A sweet deal

As a citizen of the state of Idaho, I was astounded to read in the March 27 Lewiston Tribune that the legislation to reimburse a California developer for his effort to construct an interchange at the site of his mall development in Post Falls had been signed by the governor.

Currently, the Nez Perce Tribe is working on alternatives to highway access at its business site along Highway 12/95 that will be built with tribal government funds. Hmm, how is that fair when a wealthy out-of-state developer, who just happens to have an ongoing relationship with Speaker [Lawerence] Denney and former Rep. Julie Ellsworth, gets reimbursement for similar costs from state sales tax? Are these legislators, past and current, telling the people of Idaho, with a straight face, that the donation of up to $35 million in state sales tax to a private entity is less significant than the $3 million in tribal fuel tax revenues that the state is trying to steal from tribal governments in other legislation?

Never mind that tribal governments provide services to their communities, funnel revenues back into the local economy and are aboriginal to this area. Clearly, if the Nez Perce people had been from California, had friends like Speaker Denney, Sen. [Jim] Hammond and Julie Ellsworth and had more money, they would be receiving tax refunds instead of being stalked for money from its own governmental coffers to help the state pay the tax obligations of a private out-of-state company.

Julie S. Kane

Lapwai