Gingrich To Visit Boise For Chenoweth Rally Photo With The House Speaker Will Cost $1,000, Rally $100

Anyone who wants to have their picture taken with House Speaker Newt Gingrich when he visits Boise next month will have to pay $1,000 for the privilege.

Gingrich will be in Boise on Jan. 10 to appear at a rally benefiting 1st District Republican Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

The $1,000 price tag for a picture and private briefing - for the first 50 individuals or couples - is not the highest amount ever charged for a campaign event. The charge also was $1,000 to get close to President Reagan and Vice President George Bush when they visited Idaho in the 1980s.

Chenoweth campaign coordinator Nancy Bloomer said $1,000 is the going rate for powerful figures.

“Speaker Gingrich is the second in line to the president,” Bloomer said. “And you’d have a tough time arguing with anybody that Al Gore has more power than Gingrich.”

Those unable or unwilling to pay the VIP freight are invited to attend a rally featuring the speaker for $100.

The Georgia Republican is visiting Idaho on a Western states campaign tour. He is expected to spend little more than an hour in Boise. But the rally at the Boise Centre on The Grove is scheduled to last 90 minutes and also will also feature speeches from Chenoweth and other Idaho elected officials.

National polls indicate Gingrich is out of favor with many Americans, and Boise Democrat Dan Williams, who is challenging Chenoweth in 1996, said the visit may backfire.

“She has her own ethics and campaign-finance cloud over her head,” he said. “And with all the problems Gingrich is having, I’d think this might reinforce the image for both of them.”

Jim Weatherby, a public affairs professor at Boise State University, said candidates in some states might not be as eager for Gingrich to appear in their behalf.

“But given the conservative climate in Idaho I don’t think that would be a negative,” he said.