A Civics Lesson for Jim Fisher

Jim Fisher wrote this in an editorial in today's Lewiston Tribune:

In recent decades it has been hard to believe the 9th Legislative District represents Washington State University. With a few exceptions like former Rep. and Sen. Eugene Prince, its state senators and representatives have tended to be among the most right-wing people in Olympia, often spending more time pursuing partisan battles than serving a higher education district.

Excuse me? Maybe it's because Fisher writes for an Idaho newspaper, but the 9th Legislative District represents a hell of a lot more than WSU. The district also represents Eastern Washington University in Cheney. It covers all or part of six different Washington counties, from the Oregon border in the south, east to the Idaho border, and west almost halfway across the state out to Othello and Basin City.

The transient liberal students and professors from WSU only make up a small part of the district. They are outsiders. Farming and small business is more important to most people's daily lives than "higher education". The 9th District is full of indepenednt, hard-working, God-fearing people who believe in traditional American values. This is Ronald Reagan's America, not Michael Moore's America. That might seem silly to Fisher and his liberal, elitist friends, but try selling their brand of politics in Washtucna. And I do use the word "elitist" on purpose, Tom Henderson. Elitism has more to do with your mental state than the state of your bank account. Elitists are rampant in this area, and I don't see too many locals hobnobbing with the Rockefellers. Elitism is a condition where one presumes some sort of educational/intellectual/class superiority. Most liberals need only to look in the mirror for an example.

Fisher needs to take a look at how the counties in our district have voted in the last few presidential and congressional elections. Our state senator and representatives REFLECT the values of the MAJORITY of voters of the 9th District;, they are NOT MOLDED by "right-wing activists" here.

Any battles our senators and representatives fight are most assuredly "partisan". They majority of the Legislature are Democrats from the urban, liberal-leaning west side of the state. They simply don't understand or care about our needs.

Fisher may also not have noticed, but legislators from the Seattle, Spokane, and Vancouver areas vastly outnumber the ones from our area. That fact, more than anyone's "political extremism", explains in a nutshell why universities in those areas get more funding than WSU.

I think Fisher often forgets that he writes for a small paper in a mill town in a Red State, versus the San Francisco Chronicle or New York Times.