Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has ripped into challenger Rex Rammell for "reckless and inflammatory statements" about shooting the president, though Rammell said he was just joking. Saying "I reject and condemn this kind of rhetoric," the governor said such statements "gravely damage confidence in the…
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo issued the following statement about the comments regarding shooting President Obama made by gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell, who like Crapo is a Republican: “Rex Rammell’s comments are in very poor taste and should not have been said. Remarks like these should…
GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell says "anyone who understands the law" would know he was just joking about buying a hunting tag to shoot President Barack Obama, "because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington, D.C." This after the Idaho Republican Party…
In more news from the campaign front, the Times-News reported today that GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell was highly critical of Gov. Butch Otter for not purchasing a wolf hunting tag on the first day they went on sale, which Otter didn't do because he…
Oopsy. Ken Roberts' congressional campaign sent out a press release first thing this morning noting that Roberts, R-Donnelly, the current House majority caucus chairman who's running for the 1st District congressional seat, has now been endorsed by 30 legislators from the 1st District. The release…
Fired ITD Director Pam Lowe says in her wrongful-firing tort claim that she was ousted just as she prepared to cut back or eliminate a multimillion-dollar contract with a politically well-connected firm, after strong pressure from the governor's office not to do it. But the…
Every state has now created a “transparency” Web site to allow residents to track federal economic stimulus money, but according to a report by a good-government group, some sites are better than others. Washington ranked among the top three in the nation, while Idaho tied…
The Times-News in Twin Falls reports today that its local member of the Idaho Transportation Board, Gary Blick, has repeatedly refused to comment to the paper since emerging as a key figure in the firing of ITD Director Pam Lowe. Lowe's tort claim against the…
The law firm representing fired ITD Director Pam Lowe in her wrongful termination claim against the state, Strindberg & Scholnick LLC, specializes in employment law, and is the firm that last year won a $4.2 million settlement on behalf of more than 300 employees of…
A look at fired ITD Director Pam Lowe's tort claim against the state for wrongful termination shows some explosive allegations, beyond sex discrimination and improper dismissal. Among them: That Jeff Malmen, then Gov. Butch Otter's chief of staff, called Lowe and ITD Board Chairman Darrell…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has been saying for two years that he wanted to be the first to bid on an Idaho wolf hunting tag, but today, when unlimited sales of the tags opened at Fish & Game offices around the state, at vendors and…
The court hearing in Missoula next Monday before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, on a possible injunction to block the impending first-ever wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana this fall, is following rather swiftly after the 13 groups that earlier sued in federal court over…
Here's the 4:45 p.m. total of wolf hunting tags sold today in Idaho: 4,196, of which 61 were to non-residents. All the rest went to Idaho hunters. There's no limit on the tags, and they continue to be sold both at vendors like sporting good…
Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget director, reports that he bought a wolf tag during his lunch break and got tag No. 3,080. "That was at like 12, 12:30," he said. "So I imagine they'll sell five or six thousand by the end of the…
The first hunter to buy a wolf tag at Idaho's Fish & Game headquarters in Boise this morning, J.D. Dennis of Kuna, arrived 55 minutes before the sale started. "Fortunately, I was in the neighborhood," said Dennis, who stood at the head of a line…
Idaho’s capital city’s been rocked recently by horrifying crime news, from the first-degree murder arrests of the mother and mother’s boyfriend in the case of an 8-year-old boy, Robert Manwill, whose disappearance prompted an intensive community search, to the double life sentences handed down to…
Here's a link to my full story on the vote-by-mail initiative that's in the works, not for the 2010 election, but for the 2012 one. It's the first Idaho ballot initiative to launch a signature drive with such a long time frame. If enacted, it…
Idaho Fish & Game will start selling tags for the state's first wolf hunt on Monday at 10 a.m., but it does have a backup plan in case opponents win a court injunction to block the hunt: If an injunction comes through, tag-buyers who haven't…
Fired Idaho Transportation Department director Pamela Lowe is seeking damages from the state, alleging improper termination and gender discrimination, the AP reports. Among her claims: One board member said “no little girl would be able to run this department.” In documents obtained by The Associated…
Gov. Butch Otter has named 5th District Judge John Michael Melanson to the Idaho Court of Appeals, to fill the vacancy that will occur when Appeals Court Judge Darrel R. Perry retires on Sept. 30. Melanson, 61, has been a district judge in Minidoka County…
Backers of a voter initiative to let Idahoans put in permanent absentee ballot requests, rather than having to file a new request every election, are trying something unorthodox: Instead of shooting for the 2010 election, they want their measure on the ballot in 2012, three…
A landmark Boise timber products company is returning to the Idaho's capital city - kind of. A group of former executives of Trus Joist Corp., along with Atlas Holdings LLC, has purchased the commercial division of Trus Joist from Weyerhaeuser, its current owner, and will…
For nearly a decade, Idaho has offered to guarantee bonds issued by its local school districts to win them a better interest rate, save local property taxpayers a few dollars and make the bonds easier to pass. Now, the state Endowment Board has decided to…
A nonprofit group on Tuesday launched a new “government transparency” Web site designed to give anyone who’s interested details about state and local government spending in Idaho, from a mayor’s salary to an agency’s computer purchases. “Transparency is a non-partisan issue - it’s not Republican,…
Longtime state lawmaker Bruce Sweeney died today at age 77, after battling bone cancer, the Lewiston Tribune reports. Sweeney, a moderate Democrat from Lewiston whose legislative service spanned two decades, most recently served on the Idaho Transportation Board. You can read more here at spokesman.com.
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
