Here's a news item from the Associated Press: LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A llama is still on the loose in Lewiston. Nez Perce County Sheriff's Lt. Bill Madison says they still haven't identified the owner of the llama, which has been helping itself to neighborhood…
Boise State University and the government of the Basque Country signed a new five-year agreement today that strengthens their existing partnership in BSU's Basque Studies Program, and includes $390,000 in funding for faculty and more. “Basques of North America know very well, over the years,…
Imagine how stunned I was to see on the AP wire today that an elusive graffiti bandit is annoying the heck out of Pocatello by emblazoning "BZR" in all kinds of high and hard-to-reach places on buildings and signs in the southeast Idaho city. Yes,…
Here's a link to the letter that Rep. Shirley Ringo's attorney, Robert Huntley, delivered to the Idaho Attorney General's office yesterday on secret tax deals, with the three new sworn statements attached along with an earlier affidavit from Stan Howland. One note: One of the…
Three more longtime senior employees of the Idaho State Tax Commission have come forward with sworn statements charging that secret tax deals were offered to those with political influence, and now Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, is offering to put her pending lawsuit over the deals…
Gov. Butch Otter's administration chief and close friend, Mike Gwartney, has been something of a lightning rod for controversy throughout Otter's term in office, attracting the ire of state workers for proposing cuts to health benefits and clashing with lawmakers on everything from activities in…
Mike Gwartney, Gov. Butch Otter's best friend and his right-hand man in his administration, serving without pay as the director of the Department of Administration, is retiring as of today, and his chief deputy, Teresa Luna, will take over his post on an interim basis.…
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 ...…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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