Johnson: Judge Lodge’s Big Break

Marc Johnson/The Johnson Post tells an interesting story re: how respected, long-serving Judge Edward Lodge caught a political break that led him to the federal bench in Idaho:

In 1965, Lodge was laboring in relative obscurity as a probate judge in Canyon County, Idaho – Idaho did away with probate judges during judicial reorganization years ago – when a vacancy came open in the state District Court bench in Canyon County. It dawned on a couple of young, northern Idaho legislators – Ed Williams from Lewiston and Cecil Andrus from Orofino, both Democrats, that they might be able to use the Canyon County vacancy to engage in a bit of political mischief at the expense of Republican Gov. Robert E. Smylie and also help create a new judge at the same time. Complete story here.

Question: Are you much of a student of Idaho history?