Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 12:19:01 -0700 From: Robert Shaffer Subject: (fwd) Idaho Anti-Gay Backer Sees Loss, Victory The following article appeared in the "Idaho Statesman" and is reproduced without permission. January 21, 1994. ======= ANTI-GAY BACKER SEES LOSS, VICTORY The Associated Press POCATELLO -- The author of the anti-gay initiative, moking Idaho Attorney General Larry EchoHawk for saying the proposition is unconstitutional, predicted that the Idaho Supreme Court will void his proposal. But Kelly Walton, founder of the Idaho Citizens Alliance, also predicted that the US Supremem Court would overrule the state ourt and uphold the restrictive legislation if voters endorse it in November. At a sometimes-stormy 90-minute debate on the initiative, Wednesday night at Idaho State University, Walton and Jack Van Valkenburgh, head of the Idaho chapter of the American Civl Leberties Union, clashed over the initiative that would prohibit passage f any law or ordinance protecting homosexuals from discrimination. The city of Troy [Idaho] became the first and only city in the state to enact such an ordinance late last year. Walton said the state Supreme Court almost certainly would throw out the initiative because it is stacked with appointees he said share the "world view" of Gov. Cecil Andrus, a Democrat, who opposes the initiative along with nearly every other political and civic leader in the state. And he called EchoHawk, the first American Indian elected attorney general of any state, "Harry EchoSquawk," drawing boos from the crowd as he derided the Democrat who is the front-runner to succeed the retiring Andrus. "Hey, a pawn's a pawn, folks!" Walton shot back. "Just read the initiative. Don't buy the rhetoric on the either side." But Van Valeknburgh said the state Supreme Court could throw the initiative out based solely on a conflict with the Idaho Constitution, a ruling that then would not be reviewed by the US Supreme Court. --30--