Idaho made $290,426 last month, just from oil and gas companies bidding for the right to lease state land for oil and gas exploration. Several bidders snapped up exploration rights on 87 parcels of state land in four southern Idaho counties – even though no…
At today’s state Land Board meeting, the Democratic and Republican candidates for state controller were both there – right in the front row, each holding a stack of documents and following along closely. They also happened, by luck, to be sitting right next to each…
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the featured speaker at this week’s Idaho Republican Party convention in Idaho Falls, has been raising lots of money for his leadership political action committees as he prepares for a possible run for president. According to Sunday editions of the Deseret…
Asked today at the Boise City Club if their two tribes get along, officials of the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce Indian tribes said yes. The two North Idaho tribes have much in common, they said, including new, young leadership. Coeur d’Alene Tribal Chairman Chief…
Gov. Jim Risch held a press conference today to announce more appointments, and the news included a new chairman for the Idaho Transportation Board: Former state Rep. Frank Bruneel, who will immediately replace Chuck Winder in that position. Both Risch and Bruneel said they’re dedicated…
After only 10 months as the northwest regional administrator for the EPA, Michael Bogert is stepping down to take a job as counselor to new Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne – his former boss when Kempthorne was governor of Idaho and Bogert was the…
Former Idaho Congressman Larry LaRocco, who is running for lieutenant governor, has countered his November opponent’s property tax relief proposal with his own four-point plan. LaRocco wants to increase the homeowner’s exemption from property tax to at least $100,000; reduce the sales tax on groceries…
Legislators who attended new Gov. Jim Risch’s inaugural ceremony today were buzzing afterward about Risch’s property tax relief talk, and the possibility of a special session this summer on the topic. House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, a rancher from Burley, noted that he’s been castrating calves…
Cathy Holland-Smith, a numbers whiz and a respected member of the non-partisan legislative budget staff, has been named the new head of the legislative budget office. Jeff Youtz, the longtime budget director, is moving up to become the new director of legislative services, overseeing budget…
Nevada newspapers and the Associated Press are reporting that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that he brokered a deal in which the White House promised to back away from trying to tap into millions of dollars from sales of public land in southern…
New Gov. Jim Risch had this to say in a statement: “The Secretary of State received Governor Kempthorne’s resignation letter by fax at 12:57 p.m. Friday and in accordance with the Constitution and statutes I became the governor. I am truly humbled by this opportunity.…
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has submitted the following letter of resignation to Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa:Dear Secretary Ysursa:I am humbled by the great honor to have been nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 49th…
Here’s U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo’s comment on this morning’s Senate confirmation of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as Secretary of the Interior:“Today’s confirmation of Dirk Kempthorne marks the beginning of a great tenure at the Interior Department. While there has been some partisanship regarding his confirmation,…
Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, who will officially become Idaho’s governor as soon as Gov. Kempthorne’s resignation letter arrives at the Secretary of State’s office, is over in eastern Idaho this morning, where among other stops, he’ll be cooking with a search and rescue team at…
A new survey from the state Department of Commerce and Labor shows Idaho employers sharply cut back on offering basic fringe benefits like medical coverage and paid vacation to their full-time employees from 2002 to 2005.The new 2005 Idaho Fringe Benefits Survey found that three-quarters…
It’s a beautiful, sunny spring day in Boise, and with no Republican event scheduled to celebrate last night’s election results, the other parties are busy making hay of them. Idaho Democrats gathered on the Statehouse steps to celebrate their primary election results, and Democratic nominee…
Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez pulled into second place in the final results for the 1st Congressional District GOP primary race, but state Rep. Bill Sali is still the winner, according to the Secretary of State’s office’s final unofficial results. Here are the numbers: Bill…
Here’s what some of the unsuccessful candidates for the 1st District congressional seat had to say last night as the results came in:Robert Vasquez, Canyon County commissioner: “Certainly regardless of the numbers, I was able to get my message out.” Residents of the 1st District,…
Results still aren’t final for the hotly contested 1st District congressional race, but the AP is reporting that with 97 percent of the vote counted, state Rep. Bill Sali of Kuna still holds a comfortable lead with 26 percent of the vote in the six-way…
Things were upbeat at the Idaho Democratic Party’s gathering in downtown Boise tonight, where a casually dressed crowd was glorying in strong primary wins by standard-bearers Jerry Brady for governor and Larry Grant for Congress. “We’re going to have a very vigorous, strong, issue-specific and…
When Idaho candidates gather at their respective election-night bashes tomorrow night to watch the primary election results come in, accept their parties’ nominations or concede to those who’ve defeated them, one of the biggest names from the top of Idaho’s GOP ticket will be missing.…
In last night’s 1st District congressional debate, the GOP candidates variously referred to each others’ campaign claims about themselves and about their opponents as false, misleading, “masquerading” (Sali on Vasquez) and a “flat-out lie” (Vasquez on Sali). So, isn’t it illegal somehow for candidates to…
Tonight at 7 p.m., the six candidates vying for the GOP nomination for Idaho’s open 1st District congressional seat will face off in a 90-minute debate to be broadcast statewide on Idaho Public Television. The match-up is the final installment of the primary election “Idaho…
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has amassed an array of awards, plaques, and mementos over the years that long has been on display in the ornate governor’s office, where he’s presided over Idaho state government for nearly eight years. Now, with a final vote nearing in the…
Talk about big bucks – and this is a primary election. But it’s also a hotly contested race for an open congressional seat. So here are the latest numbers from the FEC on campaign finances in the 1st District race: Bill Sali: $401,699 Sheila Sorensen:…