Idaho reps of opposite parties claim cooperation
BOISE – Two Idaho congressmen appeared together last week in an unusual double-bill at the City Club of Boise, dubbed “Red Elephant, Blue Dog, A Conversation.”
The two were Republican 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson and Democratic 1st District Rep. Walt Minnick. Sitting collegially side by side, the two answered questions from a crowd of more than 400 and said they do work together despite coming from different parties.
“You come from Idaho, you only have two representatives from Idaho, so you’d better work together,” said Simpson. “Walt and I have been able to do that.”
Said Minnick, “I could not have a finer colleague.” He noted that Simpson was kind enough to show him around – even showing him how to vote, so he could vote for a bill Simpson was sponsoring.
Asked about health care reform, Minnick said if the current House bill passes without Republican input, “I can tell you unequivocally it’s dead on arrival in the Senate.” He said any bill he’d support must include meaningful cost controls to drive down fast-rising health care costs, and “I am not going to vote for a health care bill unless it is fully paid for. We’ve got to stop digging the deficit hole deeper.”
Simpson said, “I’d agree with what Walt said.” He also called for tort reform, malpractice reform, and allowing individuals and associations to purchase insurance plans across state lines.
“Surprisingly, debate that’s been going on, the town hall meetings, while sometimes a little rambunctious, have been good,” Simpson said, to which Minnick commented, “Easy for you to say.” Amid laughter, Simpson said, “But they’ve been good because they’ve engaged the American people in a debate. … We have the best unsustainable health care system in the world, and we do need to make changes. I think everybody agrees with that.” They just disagree on which changes, he said.
Most state tort claims are denied
Here’s what happens with most tort claims against the state, though the one recently filed by fired Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe is hardly run-of-the-mill: Idaho’s risk management office, in response to a public records request, reported that the state received 1,867 such claims in the last three years. Of those, 1,025 were denied, 530 were paid, and 21 resulted in judgments in favor of the state, while 286 are still open or in court.
More than half of Idaho’s claims are submitted by prison inmates, often about minor issues. In a recent claim, for example, an inmate complained his constitutional rights had been violated because he wasn’t given Scotch tape he’d requested. Tort claims give the state 90 days to respond, either by paying up and settling the claim or denying it and freeing the filer to head to court. Claims not responded to within 90 days are automatically considered denied.
Pam Lowe’s lawyers
The law firm representing fired ITD Director Pam Lowe in her wrongful termination claim against the state, Strindberg & Scholnick LLC, specializes in employment law and is the firm that last year won a $4.2 million settlement on behalf of more than 300 employees of a major Utah defense contractor, EG&G, over unpaid overtime.
Also in 2008, the firm won a racial harassment case against Union Pacific Railroad on behalf of an African-American employee who was subjected to racial slurs, a white manager who called him “boy,” repeated racist graffiti and, the final straw, a hangman’s noose suspended from a clock in the workplace. The company argued that various employees, not the company, were responsible for the harassment; the company lost.
The Utah-based law firm has had its Boise office for just over a year; its Web site is sprinkled with quotations from Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa. “We do all employment-related cases,” said attorney Erika Birch, “and mostly for plaintiffs, which most times are employees who have been terminated or discriminated against or harassed.”
National press heads for wilds of Idaho
Along with those who headed out wolf hunting for the first time on Tuesday morning were members of the national media. “Today was the busiest day with the media I think we’ve ever had,” Ed Mitchell of Idaho Fish and Game said Monday, on the eve of the opening of wolf hunting in two of Idaho’s 12 hunting zones, the Lolo and the Sawtooth. “The ABC guys are going to be here tonight, New York Times. National Geographic is here – they’re going to go out with one of our game wardens who happens to be handy at howling wolves up.” Asked if that works, Mitchell said, “The guys who can do it, absolutely. It’s just amazing.”