I've heaped considerable criticism on two Treasure Valley lawmakers: Republican Reps. Steven Thayn of Emmett and Curtis Bowers of Caldwell.

Today, I'll say a couple of nice things about Thayn, because he deserves it.

The Statesman editorial board has started its spring endorsement interviews, and two of the early races on our schedule were Thayn's three-way GOP primary and Bowers' primary with former Agriculture Department director Pat Takasugi of Wilder.

Bowers canceled out, and made it clear he had no time to meet, and no interest in doing so. His prerogative, of course. However, it's my prerogative to wonder if he makes some time for his constituents — even the ones who question his well-publicized guest opinion linking gay rights, environmentalism and feminism to old Communist Party principles.

Thayn showed up. He was cordial and he made an articulate case for his beliefs. And he made sense on a number of issues: for example, with many of Idaho inmates behind bars for non-violent crimes tied to substance abuse, he supports treatment programs and says the state needs to take a closer look at its sentencing structure.

Thayn and our board will still be at loggerheads on a number of issues. He prefers an at-home approach to preparing kids for kindergarten, while we support pre-kindergarten programs. He opposes the Connecting Idaho highway program, which we support. We write our endorsements based on the key issues, so those are tough issues for us to to reconcile.

But I'll always have more respect for an elected official who is willing to meet with his or her critics. It's always valuable for us to hear the other side of the debate; it challenges our editorial positions and forces us to think critically about where we stand.

Afterwards, Thayn confided that his wife didn't understand why he would bother to meet with our editorial board, since we haven't liked him in the past. He said he thought it was an important part of the process, and said he appreciated our willingness to meet with the candidates.

For my part, I always appreciate it when candidates meet with us. It says a lot about their approach to the job and their willingness to engage in discussion.