Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune takes former House Speaker Lawerence Denney and state Sen. Chuck Winder to task for wasting taxpayers money by hiring an outside attorney to pursue an unconstitutional issue. Denney and Lawerence put Idaho taxpayers on the hook for $41,736 -- and counting -- because they refused to accept the advise from Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's office that the state can't take over federal lands: "We hired legal counsel from outside of state government primarily because we didn't feel as the Legislature that we were getting the help that we needed from the attorney general's office, once they determined the legal prospects of the case against the federal government on this didn't have much merit," Winder told Montana lawmakers last month. Full editorial here.

Question: Izzit just me -- or is it OK for conservative hardliners to waste money on a quixotic clause as long as the cause is popular with their base?