Highway fight not over yet

BOISE – Mistrust over the largest construction project in state history tore apart the 2007 Idaho Legislature, forcing lawmakers to delay adjournment for a third straight year.

Though a compromise solution was eventually hammered out Friday, the divide between backers and foes of the “Connecting Idaho” road-building plan remains and may disrupt the 2008 Legislature, as well.

Former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne envisioned “Connecting Idaho” as a way to improve highway safety, speed commerce and boost the construction industry by selling bonds to finance 13 highway projects stretching across Idaho. The idea was that the state would go into debt, but projects would proceed quickly and comparatively cheaply, avoiding inflation.

Instead, it’s bred suspicion and intrigue, perhaps contributed to the former transportation director’s departure, sparked a furor over an illegally awarded private contract and – once again – brought the Idaho Capitol to a standstill.

“It’s about trust,” said Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley and a member of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, which had two plans rejected by the Senate before the final agreement. “And it’s about what went on in the past.”

As in past years, the disagreement centered on money.

The House wanted lawmakers to determine which projects get money, because some of its members don’t trust the Idaho Transportation Department. The Senate insisted funding for the six projects be left up to the Idaho Transportation Board, arguing that to do otherwise put Connecting Idaho at the mercy of politics.

The compromise $250 million plan reached Friday with help from Gov. Butch Otter did a little of both: It prohibited the Transportation Board from expanding projects. But instead of specifying specific dollar amounts for the projects, it instead gave a broad range, allowing the board leeway to decide where the money will go.

Despite this late harmony – a necessity for lawmakers, if they wanted to go home – Kempthorne’s grand highway project has been mired in controversy and allegations of dishonesty from its inception. It was set at $1.6 billion originally, but is now down to less than $1 billion.

The dispersion of projects in every region was calculated to win support of lawmakers eager to bring home projects. There was to be a new bridge over the Snake River at Twin Falls, as well as an 80-mile extension of Highway 16 from Emmett to Mesa through the isolated Indian Valley northwest of Boise.

“It was a Christmas-tree approach,” said Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover. “It was political from the very beginning.”

Kempthorne vetoed eight bills in 2005 to pressure the House Transportation Committee into passing the plan.

It did, but just a few months later, Connecting Idaho was back in the news.

In late 2005, a lawsuit by a company bidding on what became a $50 million management contract forced the state to rebid the contract, further inciting accusations that Connecting Idaho was unsound.

“Connecting Idaho is now the window through which the Legislature is looking at its Transportation Department,” said Michael Gifford, director of the Associated General Contractors of Idaho, who supports the project. “The Legislature took a look under the hood, and some of them didn’t like what they see.”

Connecting Idaho still has the promise of building roads more cheaply and quickly, said Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, whose constituents include residents who sit in regular traffic jams on Interstate 84 and are demanding something be done.

“It’s the same as buying a house: My wife and I can’t afford a $100,000 down payment, so we take out a mortgage,” McGee said. “That’s the only way you can make a large purchase like this.”

Opponents, meanwhile, say they were led astray by former Transportation Department Director Dave Ekern, Kempthorne’s chief salesman for the plan. They insist Ekern told them bond payments for the project wouldn’t eat into the agency’s funding for its other projects.

This year, however, the department’s regular budget fell to $496 million from $502 million – because debt service for the first $200 million installment of Connecting Idaho bonds required some of the money.

“We were lied to,” said JoAn Wood, R-Rigby and chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee. She voted against the plan Friday.

In May 2006, a study of the Transportation Department found problems with communication and morale under Ekern’s leadership. Employees had an “unusual amount of fear” over the department’s changing role – especially since the agency took on Connecting Idaho.

A month after the Associated Press made the report public, Ekern quit and took a similar job in Virginia.

Since then, Pamela Lowe was named to replace him, and Otter named Darrell Manning as chairman of the Idaho Transportation Board. Some lawmakers say the pair’s presentations to budget writers this year were transparent and frank.

“They’re attempting to gain the confidence of the Legislature and do the right thing,” said Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian and a member of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

But even if the Legislature works out a solution to the impasse, there’s no guarantee similar unrest won’t occur again next year when Connecting Idaho funding comes up again.

“I suspect next year, and the year after that, we’re going to be discussing these same issues,” said Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian.