Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Political coffee war swirls around Guv

Here's a news item from AP: BOISE - In a buy-local brew-ha-ha percolating in Boise, a southwestern Idaho coffee roaster is miffed at Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter over his choice of out-of-state java. David Ledgard, who owns Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters, had just paid his annual $165 dues in the "Buy Idaho" program last week when he confronted the governor — as Otter was leaving a rival Spokane, Wash.-based joe joint, Thomas Hammer, across the street. Ledgard, admittedly edgy lately as the down economy takes its toll on his and his friends' businesses, concedes the altercation escalated. Yes, he swore at the governor. At that, Otter said his staff wouldn't frequent Dawson Taylor, either, Ledgard said. Jon Hanian, Otter's spokesman, points out nobody should have to visit a place — even a local one — whose owner cusses them out. Thomas Hammer, owner of the Spokane-based roastery that bears his name, told The Associated Press he'd caught a whiff of this tempest in a coffee pot by Monday. Hammer, with seven coffee shops in Spokane and two in Idaho, jested, "This is huge. We might have to become the official coffee of the state of Idaho."



Eye On Boise

News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.