There have always been politicians and wannabe candidates who
seem to have been sent by Providence to provide comic relief in
humdrum political seasons. James Traficant comes to mind, as does
Ralph Nader. Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, Charlie Rangel, John
Edwards, Mark Sanford, the list is almost endless. In Idaho, we
have Rex Rammell, a Gem State gem.
Rex isn’t well known outside of Idaho, but within the
state’s borders he enjoys a certain comic cult status. It’s fun
to watch him. He hails from the eastern side (born in Tetonia,
1961), and for most of his life this devout Mormon and family man
had prospered as a veterinarian (Dr. Rex) and elk rancher. Oh
right, the elk ranch.
Rex owns a ranch where until 2007 he raised elk for “canned
hunts.” He was doing well charging city slickers $6,000 a pop to
shoot a trophy bull. These operations –while legal — are
controversial and regulated because elk raised like livestock in
an enclosed setting are more susceptible to disease, especially
“Chronic Wasting Disease” (CWD), which can be spread to wild elk
populations with devastating results. Rex was almost constantly
at legal loggerheads with the State of Idaho over inspection
practices, which in Idaho are lax at best. His elk didn’t sport
the orange ear tags certifying them as disease-free. Rex
considered this a governmental intrusion on his rights as an elk
rancher. He did, however, tag his with brown ID’s, which would
later make them easy to identify.
Anyway, one day in 2006 an enterprising elk on the ranch
located a hole in the fence and tipped off 160 fellow wapiti, and
the herd promptly escaped Rex’s ungulate gulag and headed east
toward the western border of Yellowstone National Park, thereby
alarming both state and federal wildlife officials.
Idaho’s then-governor, Jim Risch was furious, and ordered
state fish and game personnel to shoot on sight as many of Rex’s
wayward elk as possible. Many were shot; some 40 were captured
and returned to the ranch; and a small number actually escaped
into Yellowstone. The defiant legal contretemps continued.
“America will soon know there’s a mountain man out here,” said
Rex.
Well, all this radicalized Rex (even more?) and marked the
birth of his ongoing quixotic political aspirations. In 2008, he
ran as an Independent for retiring Larry Craig’s (him of the wide
stance, and someone I neglected to include in my list above)
Senate seat against Republican former Governor Jim Risch (who
won) and Democratic former Congressman Larry LaRocco, and
garnered 5.4% of the vote. This year he’s in the gubernatorial
contest as a Republican, and faces incumbent Governor C.L.
“Butch” Otter in the May 25 GOP primary. Rex is again
crisscrossing Idaho as he tries to hang ten on the edge of
America’s current tsunami of raging populism.
He’s slated to campaign in my town of Salmon on April 2, and he’s
putting on a free spaghetti dinner. Eliminate Idaho’s income tax?
Banish those pesky wolves? Free spaghetti? I wouldn’t miss
it!
Rex is outdoing himself with his current gubernatorial run.
At a townhall meeting in Twin Falls last August, the subject was
Idaho’s then-upcoming first legal wolf hunt, and licensing or
“tags.” A woman in the audience called out: “What about Obama
tags?” Rex chuckled along with the crowd, and then added: “Obama
tags? We’d buy some of those.” Some reporters were present and
made note of the gaffe. It touched off the predictable liberal
media storm (Rex even
made the Huffington Post), as the editorial page and
political reporters at the Idaho Statesman and New
West’s Jill Kuraitis (the closest you come to a Helen Thomas in
Boise) cynically attempted to tie right-radical-Rex to Idaho’s
mainstream GOP establishment. The stern Statesman called
Rammell’s faux pas “deplorable rabble-rousing.” Kuraitis was her
usual hysterical self: “What would Rammell’s mother say?
Mine would have said: threatening a president is a felony, and
you will never say anything like that again. Clear?” GOP pols got
the media message. Senator Mike Crapo: “Rex Rammell’s comments
were in poor taste and should not have been said.” Changing the
subject, Rex responded to Crapo by chiding him for “giving away”
two million acres “to environmentalists.” (the Owyhee Canyonlands
wilderness legislation). Ex-Governor Phil Batt weighed in,
calling Rammell’s comments “totally irresponsible, maybe
criminal.” In response, Rex suggested that “Phil Batt should go
to jail for allowing wolves to enter Idaho in the first place”
(in 1995). For the record, Rex never apologized for the gaffe,
but did issue a statement: “Anyone who understands the law knows
I was joking, because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting
tags in Washington, D.C.” You’ve got to love Rex.
Then there was the “White Horse Prophecy” affair of last
December. Rex initially sought to convene a January meeting in
Idaho Falls of male Mormon Church leaders that excluded all
females, non-Mormons and the press, and discussed the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) founder Joseph Smith’s
19th century revelation, which says that during a time of future
civil strife it will be left to a select group of Mormon “Elders”
to uphold the U.S. Constitution. “The Latter
Day Saints, the Elders of Israel, will step forward to its rescue
and save it,” quoth Rex. This sparked another media uproar. The
LDS Church distanced itself from Rammell because it doesn’t
consider the prophecy to be official LDS doctrine. Rex eventually
opened the controversial meeting — and three subsequent meetings
— to the public.
Despite Rex’s fringe status, Idaho Democrats (actually in
sheer numbers a fringe party themselves) and the media never tire
of attempting to tie him to mainstream Idaho Republicans, and
those Republicans continue to dismiss him as a crank. At a recent
GOP dinner in Idaho Falls attended by both Governor Otter and Rex
Rammell, the latter challenged the governor during some allotted
time at the podium to a debate of the issues sometime before the
May 25 primary. The Governor sat silently but later told the
Idaho Falls Post Register that he would consider such a
debate, but first he needed to continue wrangling with the state
legislature about Idaho’s current budget problems.
In the meantime, T-Rex soldiers on. I wonder what’s for
dessert after the spaghetti dinner?
