Governor plans to sign Nez Perce water deal

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne started off his annual talk to the Idaho Press Club on Wednesday with a “health advisory” – he’s got the crud that’s going around, which includes a miserably bad cold and multiple relapses. Therefore, he said, he’d refrain from his usual practice of shaking hands.

The governor faced lots of questions about the Nez Perce water rights agreement, which was up for hearings in the Senate State Affairs Committee last week. “I intend to sign this into law,” he said.

Asked about rumors that he had planned to veto a bill backed by the Idaho Farm Bureau to require at least 10 percent ethanol in all gas sold in Idaho as retribution for the Farm Bureau’s active opposition to the Nez Perce deal, Kempthorne dismissed the rumors.

But he said, “If I’m displeased with someone I will let them know it, and that ethanol bill didn’t get very far.”

It died in committee in the Senate.

Kempthorne was asked by reporters about the credibility of the Farm Bureau, which long has been a powerhouse in Idaho but has faded in recent years in favor of other agriculture groups including the influential Food Producers of Idaho. The Farm Bureau has gotten into fights over issues like gay marriage, and its opposition to the water agreement prompted some of its local affiliates to dissent.

“I think it would be a time for them to evaluate their strategy and their positions,” Kempthorne said.

The governor also pitched his corporate tax incentive package and voiced support for additional tax breaks pushed by Boise-based Micron Technology. He said his staff has been working hard to build support for his $1.6 billion statewide highway construction proposal, which is up for a hearing Friday in a Senate committee.

Kempthorne disputed any suggestion that his lame-duck status – he’s not seeking re-election – has diminished his influence with the Legislature. “As long as you have ink that’s both blue and red, you can demonstrate the power of the office,” he said.

Asked if he planned to endorse a candidate in the gubernatorial race to succeed him – Lt. Gov. Jim Risch and U.S. Rep. Butch Otter are expected to face off in the GOP primary – Kempthorne responded, “Sure.”

After a pause, he added to laughter, “Probably not in the primary.”

Bicycle bill rolls through

Sen. Joyce Broadsword’s compromise bill on when bicyclists should have to stop for red lights cleared the Senate on Monday on a 29-3 vote, with the only surprise by that point being that anyone voted against it.

From a brouhaha that had cyclists swarming committee hearings and safety concerns clashing, the issue has been settled way down by the latest bill, SB 1131. It’s a compromise between law enforcement and the bicycling community, Broadsword told the Senate. Rather than the earlier bill, which ordered cyclists to wait at red lights until they turn green, the new one requires cyclists to stop, but then allows them to proceed as long as they yield to traffic. Signals, Broadsword explained, “don’t change for a bicycle, and they don’t want to wait there all night.”

In the earlier committee hearings, bicyclists also argued that it’s not safe for them to wait until signals turn green because that puts them with the traffic, rather than separate from it, and cars are likely to turn right and hit them.

The only votes against the bill came from senior GOP Sens. Dean Cameron, of Rupert; Denton Darrington, of Declo; and Bart Davis, of Idaho Falls. None of them said why they opposed the bill. It now moves to the House.

Campaign materials not so explosive

There was a bomb scare in the Senate on Monday morning, when an unidentified briefcase was spotted next to the desk of Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, who serves on the six-member Senate Ethics Committee that’s been investigating violations by a Kuna senator.

A lockdown ensued, but the briefcase turned out to contain just campaign materials.