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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Crassness Reaches A New Level

J. Kirk Sullivan, a Boise Cascade timber executive who could be named president of the University of Idaho today, takes crassness to a new level. Expanding on his thesis that a college president’s main purpose in life is to raise money, he admitted he’d shake down a rich widow if he had to do so. Said Sullivan: “If we target Mrs. X out there, and we know that Mrs. X is 72 years old - this is crass, but let me give you my example - and she’s got $100 million and she doesn’t have the University of Idaho in her will, then it’s up to me to figure out how to get us into that will, assuming there’s a window of opportunity.” If this guy knows as little about higher education as he does about tact, the UI could be in trouble.

Idaho trusty program strikes out

Apparently, the Idaho Department of Corrections didn’t learn from the Danny Ray Aeschliman fiasco. Remember him? A former Coeur d’Alene resident, this sweetheart beat his wife to death and then landed a cushy custodial job in a southern Idaho jail. After his former in-laws raised a ruckus about the arrangement, corrections officials moved him to the big house. Enter Steve Waddell. This girlfriend killer was a Shoshone County trusty happily romping unshackled between the jailhouse and courthouse until the liberal media descended. The negative publicity forced corrections officials to reassign him to a medium-security prison. Then, prison officials goofed a third time by ending the trusty program. Trusties certainly aren’t model citizens - 10 of the 12 assigned to Kootenai County had been convicted of sex offenses - but they do save tax dollars by providing valuable county jailhouse work. The Corrections Department should resurrect this program. But murderers such as Waddell and Aeschliman need not apply.

Et tu, governor?

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt gave tax rebels in the Northern colonies one more reason to vote for the One Percent Initiative. Batt’s buddies on the Senate’s State Affairs Committee killed a bill that would have given Kootenai County a $2.5 million tax break, saving the governor from a promised veto. The bill called for removing about half of the expenses for North Idaho College and College of Southern Idaho from property-tax funding. Kootenai County is one of only three counties statewide that is forced to support two-year college programs with property taxes. The One Percent Initiative would remove public schools and the two community colleges from the property tax. Basically, Kootenai County got screwed. The Blinded by Boise Crowd is making the One Percent Initiative look better and better.

, DataTimesMEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125.

D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125.