Legislator Cranks Up The Hot Air

If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, someone had better start dumping WD-40 on Sen. Stan Hawkins.

Otherwise, southern Idaho politics - those of the 2nd Congressional District - are likely to dominate a legislative session in which crucial issues hang in the balance for North Idaho.

For example: Which matters more? Finding a solution to Idaho’s nightmarish school building problem, or debating - again - who’s more opposed to abortion than the next guy? Fixing Highway 95, or figuring out just which legislator most strongly opposes flag-burning?

Credit Hawkins for bringing those issues to the fore - the issues of abortion and flag-burning, not the other ones.

Hawkins, R-Ucon, also has sued the state to try to block the biggest state contract ever, the $100 million contract to build and run Idaho’s first private prison. In response to Hawkins’ suit, a judge slapped a restraining order on the state Corrections Department, and now state attorneys will have to make their case for the contract in court.

History of rebellion

The short-statured, highly vocal Hawkins has a long history of bucking his party’s leadership. Often, he casts the only “no” vote in the state Senate.

In the 1992 election, he and another vertically challenged and conservative senator, Rex Furness, joined an effort to oppose moderates from their own party in the primary. Hawkins said he wanted to “resist the liberal onslaught.”

They failed, and were promptly punished by Senate leadership, losing their seniority and committee chairmanships. The mutinous conservatives were dubbed the “evil smurfs.” But the privileges eventually were restored.

Hawkins says senators shouldn’t be precluded from backing whichever candidates they want. “In my last primary, (Senate President Pro-tem) Jerry Twiggs supported my opponent, and so did other sitting senators. I don’t have a problem with that. I think that’s a right of anyone who lives in this country.”

He adds, “I’ve always put people before the party.”

Congressman Hawkins?

Hawkins, who is exploring a run for Congress, has at least two potential primary opponents right under the state Capitol dome - House Speaker Mike Simpson, and Rep. Mark Stubbs, R-Twin Falls.

If he succeeds in roping them, and the rest of the Legislature, into a game of proving they’re more conservative than each other, the winner could take the 2nd District Republican primary.

But that probably won’t build schools or fix Highway 95.

State to Hawkins: Dig deep

A motion filed in 4th District Court late this week by the state seeks not only to quash Hawkins’ lawsuit over the prison contract, but also asks that he pay the state’s attorney fees.

That might not sound so major, until you see that the state has brought in Merlyn Clark, an attorney with the prestigious Boise firm of Hawley, Troxell, Ennis & Hawley, to handle the case.

Clark, a contract expert, has been representing the Correction Department for about a month as it negotiates the prison contract.

Hawkins, who says he filed the suit on principle, is paying his own attorney fees. His lawyer? John Keenan, son-in-law of U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

, DataTimes MEMO: North-South Notes runs every other Saturday. To reach Betsy Z. Russell, call 336-2854, fax to 336-0021 or e-mail to bzrussell@rmci.net.