Lawmakers Taken On Tour Of Panhandle North Idaho Hopes To Coax Funds

Six weeks before Christmas, North Idaho residents put together a wish list and gave it to state legislators.

At the University of Idaho, school officials want the state to match federal funding for a biotechnology research center.

Lewis-Clark State College wants money to build a gymnasium.

And residents up and down the Panhandle lobbied for improvements to U.S. Highway 95.

About 80 lawmakers completed a three-day tour of North Idaho on Tuesday, promising not to forget the needs that exist hundreds of miles north of Boise.

The North Idaho Chamber of Commerce and area businesses pay for the trip. But most residents consider it a wise investment.

“It’s clear to us that without getting the Legislature to the north, we’ve got little chance of convincing them that our projects are worthy of consideration,” said state Rep. Dan Mader, R-Lewiston.

Former House Speaker Tom Boyd of Genesee, agreed.

“It doesn’t hurt to pick them up and scare the hell out of them on a few spots on Highway 95,” he said. “The way you get their attention is by driving them down that road.”

Or showing them around campus.

At the University of Idaho, President Robert Hoover told about 200 people Tuesday that the school risks losing a $5.9 million federal contribution unless the state pays its share for the agricultural biotechnology building.

“The clock is ticking,” Hoover said. “If that money isn’t matched pretty soon, it could disappear, particularly with the climate we are in.”

The request for $4.35 million from the state is No. 1 on the priority list of the Idaho Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council’s capital budget request to Gov. Phil Batt and the Legislature.

On Monday, lawmakers ate lunch in Lewis-Clark State College’s Depression-era gymnasium.

“You’ve got to admit that they really need” a new facility, Idaho Republican Chairman Ron McMurray said. “There are grade schools with better gymnasiums.”

If Lewiston city leaders and college boosters help raise money, McMurray figures the state also will pitch in. But current House Speaker Mike Simpson, R-Blackfoot, said lawmakers will not be able to meet every request they received from the north.

“We could go to every college campus and find there are needs,” he said.

, DataTimes