|
Scott restored to committee assignments |
|
February 1, 2017 |
After having been stripped of her committee
assignments January 12 for alleged inappropriate
comments to a fellow legislator, Idaho District
1 representative Heather Scott, Blanchard, was
restored to her seats on the House Commerce,
Environment at State Affairs Committees today.
After Tuesday's session concluded, House Speaker
Scott Bedke gave reporters a written statement
saying that Scott “has acknowledged that what
she said and did, on numerous occasions, was
wrong.”
“She seems to have taken ownership and
responsibility for her offensive comments,"
Bedke wrote. "She has made efforts to apologize
to those who were personally harmed or offended
by her statements and actions. It’s unfortunate
that it took her this long to do so, but that is
all I required her to do. I expect her future
actions to confirm her sincerity. I hope she has
learned something from this that will make her a
better legislator.”
Today, an unrepentant Scott released her own
statement.
"After a 20 day moratorium, Speaker Bedke
decided to reinstate me back to my assigned
committees and restore full representation of
District 1 today," she wrote. "This decision has
been a long time coming and is good news for my
district and the people throughout Idaho who
believe in a republic form of government.
"Considering the fact that punitive actions to
this extent have never been taken against a
legislator in the State of Idaho, I believe this
situation has highlighted the overreaching
authority of the Speaker of the House,
Representative Scott Bedke of District 27.
"The unprofessional manner in which this entire
situation was handled reveals that there is room
for improvement in communication, mutual respect
and leadership inside the Idaho House of
Representatives.
"I believe Mr. Bedke’s recent statement to the
newspaper is a bit disingenuous considering that
he refers to my statements 'and actions.'
"To this day, he has still not completely told
me why I was removed from my committees and he
allowed the situation to escalate for unknown
reasons. My many apologies never seemed to be
good enough to please Speaker Bedke, so I opted
for a public apology weeks ago. When that wasn’t
enough, I was assured that one last apology to a
small group two days ago would be the final
requirement.
"I believe this situation may have been used as
a political distraction from a bigger political
issues, but time will tell. That said, I will
continue to work hard to represent the people of
District 1. I will remain positive and will
continue to be a strong defender of the First
Amendment - no voice or opinion should be
silenced." |
|
Questions or comments about this
article?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
