as McGeachin was, and nodding to your extremist Idaho base.

McGeachin played innocent, claiming, “I do not and have never supported identity politics or other discriminatory views that only seek to divide us and not unite us. Anyone who actually listens to what I say or who pays attention to what I’ve done in my many years of service knows this is true.”

I’m gonna miss her!

Idaho GOP: Racism, um, bad

Criticized and undermined by McGeachin during their tenure as a dysfunctional team, Little undoubtedly grew accustomed to his lieutenant’s lunacy.

So you’d think he would have immediately condemned her AFPAC speech, right?

Not exactly. And I cringed when I saw the Daily Beast headline distributed far and wide by Yahoo News: “Idaho GOP decides racism is bad 3 days after Lt. Guv Gave Speech to Racists.”

Little had released a statement. “I fully reject racism in all its forms,” he said in part. But “Little did not call out McGeachin by name,” The Daily Beast wrote, and “his statement came after Democrats, some former GOP officials, and advocates in the state called on him to condemn his No. 2 over her shameless appeal to professional racists.”

Little’s proclamation “was almost immediately followed by a painful statement from the Idaho Republican Party stating that AFPAC leadership does not represent their conservative values,” the article added.

Nice work, everyone.

Racist Boise police officer?

Racism was a recurring theme for Idaho in 2022.

In November, “shockwaves ran through Boise,” the Statesman reported, “as locals learned that a longtime and high-ranking member of the Boise Police Department” was going to be part of a conference hosted by a white supremacist website, American Renaissance.

These nifty folks have promoted claims that “people of color are less intelligent and cause crime.”

Turns out, retired Capt. Matthew Bryngelson was scheduled to speak at the event. And research showed he appeared to have authored “posts linking Black people, Hispanic people and refugees to crime under a pseudonym while serving as the captain of the patrol division,” the Statesman said.

This was a huge mess. Still is. Bryngelson, a 24-year veteran of the department, had just retired in August.

Mayor Lauren McLean and the city of Boise now must deal with it.

A team of investigative lawyers has been enlisted under a contract with the city that can go up to but not exceed a cool $500,000.

Good times!

Moon: Canada is comin’ for us!

Dorothy Moon is not from outer space. She’s from Stanley.

Most embarrassingly, she represents Idaho.

When Moon wasn’t hand-wringing about Boise Pride Fest, she manufactured other divisive, far-right nuttiness.

Sane Idahoans laughed — or cried — when she made unverified claims in March about supposed voter fraud.

“There (are) a lot of reports of people coming from Canada that I’ve been hearing just after coming back from Coeur d’Alene last night, that have been coming over and voting,” Moon told legislators, speaking on the House floor.

Canadians traveling to Idaho to nefariously vote in our elections? Even if it were remotely possible, why the hell would they?

Naturally, Moon was rewarded by being elected new chairperson of the Idaho Republican Party in July. That’s after she barely lost her attempt to become Idaho’s secretary of state in May.

Good gawd, Idaho.

Moscow murders: ‘No imminent threat’

The University of Idaho murders made national headlines like nothing else from the Gem State in 2022 — sometimes in ways that made me feel sick. TMZ was on the story. Foxnews.com uncorked nonstop sensationalism for weeks.

But remember those first 48 hours? When you couldn’t get a peep from local authorities? And freaked-out students were fleeing campus?

When city officials did finally issue a statement, it turned out to be falsely reassuring in a pretty horrible, embarrassing way. “Based on information from the preliminary investigation,” a press release said, “investigators believe this was an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat to the community at large.”

No imminent threat? We’ve now discovered that suspect Bryan Kohberger, the graduate student arrested weeks later, was nearby. He attended school at Washington State. When the killings were being discussed in a class, Kohberger was “completely silent,” according to a fellow student.

One day after Moscow’s comforting press release came out, Police Chief James Fry backpedaled. “We cannot say that there’s no threat to the community,” he admitted at a press conference.

Nampa book ban

Maybe it’s because my mom is a retired English professor. Maybe it’s because I have fond memories of her working at Waldenbooks — then owning a small used book store — when I was growing up.

But when the Nampa School District banned 23 books “forever,” I wasn’t just ashamed for Idaho.

I was sad for Idaho. For Canyon County kids.

Sweeping so-called “pornographic” literature from library bookshelves? What century is Idaho living in?

In a vote of 3-2, school board members Tracey Pearson, Jeff Kirkman and Marco Valle unleashed a horrible, irresponsible decision. It was an example of “the far-right culture ... filtering down to the local level,” a Statesman editorial accurately proclaimed.

But I have to admit: It makes me smile seeing “Read banned books” stickers around the Treasure Valley nowadays.

I want one that says, “I’m with the banned.”