The Atlantic has an interesting profile of Idaho 1stDistrict Rep. Raul Labrador this week, headlined, “Does the Fate of Immigration Reform Depend on This Idaho Congressman? Puerto Rican-born, Tea Party-purist, GOP-leadership-defying immigration attorney Raul Labrador has confounded expectations throughout his political career.” In the piece, Labrador talks about immigration reform, saying, “Most hardcore conservatives in the House come from rural agricultural districts, so we understand the need for reform.” Labrador also tells the Atlantic, “The old guard believes that if we fix the immigration we will all of a sudden get 43 percent of the Hispanic vote. … Read more

BOISE – It’s more than a year before the primary election, but Idaho Sen. Jim Risch announced last week that he’ll seek re-election in 2014. “When I ran for this office just over four years ago, I said our country was facing many challenges,” Risch said in a statement. “Those challenges not only remain, they have gotten worse. … Idahoans are opposed to the ever-growing role of the federal government in their lives, and my votes in the Senate have reflected that sentiment.” Risch, who turns 70 in May, knows the importance of getting into a race early. When he was considering a run for governor in 2006, then-congressman Butch Otter jumped in just after he’d taken the oath of office for his third two-year congressional term, a move that allowed him to tie up GOP contributors and outmaneuver Risch, who decided not to run. Read more

It's more than a year before the primary election, but Idaho Sen. Jim Risch announced today that he'll seek re-election in 2014. “When I ran for this office just over four years ago, I said our country was facing many challenges,” Risch said in a statement. “Those challenges not only remain, they have gotten worse.” Click below for Risch's full announcement. Read more

Colorful former Idaho gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell has lost his second appeal over a 2010 elk poaching charge, with the Idaho Court of Appeals ruling unanimously that two lower courts correctly upheld Rammell’s misdemeanor conviction. Read more

PARKS — The giant yellow snowplows that wake Yellowstone from its winter slumber every March are idled, waiting for the sun to make up for federal budget cuts that are forcing the park to open late for peak season. According to a Washington Post story, mandatory cuts kicked in three days before the plows were to start clearing snow and ice from 300 roads at altitudes that reach 11,000 feet. Faced with an order from Washington to slice $1.8 million from his budget, the park superintendent, Dan Wenk, had considered his options, and delaying the plows was a better choice than cutting his already barebones staff of rangers and seasonal employees. National Parks are just one of many agencies weighing choices being forced by the budget reductions known as sequestration. Read more

Idaho’s junior U.S. senator sees little hope for breakthrough on some of the thorniest issues confronting Congress and the president this year. “In the short term I’m very, very pessimistic,” Republican Sen. Jim Risch said during a visit Friday to Coeur d’Alene. Read more

Larry Kenck, the new chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party, has issued a statement blaming “years of failed GOP policies” for Idaho’s ranking as the state with the highest percentage of workers earning the minimum wage. “Idaho has suffered from decades of GOP policies that do very little to encourage high-paying businesses to relocate to Idaho or to stay in Idaho,” Kenck declared; you can read his full statement here. Read more

Idaho Statesman reporter Dan Popkey reports today that 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador had been scheduled to appear at two eastern Idaho county GOP “Lincoln Day” events last weekend, but instead canceled. That suggests he may be backing off from the idea of challenging Gov. Butch Otter in 2014; Labrador has said he's mullingthat but hasn't decided. “If he was trying to do everything he could to challenge Gov. … Read more

SEATTLE – The executive director of the Democrats’ state Senate campaign committee is being investigated after indications that he made improper expenditures using the group’s money, lawmakers said Saturday. In a conference call with reporters, the senators said an investigation was launched this week into how Michael King handled certain campaign expenses. Read more

The town of Rockford faces uncertainty after a law enforcement levy to pay for the town’s contract with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office lost big at the ballot box this month. The measure sought to raise $33,000 by imposing a levy of $1.43 per $1,000 in assessed home value in 2014. In recent years the town has struggled to pay for the contract out of its limited general fund budget. Read more

OLYMPIA – Legislators are considering – not too seriously, it seems – a plan to allow the state to sell the naming rights to its many roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings and other facilities. Should it pass, Spokane residents might at some future date drive east on the Avista Interstate, cross the Microsoft Bridge over Lake Washington, take an exit onto the Starbucks Expressway, grab the REI exit ramp to the Nordstrom Terminal, then catch the Ivar’s Acres of Clams ferry for points west. Read more

Following the lead of state voters, the Spokane City Council on Monday legalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by anyone 21 and up. Councilman Jon Snyder, who has led the effort on the City Council to consider the impacts to the city from marijuana legalization, said that Monday’s unanimous vote was a routine matter to keep city law consistent with state law. … Read more

The Liberty Lake City Council gave seven local organizations a total of $70,000 in lodging tax funds. The organizations applied for the funds in November. The funds are collected from taxes added on to hotel stays and are to be used to boost tourism in the city. The largest award – $25,000 – went to the HUB Sports Center. Read more

Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party is stepping down. Larry Grant announced this week this week that he won't seek another term, sending the state's minority party searching for a new leader. Grant was elected to the post in 2011 and in his announcement he touted his efforts to recruit an effective party staff and help field a cast of competitive candidates in the 2012 election. … Read more

OLYMPIA – A wise old pol once explained why changing the election system is difficult: The people who must agree to make the change all got their jobs through the current system; and having won at least one election, they all consider themselves experts in how the system should work. That may explain why legislators each year consider a myriad of election changes, but rarely approve any of substance. Last week found various committees in the midst of such discussions, considering whether counties should be required to put out more drop boxes, the deadline for ballots to arrive in the mail should be moved up, or the state should change the way it divvies up its Electoral College votes. Too early to tell how most will fare, but all face a bumpy road. Read more

BOISE – A lawmaker from North Idaho drew audible gasps Wednesday morning when he asked representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho if their pro-abortion-rights stance also means they support prostitution. Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, made the comparison during a legislative breakfast presentation held by the ACLU. Read more

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador says he's waiting to see what happens in Congress and efforts to reform immigration before deciding whether to run for Idaho governor. Labrador is among several Republicans who have been contemplating a bid to be the state's next chief executive. … Read more

The feud that's broken out into the open between Idaho GOP Congressmen Mike Simpson and Raul Labrador - detailed in a Sunday story in the Idaho Statesman by reporter Dan Popkey - is the top political news of the day in Idaho. Click below for Popkey's full report, via the Associated Press. Simpson told Popkey that Labrador has forever undermined his effectiveness in Congress by plotting to overthrow Speaker John Boehner and publicly refusing to vote for his re-election on Jan. … Read more

Once again, in the spirit of peace on Earth to men and women of good will, Spin Control avoids political commentary so close to Christmas. This year our holiday wish is that if lions can lie down with the lambs, Senate Republicans can peacefully break bread with Senate Democrats, NRA members can share a cup of cheer with gun control advocates and birthers will wake up Tuesday morning to find a brand-new conspiracy in their stockings. Instead, we offer our annual 12 Trivias of Christmas Quiz. Put your hand over the answers at the end, to avoid the quiz equivalent of stuffing the ballot box. Read more

OLYMPIA – Forget what the news media told you six weeks ago: Barack Obama was elected to his second term as president Monday. His election was finalized through a process that the Founding Fathers dreamed up in 1787 and has confounded Americans pretty regularly since. Read more