by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
The Idaho Senate on Thursday evening passed a resolution denouncing racism, explicitly in response to reports that visiting athletes were harassed in Coeur d’Alene last week.
Senate Assistant Majority Leader Abby Lee introduced the resolution through the Senate State Affairs Committee earlier in the day.
“The backdrop is this is in the national news… whether or not you believe this happened,” said Lee, R-Fruitland.
Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, R-Boise, made the unusual move to issue a call of the chamber under Senate Rule 45, which halts proceedings until all senators are present and accounted for.
The request compelled the Sergeant-at-Arms to retrieve Sens. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, and Phil Hart, R-Kellogg, while Senate pages blocked the exits to the Senate floor.
A handful of the most conservative members echoed doubts circulating on social media over whether or not the alleged racist shouting at the team even happened.
“I haven’t seen any actual evidence of the incident,” Lenney said.
Others wished they could obtain more solid details before taking formal action as lawmakers.
“I think there are other ways this could be handled,” said Hart, whose district borders the city where the alleged incident occurred. “I’m way out of my comfort zone.”
The Coeur d’Alene Police has obtained at least one video related to the incident, the Spokesman-Review reports, but has not shared it with the public, citing an ongoing investigation.
“The police department hasn’t finished an investigation,” noted Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell. “Maybe we should wait until all the facts are out.”
Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, said it is up to the perpetrators to apologize for their actions.
“We, as a state, have nothing to apologize for,” Foreman said. “We don’t condone this – hence the resolution.”
Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, focused on the final section of the resolution.
He supported the legislation, he said, which “denounces acts of racism and commits to eradicating the conditions that allow racial animus and undue prejudice to persist in Idaho,” regardless of whether or not there was a specific incident.
“All human beings are made in the image of God,” Herndon said.
Hart was the only senator during the roll-call to actually vote no.
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.