Idaho removes Raul Labrador campaign donation link

BOISE – The state of Idaho on Wednesday removed a link to a campaign donation page for GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, saying it was on the state website mistakenly, in place of a link to Labrador’s official congressional website.

Daily Kos, a liberal political website, noted the link in an article Wednesday morning, suggesting the state was improperly using its website to drum up donations for Labrador. Less than an hour after Gov. Butch Otter’s office was alerted to the issue by a Spokesman-Review reporter, the link had been changed.

According to the Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine,” the mistaken link had been live for more than two years.

“We made a mistake,” said Bill Farnsworth, manager of the Access Idaho contract for the state Department of Administration. “We have thousands and thousands of links, obviously, on the state home page.”

The congressional delegation doesn’t send the links to the state for posting, he said; contractors search out the links. “Obviously, it’s not the right one,” he said. “Obviously, it shouldn’t be there. I’ve been going through the rest of the links out there, making sure they’re all the right links.”

Jon Hanian, spokesman for Otter, contacted the department immediately after he was asked about the Labrador link. “I would imagine it’s probably just a mistake,” he said, but clicking on the link on his computer, Hanian said, “That’s definitely a campaign site.”

The page that popped up when people clicked on the link has a prominent red button saying, “DONATE TODAY.”

Minutes later, Hanian reported, “It was a mistake. It’s being fixed.”

It was part of a list of links to sites offering news releases from Idaho public officials, including the entire four-member congressional delegation. The three others all went to the lawmakers’ official news release sites; that’s where the Labrador link leads now.

Labrador’s office had no comment on Wednesday.