Creative Budgeting Pays Governor’S Aides

The big mystery around the state Capitol this week has been the question of how new Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is funding all his new high-level policy advisers, when his budget shows just one additional position in his office.

The answer? They’re squirreled away in the budgets of various state departments that had vacant positions.

Kempthorne budget director Jeff Malmen is quick to point out that the departments generally match up with the policy areas the new folks will cover. That’s a good thing, too, because some departments’ funding sources have legal strings attached as far as how the money can be spent.

So new policy chief H.D. Palmer’s $72,000 salary is funded half from the Department of Administration, and half from the Department of Insurance. Water adviser Stan Clark’s $42,000 salary will be split between the Water Resources and Insurance departments.

Here’s how the others line up:

Health, human services and labor adviser Tana Shillingstad’s $50,000 salary is in the Health and Welfare Department’s budget.

Agriculture, lands and rural issues adviser Darrel McRoberts’ $55,000 salary is split between the departments of Agriculture and Labor, 60-40.

Natural resources adviser Jim Yost’s $62,000 salary comes half from the Division of Environmental Quality budget, and half from the Northwest Power Planning Council.

Kathy Ruffalo, the adviser on commerce, transportation and public safety issues, has her $60,000 salary split between the Juvenile Corrections department and the Transportation Department.

Education adviser Tom Morley’s $85,000 salary is to be paid by federal training funds from the Department of Labor.

“They relate to the areas that they are going to be working in, and they had vacancies and funding to go with them,” Malmen said.

Kempthorne’s plan is to move the whole policy group under his Division of Financial Management, which Malmen heads. The reason? “The governor is just adamant that policy drive the budget, and not budget drive policy,” Malmen said. “So we’re going to take that very seriously.”

The move also means that Malmen, who was former Gov. Phil Batt’s chief of staff, will oversee policy as well as the budget, which makes his position key.

Smiling, he said, “It was definitely my first choice.”

Not gonna smoke

Former heavy smoker Al Lance, Idaho’s attorney general, was briefing the Legislature’s budget committee about the tobacco settlement when he let slip this news:

Ever since the settlement prompted cigarette companies to bump up prices by 45 cents a pack, he hasn’t smoked.

“I think I’m on about 35 days now,” he said. “That was the motivating factor, but I’ve been trying to kick this filthy, disgusting habit for a long time.”

The change should make it easier for Lance to rail against the tobacco companies for their misdeeds. The nationwide settlement forces four tobacco giants to give Idaho more than $700 million over the next 25 years, plus curb advertising and lobbying.

When legislators complimented Lance on his personal victory over tobacco, he responded, “It’s taken me 35 years to see the light.”

Can’t blame the media now

Former state Superintendent of Schools Anne Fox was cryptic about her future plans a couple of weeks ago, saying only that she intended to do some “media projects” and she wanted to “take to the airwaves.”

Now Fox has applied for credentials as a Capitol correspondent, a reporter covering the Legislature.

The former Post Falls school superintendent will be the volunteer backup host of a Boise radio talk show.