{"id":1232,"date":"2020-05-23T08:08:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T15:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2020-05-21T23:14:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T06:14:50","slug":"rotunda-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1232","title":{"rendered":"Rotunda Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Not Idaho<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a sunny May morning in Idaho. The primary election\nwas over and Governor Little was in pretty good spirits. He was looking to back\nhis \u00be ton Ford pickup into a metered space by the Capitol when a Prius with a\n\u201cCOEXIST\u201d bumper sticker slipped in behind and took it. Brad laughed, \u201cDamn\nDemocrats. You won\u2019t be so cocky come November!\u201d he muttered with a smirk. He\ncircled the block. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After plugging the meter, he looked up at the trees,\naccepting that the starlings would speckle his dusty truck. His mood was coming\ndown. But the sunny stroll buoyed him as he crossed State St. and climbed the\nsteps. A young man stood near the door looking at him, anxious, holding a\nmanila folder. \u201cCan I help you, young man?\u201d Brad offered. He noticed the Idaho\nFreedom Foundation lapel pin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm, Governor Little?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes?\u201d
\n\u201cThis is for you. You have been served.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh Jeez, not another lawsuit.\u201d Brad slapped the folder\nagainst his thigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young man blushed and fidgeted. \u201cUm no, Governor Little.\nThis is a summons to a duel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA duel?\u201d Brad slapped his thigh again with the folder and\nguffawed. \u201cYou Freedom Foundation guys don\u2019t like the election results huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young man\u2019s nervousness eased and he launched into what\nsounded like a practiced speech. \u201cUnder Idaho Territorial law, matters of honor\nmust be addressed between gentlemen when duly served. Chapter 7 Section 33(b).\nYou are hereby notified that the honor of your opponent has been challenged and\nyou are to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad thought quickly. \u201cDidn\u2019t we get rid of that law when we\ncleaned up all those regulations this last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young man smiled. \u201cIndeed. You removed the section that\nrepealed this section. The law is restored. You have two days to respond to the\nchallenge. It\u2019s all spelled out for you in the summons.\u201d He gestured to the\nfolder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad couldn\u2019t help laughing. \u201cSo, what does Wayne choose for\nweapons? Sneers at ten paces? He knows I can\u2019t sneer as good as him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here the fidgeting resumed. \u201cIt\u2019s all in the summons there\nMr. Governor. Honor will be settled. And Mr. Hoffman is serving as the second;\nhe will discuss the weapons, the dueling ground and the time with your second,\nas is the time-honored custom.\u201d Then he skipped down the steps and trotted off\nto the west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad took the folder into the marble floored dome and read\nthe contents. Then he headed to the second floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He burst through the Attorney General\u2019s office and slapped\nthe folder on the big desk. \u201cWhat the heck do I do with this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG Lawrence Wasden scanned the one-page piece of paper and\nblanched. \u201cI was hoping it wouldn\u2019t come to this\u201d he muttered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean this is legal?\u201d Brad exploded. \u201cHow can this be?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, we did eliminate a lot of stuff last year. It turns\nout we also got rid of the law repealing the chocolate ordinance, so chocolate\nis now illegal in Idaho if you can believe it.\u201d Lawrence said amused, then\nfrowned. \u201cMy deputy on honor laws just told me about this last week. It sure\ndoesn\u2019t take those Freedom Foundation boys long, does it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m supposed to duel the Lieutenant Governor, Janice\nMcGeachan, not the Freedom Foundation!\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wasden frowned, then he hit an intercom button and barked,\n\u201cJerry, get in here!\u201d He muttered to Brad as the door burst open, \u201cHe\u2019s my\nhonor code deputy.\u201d He handed the paper to the deputy who scanned it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, Jerry?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, there\u2019s a problem with this sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad rolled his eyes. \u201cI know that! What do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou cannot respond sir. This is an invalid duel summons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally? I thought dueling in Idaho was now legal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Jerry fidgeted. \u201cWell, because of the repeal of Chapter\n23, Section 3(d), technically it is, but under territorial law, dueling can\nonly be done by men, so this summons is not valid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawrence put his hand on Brad\u2019s shoulder. \u201cIt\u2019s Idaho Brad.\nIt\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a sunny May morning in Idaho. The primary election was over and Governor Little was in pretty good spirits. He was looking to back his \u00be ton Ford pickup into a metered space by the Capitol when a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1234,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}