House Majority Caucus Chair Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, had this response to today's announcement from House Speaker Lawerence Denney that Rep. Phil Hart will be removed from the House tax committee and a new ethics committee will be appointed:  "I think it was important to have some action taken, especially on the previous ethics panel recommendations. I was glad to see the speaker take action on that. He's pretty much required by the rules of the House to get another ethics panel together. ... That's the place for it to play out."

Roberts said Hart's case was a topic of discussion during the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce's legislative tour, which drew dozens of lawmakers to a series of events and presentations in the Panhandle Sunday through today and included a banquet and speech from Gov. Butch Otter last night; Hart attended the banquet, but was missing from most of the tour. "There's been some discussion about it, sure," Roberts said. "I think people were looking for a decision by the speaker."