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You want to be worried about a crisis in Idaho? Rep. Luke Malek says don't worry about Islamic law — worry about suicide.
Toward the end of my interview with Luke Malek for this week's story on the comparatively moderate Idaho Republican's clash with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, I asked a question that may seem like it came out of the blue to a reader who hasn't been paying attention to North Idaho Politics:
"Are you worried about Sharia law?"
But this wasn't just a random oddball question. Malek's fellow Rep. Vito Barbieri told The Inlander that there's no question that Islamic law is a "threat" to Idaho.
"Islam is at the door," Barbieri wrote on his Facebook page. "But it isn't knocking."
And the first bill proposed by freshman Rep. Eric Redman (R-Post Falls) aimed to ban recognition of Sharia law in Idaho courts. The bill, according to John Rusche, D-Lewiston, including documents showing "severed hands and calling] the Prophet Mohammed a pedophile.”
But Malek's views show that he's a different sort of Republican from his peers.
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The Inlander wrote about rural Idaho's struggling mental health care system last year.
Idaho had one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, and until 2012, didn't even have a suicide hotline.
"Now we're maintaining that hotline, and we passed legislation this year — another great example of what we got done this year — [for] suicide prevention," Malek says. "That's a database program we're putting in place for the Department of Health and Welfare."
He has other high priorities on his agenda, too, none of which concern Islamic law.
"Well, I don't know if If I do go back next year," Malek says. "But if I do go back next year, education is going to stay right at the top. And making sure we come up with a good Idaho-based solution for covering 80,000 people who don't have health insurance."
