Bill Sali knew he had some fences to mend when he got to Congress. One of his early encounters was lunch with fellow Idaho Republican Mike Simpson, the former state House speaker who had once threatened to throw him out a window. "I made the comment, ‘Hey, I need to work on this relationship with you,'" Sali recalls. "His immediate response was, ‘Hey, we're OK, don't worry about it.'" One hundred days into Sali's term in Congress, the combative evangelical conservative remains as determined as ever to "reform" the Beltway culture, though so far with little of his trademark bluster. As if to prove the point, one of his first acts in Washington was to get himself elected GOP freshman class president. It's a largely ceremonial post, but his press secretary, Wayne Hoffman, said it "says a lot about his ability to get along and build relationships" -- Kevin Diaz/Idaho Statesman.
Question: Are you surprised by Congressman Bill Sali's performance during his first 100 days in office?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
mend when he got to Congress. One of his early encounters was lunch with fellow Idaho Republican Mike Simpson, the former state House speaker who had once threatened to throw him out a window. "I made the comment, ‘Hey, I need to work on this relationship with you,'" Sali recalls. "His immediate response was, ‘Hey, we're OK, don't worry about it.'" One hundred days into Sali's term in Congress, the combative evangelical conservative remains as determined as ever to "reform" the Beltway culture, though so far with little of his trademark bluster. As if to prove the point, one of his first acts in Washington was to get himself elected GOP freshman class president. It's a largely ceremonial post, but his press secretary, Wayne Hoffman, said it "says a lot about his ability to get along and build relationships" -- Kevin Diaz/Idaho Statesman.
