2 Veteran Campaigners Throw Hat In Ring Again Former Attorney General Wants High Court, Ex-Rep Seeks Old Seat

Two men who have been before the voters before have filed organizing papers for new bids for public office.

Former Attorney General Wayne Kidwell, a Boise attorney, on Friday filed preliminary papers for the Idaho Supreme Court position that may be vacated by Justice Byron Johnson.

Richard Stallings of Pocatello, who four times captured Idaho’s 2nd District congressional seat, is trying to regain that seat. He filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission. He will run for the Democratic nomination and could have no opposition in the May 26 primary election.

Stallings, a former Ricks College history professor who lost to Republican Rep. George Hansen in 1982, beat Hansen two years later by less than 200 votes, then won re-election three more times.

He’s running for the seat being vacated by the man who succeeded him, Republican Rep. Michael Crapo, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

In 1992, Stallings took on Republican Dirk Kempthorne for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Steve Symms, but lost. Stallings since has been director of Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Services.

Kidwell defeated Democratic Attorney General W. Anthony Park in a hotly contested 1974 election that swung on Kidwell’s contention that “Park’s Narcs,” the state’s undercover drug unit, was out of control.

He ran for the Supreme Court once before, losing to incumbent Cathy Silak in 1994, but not before forcing the incumbent to spend more than $100,000 in the race.

The term of Johnson, 60, is up at the end of this year and he announced earlier that he would not seek another.

State Rep. Celia Gould, chairwoman of the House Judiciary and Rules Committee, said she plans to introduce a constitutional amendment to change the way judges are selected, enacting the so-called Missouri Plan, calling for periodic votes on whether the justices should be retained.

If that measure is approved for the general election ballot before the filing deadline April 3, Johnson says he will file for another term.