SENATOR: She's switched sides

Mary Souza’s excuse for voting against citizen initiatives is a knee-slapper.

In a Press op-ed column Friday, March 22, Souza lectured that average citizens are too busy to understand initiatives pushed at them at grocery stores. She wrote this only days before casting a deciding vote in the 18-17 majority to raise the standards for citizen initiative drives impossibly high.

Souza wasn’t the only Kootenai County senator to vote to disenfranchise constituents. Sens. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, and Don Cheatham did, too.

However, Souza is the only one who has used the petition process to try to overturn a government decision.

In 2012, Souza and Kathy Sims led a petition drive to recall mayor Sandi Bloem and three Coeur d’Alene councilmen. The duo were outraged that the four supported the $20 million makeover of tired McEuen Park. They wanted the council to stage an advisory vote to determine community support for the makeover.

Souza and her supporters could be found on street corners and store entrances, thrusting their petitions at hurried motorists and shoppers. Some circulated misinformation to gain signatures, including the error that the park upgrade would cost twice as much as advertised and raise property taxes significantly.

In the end, Souza’s recall crusade failed. McEuen Park was made over — and has become a source of community pride.

Souza herself has undergone a makeover, too. She’s no longer the self-proclaimed champion of the little guy. She’s now part of the establishment trying to muzzle the average Idahoan’s voice.

D.F. OLIVERIA

Coeur d’Alene