It’s rare that a call of the Senate is issued – which requires that the doors be locked, roll be taken, and any missing, unexcused senators rounded up, even if that requires sending the Idaho State Police or the National Guard to find and arrest them – but one was issued this morning. It was done actually for the benefit of the current class of high school pages, so they’d get to see one before they leave and a new class takes their place since no call has been issued yet this session. When the roll was taken, seven senators were missing from the floor. Six were quickly rounded up, but one remained missing – Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton.

Senators and staffers milled around while he was hunted down; he turned out to be in the basement of the Capitol getting candy. Uniformed Idaho State Police officers delivered Siddoway to the chamber in handcuffs, as his fellow senators snapped photos with their phones. Once he was freed and seated, Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis announced, “This may be the first time that this particular senator has ever been arrested for going too slow.”

Amid laughter, Lt. Gov. Brad Little said, “He’s also in violation of Rule 50 for having candy on the floor of the Senate.” Siddoway was clutching a plastic grocery bag.

With that done with, the call was lifted, and the Senate has moved on to its main business today – debate on SB 1337, the bill to make it a crime to take or distribute surreptitious video of photos of a farm operation, as was done last year when abuse of cows was videotaped by activists at a southern Idaho dairy, leading to criminal charges against the employees involved.