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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho’s two GOP congressmen not on speaking terms

The news that Idaho’s two GOP congressmen haven’t spoken to each other in six months has drawn new attention to the rift between 1st District Rep. Raul Labrador and 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson, a split that in some ways mirrors the House’s split over leadership after the departure of Speaker John Boehner.

Political watchers say it’s unprecedented. Jim Weatherby, Boise State University professor emeritus, said even congressmen who had faced off against each other in elections found ways to continue working relationships back in Washington, D.C.

Idaho Statesman reporter Bill Dentzer recently interviewed both congressmen − Idaho’s only House members − and reported that they haven’t spoken since they openly clashed last March over Labrador’s vote against reauthorizing the Secure Rural Schools program as part of a larger bill on Medicare payments.

At the time, Simpson, who backed the bill, said a congressman would “have to look long and hard to find a reason to vote no” on it. The bill included millions in funding for rural Idaho counties and school districts.

Labrador responded in an interview with Boise State Public Radio that “Mike Simpson has been part of the establishment in Washington, D.C., for 12 years” and “He loves to go out drinking and smoking with the Speaker (Boehner). He loves to have these relationships where it’s all about making false promises to his constituents and then going back there to Washington, D.C., to compromise.” He then dubbed Simpson a liar.

Simpson’s response to that at the time, through a spokesman: “This isn’t the first time Congressman Labrador has uttered this nonsense and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

Vet’s fees paid

It took less than five minutes for the state’s Constitutional Defense Council – the governor, the attorney general, the speaker of the House and the president pro-tem of the Senate – to vote unanimously to pay the state’s latest bill for attorney fees and costs for the other side in a court case the state lost. In this case, it was Madelynn Lee Taylor, a Navy veteran who sued after the state Veterans Cemetery initially refused to allow her to be interred there with the ashes of her late wife, Jean Mixner, citing the state’s then-ban on same-sex marriage.

“This is a legitimate claim against the state,” Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. “The court has found against the state. It’s a proper expense for the Constitutional Defenses Fund.”

“We went through a legal process, and our case didn’t have as much merit as theirs,” Gov. Butch Otter said after the short meeting. “So we lost the case and they were awarded costs and fees, so we have to pay ’em.”

Asked if this routine is getting familiar – Idaho has had a series of court losses in which it has had to pay the costs and fees of the opposing sides – Otter chuckled ruefully and said, “We’ve got more of those coming.”

Still in the pipeline is the case that overturned Idaho’s “ag-gag” law, which criminalized surreptitious videotaping of agricultural operations. A federal court held that the law violated the First Amendment.

Also, Idaho lost a state Supreme Court case over Otter’s belated veto of legislation to ban instant racing gambling machines. The court ordered the state to pay the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s attorney fees, but the state argues the tribe missed a filing deadline to claim the $95,000 in question.

In the Taylor case, the Constitutional Defense Council, with House Speaker Scott Bedke absent, voted to pay $70,000 in attorney fees to the Ferguson Durham law firm of Boise and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, plus interest from the date of judgment at an annual rate of 0.33 percent.

Different contract model

Shawn Swanby, CEO of Post Falls-based Ednetics, was among an array of broadband providers who addressed lawmakers on an interim committee studying how the state should proceed after the failure of the Idaho Education Network, the statewide school broadband network that was shut down after courts declared the state’s contract award for the program illegal. The contract went to Education Networks of America, based in Nashville, Tennesse, and Qwest, which is now CenturyLink.

Idaho companies should have a shot at participating, Swanby said. Including competition in the contract model would lower costs for the state, he added.

“You can structure contracts in such a way to maintain competition throughout the life of the contract, but you have to look at things in a slightly different manner,” Swanby told lawmakers. That might involve multiple contractors providing “interchangeable parts” to create the whole system. “Ultimately what you’re trying to do is create a competitive environment.”

Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked, “Why wasn’t the state doing this the first time?”

Swanby responded, “I don’t think I can speak to that. We would certainly have recommended it.”

Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from the state capitol in Boise and writes the Eye on Boise blog. She can be reached at (208) 336-2854 or by email to betsyr@spokesman.com.