Renovated Capitol has rules
Panel wants to limit Buy Idaho exhibit to one floor
BOISE – Capitol renovations aren’t yet complete, but a dust-up has already erupted over a rule limiting public exhibitions to a single floor – and the spat boils down to who’s in charge.
The nine-member Idaho Capitol Commission, which oversees the Capitol, voted in August to restrict events to the fourth floor once it reopens Jan. 9 after two years and $122 million in taxpayer expense.
The panel hopes to avoid the crowding of past shows in which exhibitors filled the rotunda with 100 or more booths, duct-taped cords to the marble floors and created a fire risk.
The new guidelines also forbid attaching posters, stickers and banners to the walls, pillars, floors, staircases, statues, portraits or anything else. Noisy events are prohibited, too.
The rules don’t sit well with Buy Idaho, a nonprofit group with 1,100 members that normally spreads out on all four rotunda floors for its annual display of Gem State goods and services.
Director Dale Peterson said being limited to one floor will hamper spreading the word about Idaho products to lawmakers, which he finds especially galling amid the deepest recession in decades.
“We find it difficult to understand why we’re not being welcomed with open arms into the people’s house,” Peterson said. “There’s been no damage in 17 years. Why would there be this time?”
Buy Idaho’s event is set for Feb. 17 and the group rejected a counteroffer to use the fourth floor for an entire week, saying it needs more room.
Mike Gwartney, director of the Department of Administration, which maintains the Capitol, initially supported the rule as a Capitol Commission member. But he’s also a close friend of Gov. Butch Otter, who founded Buy Idaho 20 years ago.
Last Thursday, Gwartney told Peterson the event could proceed.
But Jeff Youtz, Legislative Services director and also a Capitol Commission member who favors the limits, said that while Gwartney’s agency oversees the building’s upkeep, it’s up to the Capitol Commission to review and approve permanent or temporary exhibits.
Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes and House Speaker Lawerence Denney hope to settle the dispute at the Nov. 18 Capitol Commission meeting.