Roberts: ‘Glad to see the speaker take action’

House Majority Caucus Chair Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, had this response to today’s announcement from House Speaker Lawerence Denney that Rep. Phil Hart will be removed from the House tax committee and a new ethics committee will be appointed:  “I think it was important to have some action taken, especially on the previous ethics panel recommendations. I was glad to see the speaker take action on that. He’s pretty much required by the rules of the House to get another ethics panel together. … That’s the place for it to play out.”

Roberts said Hart’s case was a topic of discussion during the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce’s legislative tour, which drew dozens of lawmakers to a series of events and presentations in the Panhandle Sunday through today and included a banquet and speech from Gov. Butch Otter last night; Hart attended the banquet, but was missing from most of the tour. “There’s been some discussion about it, sure,” Roberts said. “I think people were looking for a decision by the speaker.”