“It is a mistake to ever overestimate the ignorance of the Idaho Legislature,” he said.

That was Frank Lundberg, a herpetologist in Idaho, upon the failure of the legislature to pass a bill recognizing the Idaho giant salamander as the state’s official amphibian.

Why did the critter lose out on this honor? Because ten paranoid and idiotic Republican committee members worried that if it was so designated then the Federal Environmental Protection Agency might put it on the Endangered Species list.

An Idaho attorney general’s opinion advised lawmakers that approving the salamander as a state symbol wouldn’t do anything in the way of encouraging federal protections. But lawmakers remained wary.

“My whole concern is potential federal overreach,” said Rep. Don Cheatham, R-Post Falls. “In north Idaho we have the water litigation going. I just am in fear that something could be impacted if it became an endangered species.”

Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, co-sponsored Hickman’s bill and pointed out that designating a state symbol had nothing to do with endangered species.

“We addressed that,” Ward-Engelking said. “We got an opinion from the attorney general – it was very clear. I spoke with him personally. He said no way, no how was a state symbol going to impact that whatsoever.”

You know what’s terrifying? State legislators, no matter how stupid, often get elected to the US House of Representatives. Can you imagine Mr. Cheatham in that body?

via The Maddow Blog