Boldt names American (political) idols

Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt said during a May 1 interview for CVTV’s “Clark County Focus,” that his mentor was former state Rep. Clyde Ballard, R-Wenatchee.

Speaker of the House when Boldt arrived in Olympia in 1995 as a freshman Republican, Ballard taught Boldt to hear both sides of an issue, especially during the three years that the House had an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

If someone didn’t cross over, nothing would get accomplished, Boldt said.

“So he taught me to … shut up and listen, and wait, as hard as it is, and make a decision,” Boldt said.

His other idols? Former President Ronald Reagan (no surprise) and former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird.

Wait, what? The guy in trouble with the executive board of the Clark County GOP has the nerve to name a Democrat? Boldt said he learned a lot from reading Baird’s book, “Character, Politics & Responsibility: Restarting the Heart of the American Public” and added that Baird supported President George W. Bush’s 2007 Iraq troop surge.

After the interview, which can be watched here, Boldt said he gave a copy of Baird’s book to Baird’s successor, U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas.

Did she read it?

Yes, Boldt said.

Other topics covered in the 30-minute interview include why he supported a ban on smoking in parks, steps the commissioners are taking to boost economic development and what step folks will soon have to take if they want to build an agriculture structure such as a pole barn on their property. (Don’t worry, it’s free.)

Boldt did make one slip that would make a U.S. History teacher cringe, and since my dad is a retired history teacher I’ll go ahead and point out now that Boldt’s beloved phrase of “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” comes from the Declaration of Independence, not the U.S. Constitution as he said in the interview.