The Senate engaged in fairly lengthy and detailed debate and questions and answers today before voting unanimously to accept back from its State Affairs Committee the contents of a sealed box containing all the documents relating to an unsuccessful formal contest of the election results in District 29, and send the box to the Idaho Secretary of State’s office. Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said senators determined that the box didn’t contain any original ballots or poll books that needed to be returned to the county.

Then, there was more debate and detail as the Senate considered the committee’s recommendation to order the unsuccessful challenger, Tom Katsilometes - not the current state tax commissioner and former longtime Democratic county commissioner by that name, but a cousin - to reimburse Sen. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello, for nearly $20,000 in attorney fees and costs to defend himself from the challenge. “Good senators, we have to serve justice here, we really do,” said Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, the State Affairs Committee chairman. “We have a frivolous suit on every count. And we need to make the incumbent whole again.”

Siddoway said, “When we looked at this, we had most of the legal minds in this building looking at this to make sure that the Senate did indeed have the authority to move forward with this proposal. When I look at it, that seems like a lot of money to me, so I didn’t take this charge lightly.”

Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, said if the fees and costs weren’t assessed, a similar challenge could render a future senator “economically prohibited from holding office.” He said awarding the fees and costs would “preserve the integrity of the election.”

That vote, too, was unanimous.