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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Loertscher on Hart: ‘That bill will come due someday, then hammer will fall’

Spokesman-Review columnist Shawn Vestal, in today's paper, interviews Rep. Tom Loertscher, chair of the House Ethics Committee, about the Phil Hart case and why Loertscher was the lone vote against looking further into the latest ethics complaint against Hart. First, there's that business of Loertscher saying, "As legislators we all have something in our past." Writes Vestal, "Nothing whets the journalistic appetite like the prospect of a Gem State skeleton. I called Loertscher to drag the truth out of him. Do we really all have something in our past? 'Don’t you?' he asked. Why yes. Yes I do. More than one thing, perhaps. But the question, Mr. Representative, is do you? 'I hope not,' he said. 'I haven’t shot anybody or gotten a deer out of season or anything.'

Vestal goes on to note, "He said he’s not endorsing Hart’s behavior so much as doubting whether his committee is the place to deal with it. I think it is, but Loertscher’s not necessarily a white-washer to see it otherwise. 'Judgment Day eventually comes,' he said. 'When he’s exhausted all his remedies, he’ll have a bill to pay or not. That bill will come due someday … and then the hammer will fall. That’s the way it works.'" You can read the full column here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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