Brent Reinke’s Rapid Rise Stirs Well-Wishers, Critics Governor Put Him In Charge Of Juvenile Corrections Agency

Shoveling ice cream into waffle cones for Twin Falls County fairgoers one night last summer, Brent Reinke noticed a teenage worker leaving a couple waiting at the counter just a little too long.

Without calling attention to himself, the Twin Falls county commissioner sidled up to the teen and told him to speed things up. Before dashing back to his task, he gave the boy a quick public relations tip: Don’t forget to smile.

Hard work and smiles have brought Reinke far in public service, farther than some expected.

Gov. Phil Batt appointed the 43-year-old commissioner to lead a troubled and rapidly growing Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections. His quick rise has won him well-wishers; critics point to his inexperience.

A high school graduate without a college degree, Reinke’s government experience is limited to the Filer City Council and chairman of the Twin Falls County Commission.

Other candidates for the juvenile corrections job had master’s degrees and state experience, but Reinke impressed Batt and his selection committee as “someone with some vision and an innovator,” said committee member and juvenile judge Keith Walker of Fremont County.

The political appointment of someone inexperienced is unusual, but not unheard of. In several states, fresh faces are placed in power to meet the public’s demand to get tough on juvenile crimes.

Idaho’s 19-month-old juvenile agency already has spit out its first leader, former legislator Michael Johnson. He resigned after a state investigation revealed a conflict of interest within the agency’s ranks and Johnson guilty of favoritism.

Reinke is under pressure to rebuild the agency and control its budget. The Legislature this year added $4.5 million to the budget, bringing it to $26.1 million. The department employs 290 people. Reinke makes $65,000 a year.

For Reinke, the appointment places him within two city blocks of the Statehouse. His longtime dream has been to serve in the Legislature, like his grandfather did in the 1950s. Reinke said he sees running for state office as “a natural progression” from county government.

He was looking for opportunities before term limits would cut him out of his county elected position, three years down the road. When the juvenile corrections job opened up, he seized his chance.

Compared with other candidates, Reinke’s efforts to get the state job were “very aggressive,” according to Batt’s chief of staff, Jeff Malmen.

Members of the selection committee said the key to their decision was Reinke’s unique position, knowing the counties must shoulder the burden and costs of rehabilitating juvenile offenders.

“It was important for us to have someone from county government and I think that was one of the biggest problems that we had in the past with the department is that there wasn’t a real good grasp of county government,” said Dan Chadwick, a member of the selection committee.

Committee members said they also were impressed by Twin Falls’ juvenile program, widely recognized in the state as a success.

Reinke’s role in the evolution of juvenile justice draws mixed answers. Some credit him with being “a lightning rod” for progress, while others, including Reinke himself, say he was “just one of the team players” in establishing juvenile programs. But he also says he organized meetings and discussions.

“Somebody’s got to pull it together, and I’ve done that,” Reinke said. He said he helped establish Twin Falls County’s staff-secure juvenile center, and recognized where the state was headed with juvenile justice before most other observers.

“I can tell you this district has always been out in front of juvenile justice issues because of Brent,” said Joyce McRoberts, former state senator and regional director of the Department of Health and Welfare.

Once courthouse employees nicknamed Reinke “student body president” for his peppy domination of the county limelight; asked about the nickname, Reinke said he had never heard it, and seemed embarrassed by it.

But his rallying for county and state causes has got him noticed at the Statehouse.