Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Ever since growing up the oldest of seven children in the Renton Highlands and Kent, U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert has been watching out for the other guy, even the president of the United States.

His belief that someone can disagree with George Bush but still show respect for the president was tested in June by an Issaquah school bus driver.

Reichert rode with Bush in his motorcade when the president came to the Eastside in June to raise money for Reichert and the state Republican Party.

First, the procession roared along Interstate 5 and State Route 520 to get to the Medina mansion where the fundraiser was scheduled.

Stopped on an entrance to the freeway from I-90, students in several Issaquah School District buses crammed their faces against the windows and waved to the president's motorcade. Bush waved back.

Bush was having a great time, Reichert told a group of veterans in Orting recently. At least until he came even with one of the bus drivers.

The president turned to Reichert and said the bus driver had flipped him off.

Later, Reichert called the school district. After an investigation, the 43-year-old bus driver was fired in early September. She filed a union grievance earlier this month against the district, claiming wrongful termination.

"Due to events on that day and a gesture that is not at all appropriate modeling for students on the bus, the bus driver was terminated," said Sara Niegowski, an Issaquah School District spokeswoman.

The reason Reichert made an issue of this was that there were children on the bus. Do you "hate" so much that you have lost your sense of decency in front of children? There were plenty of other obscene gestures and free speech that day that were left unmentioned. But the judgement of a school bus driver should be questioned when they do something like that to children who themselves were waving at the President of the United States. So it was reported to the school board - who conducted their own investigation and fired the driver. If you stopped "hating" for five minutes and considered the behavior and judgement you would want of a school driver of your own children you might reconsider this criticism. Then again, some of the "haters" in this district give the finger in front of their kids so maybe not. You and the bus driver are the small people in this discussion.