Rex Rammell, a long-shot in the 2010 Idaho governor’s race, made a joke about hunting President Obama at an event Tuesday night.
Rammell was speaking to a local Republican group about the state’s wolf hunt, for which hunters must pay for “wolf tags.” An audience member shouted out a question about “Obama tags.”
“Obama tags? We’d buy some of those,” Rammell responded.
Rammell said he won’t apologize for the comments, but insists he was just joking.
(Late update: Rammell tweeted today about the controversy. “Obama hunting tags was just a joke! Everyone knows Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue tags in Washington D.C.,” he wrote.)
The Idaho Democratic Party, of course, is up in arms, and a spokesman for the Idaho Republican Party released a statement that the party “does not condone Rex Rammell’s comments, whether in jest or not.”
But at least one local Republican defended Rammell.
“It’s kind of the bad joke that you laugh at and then move on from. Nobody was going to dwell on it, that’s for damn sure,” said Terry Kramer, a Republican Twin Falls county commissioner. “It’s being blown out of proportion; it was just a one-liner out of the audience.”
Rammell later used an interview about the joke to attack Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter for not buying the first wolf tag, as he had said he would earlier in the year. When the tags became available, on Monday, the governor was speaking at the funeral of Bruce Sweeney, a 10-term state legislator who served while Otter was lieutenant governor.
“That’s a lame excuse,” Rammell said.
This is just Rammell’s most recent bout with trouble. Earlier this year, his development company filed for bankruptcy protection.
In June, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Rammell must pay $29,000 in fines related to fence problems at an elk-hunting ranch he used to own. In 2006, 110 of his elk escaped, leading to an emergency hunt over fears that the elk could spread disease to wild herds. He sold the ranch after that.
Rammell ran for the Senate last year as an independent. The state Republican party argued to the Idaho Supreme Court that his run was illegal and that his name shouldn’t be allowed on the ballot, but the court allowed Rammell to run. He got 5.4 percent of the vote.
Late late update: The Idaho Statesman reports that both senators from Idaho, a congressman and a former governor, all Republicans, have condemned Rammell’s comment.
“Rex Rammell’s comments are in very poor taste and should not have been said,” said Sen. Mike Crapo. “Remarks like these should not even be made jokingly. … He should apologize for those remarks and for the perception they may have created.”
“I think those are absolutely irresponsible statements,” said former Gov. Phil Batt. “Totally irresponsible, maybe criminal. You’re not allowed to threaten the president, with good reason. We’ve had some tragic assassinations in our history and we don’t want to encourage them, even in a joking way.”
Rammell responded to their comments via email to the Statesman, refusing to apologize and saying both men “should go to jail for allowing the wolves to enter Idaho in the first place. … What they did are truly crimes.”
Batt also said that Rammell’s comments reinforce the perception of Idaho as a racist state, referring to the white supremacist group Aryan Nations, which was headquartered in northern Idaho until 2001.
“Even though Idaho has had a very minimal amount of overt racism and discrimination, it’s haunted us for years,” Batt said. “And each little indiscretion tends to magnify it. It’s really too bad.”
Sen. Jim Risch and Rep. Mike Simpson had similar sentiments.
“I disagree often with the president and his policies. But the comment was totally unacceptable and should not have been made,” said Risch. “The comment does not accurately reflect the respect the people of Idaho have for the office of president and our constitutional form of government.”
“It is absolutely irresponsible to say such inflammatory things, especially for someone who seeks to be a leader in Idaho,” said Simpson. “Look at any community in Idaho and you will find people who help their neighbors without hesitation, regardless of race.”
