U.S. Attorney Office Seeing Green

Just because it’s a government office doesn’t mean it can’t turn a profit.

Well, kind of, anyway. The U.S. attorney’s office in Boise has collected more than triple its annual operating budget for the ‘96 fiscal year in fines, forfeitures and seized assets.

The office has pulled in more than $14 million. Its annual operating budget is about $3.8 million.

“We’ve been doing a good job, and that’s reflected in the figures,” said Betty Richardson, U.S. attorney for Idaho.

The office hasn’t really set out to collect more than it spends. And the money it collects doesn’t go into its budget; instead, it goes to the federal treasury, local law-enforcement agencies, crime victims and the like.

“Our goal is to efficiently and lawfully collect monies owed the government,” Richardson said.

But Richardson certainly doesn’t mind the fact that collections are at a record high compared to her office’s spending.

“Taxpayers are getting a lot more bang for their buck,” she said.

‘It’s all the same’

Gov. Phil Batt has had folks buzzing all week down here after his comments at the Land Board on Tuesday, when he sharply rebuked an Idaho Conservation League representative who wanted to talk about strengthening the state’s mining laws.

Batt said he questioned the objectivity of the ICL because of its “participation in the Proposition 3 debate,” the unsuccessful initiative that challenged his nuclear waste agreement with the federal government.

Even after the ICL’s Rick Johnson said his group wasn’t involved in that, Batt responded, “Well, it’s all the same, as you know. Their positions in the ICL gave them the platform.”

An editorial in the Lewiston Tribune this week dubbed Batt “Gov. Phil Grump,” and Boise’s Idaho Statesman ran an editorial headed, “Proposition 3 was defeated; somebody tell Gov. Batt.”

The exchange was particularly surprising because the state Lands Department already is working on a proposal to strengthen Idaho’s mining laws, partly at the urging of Republican Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly.

Noh, chairman of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee, has argued that the “patenting” of a large mine in eastern Idaho, which will take the mine out of federal ownership and make it private, leaves the state at risk for cleanup. Stronger laws on things such as bonds would protect the state.

Batt’s supporters made much during the election of the ties between the “Stop the Shipments” group that pushed the initiative and the Snake River Alliance, an environmental group that opposes nuclear weapons production. The two groups shared several key members and leaders, and the ties gave Stop the Shipments leaders something of a ready-made platform.

Perhaps the governor confused the ICL and the SRA this week. After all, both are environmental groups with three-word names.

On Friday, Batt spokesman Frank Lockwood said, “The bottom line is some, not all, of these environmentalists tried to discredit this administration, and they failed miserably.”

But Batt is ready to move on and wants to work with environmental interests on other issues, Lockwood said.

Changes at the top

The new director of the Idaho Department of Commerce, Tom Arnold, acknowledges that predecessor Jim Hawkins is a tough act to follow.

So he pointed out to a roomful of reporters this week at an Idaho Press Club event, “I have certain similarities to Jim - which you may notice already.”

Both men are bald on top.

The tall and the small

Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyoming, is 6-foot-7. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich is 4-foot-6.

Now the two, both headed to Boston, are planning to do a weekly public affairs program together on television, to air each Friday.

The title? “The Long and Short of It.”

, DataTimes MEMO: North-South Notes runs every other Saturday. To reach Betsy Z. Russell, call 336- 2854, send a fax to 336-0021 or e-mail to bzrussell@rmci.net.