PRESS: Paper is uber-conservative

We need more good leaders and reporters — and fewer evangelists.

I canceled my subscription to The Press a few months ago, partially because of the blatant and biased way you showcase the intolerant agendas and wacky opinions of evangelical movers and shakers in our community, including and especially Butch Otter’s fire-and-brimstone buddy, Preacher Vieselmeyer.

A couple weeks ago I decided to renew my subscription in the hopes that your newspaper was finally making an honest attempt at gathering balanced opinions from all sides of important issues such as the current gay marriage controversy. Well, after seeing Preacher Vieselmeyer’s face, agenda and rants on gay marriage featured on the front page of your paper, I see you are at it again.

I am writing to remind you that journalists (the honorable Fourth Estate) are supposed to be fair and objective “reporters” rather than biased “evangelists.” And someone should remind Governor Otter that our constitution decrees a clear separation of church and state. It’s insulting and embarrassing to see that our state governor constantly has Preacher Vieselmeyer in his ear, influencing the official actions, language and agenda of a state office that is supposed to serve and respect all of us.

I have quite a collection of Preacher Vieselmeyer’s conservative religious editorial rants in my files, most of them pulled from the pages of your newspaper. Shame on The Press for peppering your news pages with uber-conservative and biased opinions. (Save your opinions and agendas for the editorial page please.) And shame on Preacher Vieselmeyer and his followers for spreading intolerance and fear in our community, at the expense of our gay citizens, and in direct and hypocritical conflict with human decency, common sense and the Bible itself.

Why are Butch Otter and Preacher Vieselmeyer so worried and outraged about gay marriage? I don’t think any Idaho citizen should be worried or outraged by fellow citizens (gays) who profess their love to each other, and who simply want to be married and in a committed relationship. But I think EVERY Idaho citizen, including and especially Governor Otter and Preacher Vieselmeyer, should be worried and outraged about the deteriorating condition of Idaho Public Education (ranked 50th in the nation), or the troubling decline in Idaho’s job market, or the pitiful condition of much of Idaho’s public infrastructure. The list goes on.

Mr. Otter, it’s your business and your responsibility to start tackling those kinds of issues on behalf of all of us. But it’s none of your or Preacher Vieselmeyer’s business to concern yourself with whom the people in our community choose to love and marry.

LAURA BORO

Coeur d’Alene