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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

GOP school superintendent in Balukoff ad has GOP voting record in Oregon, but hasn’t yet voted in Idaho

An Idaho school superintendent who is featured in an A.J. Balukoff ad saying he’s a lifelong Republican but will vote for Democrat Balukoff in this year’s gubernatorial election hasn’t voted in an Idaho election before, the AP reports, but voted Republican for many years in Oregon before moving to Idaho in 2010. Rob Waite told the AP that he didn't register to vote in Idaho when he moved first moved to the state because he still hadn't sold his house in Oregon.

"I didn't think it was fair to register to vote when I still had a dual residency," he said. "Did it take me longer to register to vote than I probably should have? Yeah. But it's not until recently I was able to sell my house in Oregon." In the campaign ad, Waite says he’s planning to cross party lines and vote for Balukoff because of his concern over cuts to schools under GOP Gov. Butch Otter.

Mike Lanza, spokesman for Balukoff’s campaign, said the campaign was aware of Waite's voting history. "I don't think it's misleading," Lanza said. "Here is an educator who is a Republican who is saying the state is going in the wrong direction. This is a genuine person with genuine beliefs."

AP reporter Kimberlee Kruesi reports that Oregon voting records show Waite registered as a Republican in 1998 and voted in 16 of the past 20 elections there.



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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