Former Idaho Governors Tell It Like It Was Smylie, Andrus Soon Will Publish Books About Their Time In Office And How They Got Things Done

In the early 1950s, then-Gov. Len B. Jordan closed the state teacher colleges at Lewiston and Albion in an cost-saving move.

A few years later, Lewis-Clark State College reopened. Albion Normal never did and today its buildings stand in abandoned ruin.

The political wheeling and dealing that went into that decision should be among the political stories in a new autobiography by the man who served continuously as Idaho’s governor longer than anyone else - Robert E. Smylie.

He’s been working on his memoirs for more than a year and the University of Idaho Press is set to publish the book in May.

“It goes way back to the college years at College of Idaho,” now Albertson College of Idaho, Smylie said. He served three terms as governor from 1955 through 1966 until he was succeeded by Republican Don Samuelson.

Although Smylie isn’t ready to provide details of the book, he says it will cover a lot of the things he considered important in his time as attorney general and governor.

Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, who celebrated his 80th birthday last Tuesday, remembers the political dealing that resulting in Lewis-Clark reopening its doors.

In 1944, lawmakers increased the governor’s term from two years to four with the stipulation that a governor could serve only one term. It was an early try at term limits.

But Smylie, elected in 1954, wanted to serve more than four years. So in the 1955 Legislature, he worked with legislative leaders like Tom Boise to get the votes he needed to put before voters a constitutional amendment repealing the limitation.

Boise, a Democratic Party leader, just happened to be from Lewiston.

John Corlett, retired Idaho Statesman political writer, recalled that Smylie didn’t really support Jordan’s move to close the colleges.

“I remember the deals. He was working them (legislators), no question about that,” Corlett said.

Smylie got the votes he needed - 32 of the 44 senators - and the voters repealed the limitation in the next general election. Smylie won again in 1958 and 1962.

Of the deals that Cenarrusa recalls about Lewis-Clark and Albion Normal, Smylie, now 83, said, “I’ve got a little different perspective about what went on.”

It won’t be the only book by a former governor to hit bookstores next year. In June, Cecil Andrus, who served longer than anyone else as Idaho chief executive, expects to get his own book into print. Andrus’ 14 years were split up by a stint as Interior secretary for Jimmy Carter.

He’s working on his memoirs with Joel Connelly, long-time Seattle PostIntelligencer political writer.

Andrus met Connelly when he was Interior secretary working on the historic Alaska Lands bill.

“He has cleaned up a lot of my writing,” Andrus said. “He cleaned up my use of various descriptive phrases.”

Andrus says the book, expected to be titled, “Cecil Andrus, the Confessions of a Western Politician,” won’t be a biography.

“It’s more reflections of the major issues I’ve been involved with. I’ve always prided myself as a problem solver. We will talk about some of those issues that we solved and some that we didn’t.”

Andrus also plans to talk about “the back-room things that you do” to get things done.

“It will be a candid revelation of how it’s done. There probably will be those who will wish that I had not been so candid.”