Bob Huntley, attorney for Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, in her lawsuit over secret tax deals at the state Tax Commission, sent a letter to Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden today with three new affidavits attached from longtime senior tax auditors, all making allegations just as…
GOP congressional candidate Raul Labrador, while in Washington, D.C. this week for a fundraiser and other meetings, filled in for scheduled speaker Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., yesterday at a talk at the Republican National Committee headquarters dubbed the "Fire Pelosi Speaking Series." "I am honored…
The House Democratic Caucus has issued a statement commenting on the outcome of today's House Ethics Committee on the conduct of Rep. Phil Hart. Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, said in the statement, "“I appreciate the Speaker forming a committee in response to my complaint…
Idaho has lost out in its bid to land a new F-35 mission at Gowen Field in Boise and at Mountain Home Air Force Base, a decision by the U.S. Air Force that Idaho's congressional delegation called "disappointing." They noted, however, that Gowen Field remains…
Dozens of lawyers from across the country gathered at Idaho's federal courthouse in Boise this morning to argue about the handling of more than 300 lawsuits filed against BP and other companies over a huge natural disaster thousands of miles away, the BP oil spill…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the House Ethics Committee hearing today, at which a 4-3 party-line vote cleared Rep. Phil Hart of conflict-of-interest charges. Hart still faces an additional ethics charge of abuse of legislative privilege; the committee will convene…
An unrepentant Rep. Phil Hart said at a press conference after today's House Ethics Committee meeting that he has no plans to declare conflicts of interest in situations like those examined by the committee today, in which he voted on or proposed tax legislation while…
Still pending before the Ethics Committee is the question of whether Hart abused legislative privilege by invoking it repeatedly to win delays in his state and federal income tax cases. The committee will wait for court resolution of that issue before taking it up on…
The House Ethics Committee has voted along party lines against the substitute motion to reprimand Rep. Phil Hart and recommend his removal of the House Revenue & Taxation, and then voted, again along party lines, 4-3 to dismiss conflict of interest ethics charges against Hart.…
Rep. Bert Stevenson, R-Rupert, has moved to dismiss the ethics charges against Hart with regard to Rule 38, conflicts of interest. Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, seconded the motion. Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, made a substitute motion to reprimand Hart and recommend to the speaker that…
Rep. Wendy Jaquet told the Ethics Committee, "When I look at this I wonder in my mind whether Rep. Hart should be on the Revenue & Taxation Committee, because of the history that Rep. Hart is still dealing with with regard to tax matters. ...…
Rep. Phil Hart won't answer questions from the House Ethics Committee; instead, he's letting his attorney, Starr Kelso, speak for him.
Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said in his view, a legislator can't have a conflict of interest on a bill if it affects anyone other than the legislator himself. "I think we have to be careful here in terms of singling out a particular piece of…
Here's attorney Starr Kelso's defense of Rep. Phil Hart's vote on HB 436, regarding not letting non-filers file again later by adjusting a statute of limitations: "No 1, it applies to all Idaho taxpayers," he said. "It was a Tax Commission bill. And speaking with…
A new issue has been raised by the Ethics Committee with regard to Rep. Phil Hart. HB 436, which would have prevented taxpayers who hadn't filed returns in a past year from filing later to address those years by adjusting a statute of limitations, is…
Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, questioned Starr Kelso, Rep. Phil Hart's attorney, about why he submitted legal documents to the state in Hart's tax appeal stating that the issue of legislative privilege was "being considered by legislative leaders," and whether Kelso sought that consideration, whether it…
Rep. Tom Loertscher, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, responded to vice-chair Rep. Wendy Jaquet's comments, saying, "I don't think there's any legislator that has a personal agenda." Lawmakers "tend to find issues that they are passionate about," he said. That doesn't mean they have…
Members of the Ethics Committee had a few questions about the complaint and charges against Rep. Phil Hart. Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, "It looks like to me it's extremely vague." Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, responded, "We have an obligation as a body to ...…
Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, opened the House Ethics Committee hearing by noting that there is a "live proceeding" right now on the issue of whether Rep. Phil Hart improperly invoked legislative privilege in his state income tax case. "We know that there is a live…
The House Ethics Committee is getting ready to start its meeting this morning to look into the conduct of Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol. A handful of Hart supporters are in the audience, wearing pink paper hearts with the slogan, "Protect Idaho's Hart." To listen live…
That was a pretty dramatic fight against the Eagle wildfire last night, with planes dropping fire retardant, helicopters dipping and dumping water buckets, crews working on the ground, smoke billowing and winds shifting and gusting. The fire was fully contained by mid-evening after nearly 5,000…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
