Bush Educators Committee Not ‘Strictly Correct’

What if some of the members of the “Idaho Educators for Bush Steering Committee” weren’t educators - and didn’t know they were on Bush’s committee?

The George W. Bush presidential campaign in Idaho announced in October that it had formed the panel, “a grassroots coalition designed to gather support from educators throughout Idaho for Gov.

George W. Bush’s education reform agenda.”

“Educators for Bush is a national grassroots coalition, with steering committees forming in all 50 states,” the campaign said in a news release.

The only problem: A glance at the list of names in Idaho shows a number who aren’t educators. State Sen. Ric Branch, R-Midvale, for instance, a cattle rancher. Mike Boeck of Sandpoint, who works in the timber industry. Building contractor and former legislator Dean Haagenson of Coeur d’Alene.

Contacted about the new Bush group, Haagenson was puzzled - he’d never heard of it.

But he is on a state Republican Party education task force and steering committee. “It brings Republicans from all around the state to sit around a table and talk about education issues,” Haagenson said, with the idea of helping the state party develop proactive education proposals.

The group has had one meeting so far and plans more. The Bush “Idaho Educators” list appears to refer to the same group.

Contacted in Austin, Texas, the Bush campaign had no immediate explanation.

“It doesn’t really bother me, because I’m certainly for Bush,” Haagenson said of the campaign’s announcement. But he added, “It’s not strictly correct, as far as I’m concerned.”

Just leave ‘em a loan

Remember the brouhaha when U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage took out a $40,000 bank loan for her congressional campaign, with no collateral other than her signature? Some suggested she was using her position in Congress to get favorable loan terms, and she ended up taking out a second mortgage instead.

Now it turns out that Republican Butch Otter took out a $200,000 loan from Idaho Independent Bank on May 1 for his congressional campaign, with no collateral other than his signature.

The loan, detailed in his most recent campaign finance disclosure forms, is due Dec. 15 and carries a 9.25 percent interest rate. No payments had been made on it as of Otter’s latest report.

Of course, unlike Chenoweth, Otter is a millionaire who owns lots of property, so loans may come easy.

And he couldn’t be using a position in Congress. He’s still just the state’s lieutenant governor, the occupation that’s noted on his loan document.

It’s their parties

Who’s the biggest supporter of legislative campaigns in North Idaho this fall? It’s the two main political parties. Disclosure reports on contributions to candidates in contested legislative races in Districts 1-7 from June through September show state and local Republican Party committees at No. 1, with $20,900. State and local Democratic Party committees were second, at $14,050. The next biggest campaign contributor was the timber industry, at $8,963. Then came the Idaho Education Association, the state’s teachers union, at $7,000, and Hagadone Hospitality, through the company and its Committee on Hospitality and Sports, at $5,900. All three of those groups gave to candidates from both parties. That’s not the case for the parties, of course, which gave only to their own.

Well, he’s close

Although he’s on the ballot for a chance to represent it, Reform Party candidate Kevin Hambsch actually doesn’t live in the 1st Congressional District. Hambsch’s Boise home is just a few blocks over the dividing line that cuts through Boise’s North End neighborhood, according to the Ada County elections office - putting him clearly in the 2nd District. That doesn’t disqualify him from running. Idaho years ago did have a law on the books requiring candidates to live in their congressional districts, but it was changed because it didn’t match up with the language of the U.S. Constitution - the only document that can set qualifications for serving in Congress. Under Article 1, Section 2, the Constitution says, “No person shall be a representative who shall not have obtained the age of 25 years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not when elected be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.” So does that mean there’s nothing to stop someone from, say, far-off Idaho Falls running to represent North Idaho in Congress? “Other than politics,” said Penny Ysursa, elections chief in the Idaho Secretary of State’s office. “That’s just usually not the politically correct thing to do.”