Informed Voters or Obedient Voters

What type of voter are you?

We at the CdA News team closely watched and scrutinized city actions directed by council members and mayors for nearly a decade. Our goal of kindness and positivity for this medium  frequently overruled by our mission to inform voters and hold elected officials accountable. Many articles explained in our view mis-steps of the public servants. It is clearly evident that our officials are not perfect and they make mistakes, usually with good intentions. We earnestly rubbed our hands together waiting for this day when we could campaign and cheer for someone better than the incumbents.

November 7th, residents of CdA will choose between re-electing public servants or their challengers backed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC). The KCRCC rates, vets, endorses, and heavily promotes candidates while discouraging participation from those who fail to receive their approval. Gone are the days when a concerned and engaged citizen can “throw their hat into the ring” to take a turn making sure the water and sewer are flowing in the right directions, the streets are clean and void of potholes, police and fire keep the public safe, and trash is collected regularly. Local elections, non-partisan elections, turned into a polarizing political battle over imagined issues best categorized as conspiracy and fear.   

Over the coming days, we will share our endorsements, and rationale, for CdA City Council and District 271.

Prayers for All Becomes No Prayers at All

In the thick of election season with deepening divisions in northern Idaho, CdA city staff and council members ignored the plea of volunteers to offer invocations for the past several months. Invocations occur at the discretion of the council who control the agenda. “Invocation,” listed on each agenda accompanied by a blank space to its right. 

The previous method of controlling invocations, where a pastor submitted a list of names to the city, was illegal and violated the rights of excluded citizens. Upon realization, the city created an inclusive lottery system for which they received a Defense of Religious Freedom Award. Now, perhaps fearing blow-back from far-right christian activists and opposition from non-religious, the city apparently abandoned invocations altogether. 

Local elections will have a significant turn out. This could bode badly for the more incumbents with voting records subject to scrutiny and significant opposition from the far right. Hopefully their careers in public service don’t transition from “living on a prayer,” to “dying on the vine” as did invocations.