If confirmed as Interior secretary, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne won’t approach the job as either sagebrush rebel James Watt of the Reagan administration or environment-friendly Bruce Babbitt of the Clinton administration. He’ll be more like Gale Norton lite, an Interior secretary with a soft spot for natural resource industries and developers.

He’ll also be a caretaker secretary in an administration that is rapidly approaching lame-duck status.

Whether Kempthorne would handle the job as the consensus builder he was in the U.S. Senate or the development supporter that environmentalists’ scorecards portray, he can’t do much damage during the 30-plus months left in the Bush administration. However, there is one key issue that’ll be resolved before Bush leaves office – the push by the administration to sell 309,421 acres of U.S. Forest Service land to underwrite the County Payments program. The inventory includes English Point trails and the Mokins Bay campground along Hayden Lake among the 26,000 acres in Idaho and another 7,500 acres in Washington.

Kempthorne hasn’t taken a position on the proposed U.S. Forest Service sale other than to tell The Spokesman-Review that he wants more public land in Idaho – in the form of new state parks. “I think in a state like Idaho, which is known for its beautiful outdoors … I just think land is precious. I think it’s something that is of great value.” Kempthorne appears to have the proper attitude toward this outrageous proposal. However, he should state his position clearly, before or during the Senate confirmation hearings. Northwesterners don’t want one of their own with a mixed environmental record selling them out on this key issue.

Kempthorne need look no further than the Idaho Legislature, the most-Republican legislature in the nation, to learn how opposed Westerners are to the plan.

Last week, the Idaho Senate — where Republicans have a 28-7 edge — voted 34-1 for a nonbinding resolution opposing the Bush proposal that states in part: “Idahoans value outdoor experiences very highly and generations of Idahoans and other Americans have enjoyed this federal land through activities such as hunting, fishing, camping and hiking.” The resolution concludes, “We are opposed to any proposals which lead to a significant sale of federal land located in the state of Idaho.” If federal officials want to get rid of parcels of land in Idaho, the resolution states further, “they should cede them to the state.”

If the message sent by the Idaho Senate wasn’t loud enough, Kempthorne should view the about-face on the issue performed by Congressman Butch Otter, R-Idaho, who is campaigning for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Otter was one of 13 co-sponsors of legislation that proposed the sale of U.S. holdings to help offset the cost of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. After being roundly criticized by likely general election challenger Jerry Brady, other Democrats and Idaho newspapers, Otter issued a press release that said bluntly: “I was wrong.”

As Kempthorne prepares to face the Senate, he should issue a statement just as blunt in opposition to the public lands sale.