Budget-setting for the next phase of the Idaho Education Network won't happen tomorrow, the AP is reporting, and instead is being put off until mediation begins next week in a lawsuit over the $60 million statewide broadband system. Sen. Dean Cameron, head of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, said the Legislature's Republican leadership instructed him to hold off on tackling the entire fiscal year 2011 budget for the Department of Administration, which oversees the network, until the out-of-court talks are under way. "We do have to address it before we leave," Cameron, R-Rupert, told the AP. "We're just trying not to get out in front of the mediation." Click below to read a full report from AP reporter John Miller.

Idaho agency budget delayed amid conflict over IEN
By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Legislative budget writers won't approve spending the Idaho Education Network's next $3 million installment as planned this week, opting to wait until mediation begins next week in a lawsuit over the $60 million broadband system.

Sen. Dean Cameron, head of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, said Thursday that the Legislature's Republican leadership instructed him to hold off on tackling the entire fiscal year 2011 budget for the Department of Administration, which oversees the network, until the out-of-court talks are under way.

"We do have to address it before we leave," said Cameron, R-Rupert. "We're just trying not to get out in front of the mediation."

Telecommunication company Syringa Networks sued the state in December, saying it had been illegally excluded from a deal to help build the network. Lawmakers approved the statewide broadband network in 2008 to link public schools, universities and businesses, allowing for sharing of college classes or specialized courses like Holocaust literature classes over the Internet.

Syringa alleges, among other things, that Department of Administration Director Mike Gwartney, a close ally of Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, threatened to take away its other business with the state if the company complained.

House and Senate GOP leadership met with Otter early Thursday to discuss the matter and decided to put off the budget vote on Friday, Cameron said.

Qwest Communications Co., which lobbied hard for the system, won a big share of building it.

In addition to the Syringa lawsuit, Internet providers Intermax Networks, in Coeur d'Alene, as well as Moscow's First Step and Microserv in Idaho Falls are asking the state to delay spending the $3 million on the network. The companies argue they could provide "last mile" links to schools as effective as the ones Qwest is now building, but at a fraction of the cost.

Otter aides didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the delay.

The drama over funding is reverberating in Otter's office.

The GOP governor's budget chief, Wayne Hammon, fired off an e-mail to budget writers Wednesday, warning them to avoid delays at all costs.

His missive alluded to a brewing conflict in which Cameron has expressed concern about Gwartney's dismissive style, including his refusal to appear before the budget committee to take questions or respond to inquiries for information.

The $3 million installment for the network is a donation from the private J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, but Cameron's panel still must give Gwartney the authority to spend the money.

In Hammon's e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, he said it would be a "very bad idea on a number of levels" to delay funding for the Idaho Education Network "as a tool to further the personal war between Mike and Dean."

He also warned about "what might happen if IEN is not approved this Friday" but did not give specifics.

Cameron, in turn, told Hammon his e-mail was "inappropriate, incorrect and unacceptable" and said that while he had been frustrated with Gwartney, there was no animosity.

Other legislators have since waded into the fray, with Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, asking Hammon in a separate e-mail: "What do you mean by 'what might happen?'"

Hammon has since apologized.

He also has been removed by Otter from any Idaho Education Network involvement.

Cameron insists the terse e-mail exchange wasn't a factor in the decision to delay Gwartney's budget.

"No, that was just a sidelight," he said Thursday. "Leadership requested we not set the Department of Administration budget."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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