Former Boise city council member Lisa Sanchez denounced Sen. Treg Bernt on Twitter this morning for “standing on [her] neck” throughout his career:
She attached three pictures to her tweet. The first was a text message of Bernt, then a city council member in Meridian running for Senate, asking Sanchez to take down a picture of them together for fear that his association with her would damage his standing with Republican voters. The second was the picture in question, and the third was Gov. Brad Little’s tweet from earlier this week celebrating signing a bill sponsored by Bernt and Rep. James Petzke to end DEI statements in public universities.
There’s a lot going on here.
First, Bernt called Sanchez “sister,” which she didn’t seem to mind at the time but sees as a betrayal now that he sponsored an anti-DEI bill. Her tweet this morning ended with “The stakes are too high to remain silent…brother.”
Second, Bernt was apparently worried that knowledge of his association with Sanchez would hurt his chances in the Republican primary. Perhaps he was right — Sanchez has a low reputation among conservatives. (Nevertheless, Bernt defeated Thad Butterworth by more than 20% in the 2022 primary.)
However, simply being in a picture with her might not have been a big deal. Lt. Gov. Bedke recently posed for a picture with Sanchez at a Latino event and as far as I know he didn’t beg her to take it off social media. It speaks to Bernt’s insecurity regarding his own positions and standing within the Republican Party that he was so nervous about being seen with a leftist.
Third, the anti-DEI bill wasn’t even that big of a deal. The State Board of Education already eliminated DEI statements by rule last year, so codifying it into law is a good thing. However, the bill has no teeth and it won’t stop public universities from changing a few words and continuing to use race-based hiring practices. Yet even that is too much for Sanchez.
Fourth, it goes to show that there is no loyalty in politics. Lisa Sanchez did Treg Bernt a favor, now she feels betrayed because he sponsored a bill she sees as a direct attack on her work. When they took the picture together, they were both city council members, but today Bernt is in the Senate while Sanchez lost her seat due to moving out of her district. I can understand why she feels like he stood on her neck on his way up the ladder.
This demonstrates how shallow left wing identity politics really is. Sanchez seemed to believe that Bernt was a “good” white guy, someone who would help her and promote her causes, but instead he used her, and so in her view he’s just like all the rest of us irredeemably racist white men.
This also shows the abject hypocrisy of the political class. I just published an article earlier today calling out the “racism game” that journalists and politicians play. The governor and members of the Legislature fell over each other to condemn an incident in Coeur d’Alene where random people allegedly revved their engines and yelled racial slurs at members of the Utah women’s basketball team. On the other hand, nobody has said anything about Sen. Bernt’s request for a black and Hispanic women to take pictures off her social media lest he be seen in fellowship with her.
I doubt anyone will. As I said this morning, this is a game that politicians and journalists play. Denouncing the CDA incident is an easy way to burnish one’s anti-racist bona fides while reinforcing the narrative that North Idaho is a hotbed of racial hatred. Treg Bernt, on the other hand, is a dutiful member of the political establishment in good standing, so there’s nothing to gain by denouncing him.
Lisa Sanchez is a radical left-wing ideologue — it’s probably fair to call her a Marxist — and clearly harbors racial resentment toward white people. Yet I give her credit where it’s due: she’s not afraid to break the rules of the game and call things out publicly. As much as Treg Bernt claims to “hate politics,” he is clearly willing to play the game.
