Why one House Dem leader donated $100 to a Republican…

Idaho Reports producer Seth Ogilvie spotted an odd item in one of the first state campaign finance reports to be filed in advanced of next week’s Tuesday deadline: A $100 contribution to Rep. Kelley Packer, R-McCammon, who’s running for lieutenant governor, from Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise – the House assistant minority leader. “We don’t always agree, but I respect her,” Rubel told Ogilvie. “There are only a few people on that side of the aisle that I wouldn’t mind in office, and she is one of them.”

Rubel’s bipartisan work has stood out in the House, Ogilvie writes; she worked on bipartisan legislation this year including working with Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, on mandatory minimum sentence legislation and Rep. Steve Harris, R-Meridian, on civil asset forfeiture reform. Rubel said of Packer, “She has displayed courage and civility in a place that doesn’t always have either.”

Rubel said she hasn’t donated to any other Republicans, and will support the Democratic candidate in the general election; Packer’s $25,000-plus in fundraising for the cycle came otherwise from her fellow Republicans. You can read Ogilvie’s full report here .

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2018/mar/22/otter-signs-unanimously-passed-civil-forfeiture-reform-bill-law-after-vetoing-last-year/