The state of Idaho has gotten out of two investment funds dating from the 2008-2010 financial crisis at a cost to state agencies of nearly $9 million, the Idaho Statesman reports; it’s the same loss cited in a critical state audit that state Treasurer Ron Crane hotly disputed. The loss does not affect operating agency budgets but could affect future spending, writes Statesman reporter Bill Dentzer. The loss to the state Department of Transportation, for example, is more than $600,000; public schools lost $865,541.

An outside investment advisory board, created last year to advise and assist the state treasurer on investments, voted to close out the money-losers at a meeting in April, Dentzer writes; the overall loss was officially recorded in June, before the end of the state’s fiscal year. His full report is online here.

Crane refused an interview request from Dentzer, referring him instead to Mike Tracy, a public relations consultant retained by the 26-person office. Tracy told Dentzer Crane would not be available for questions and complained that media coverage had been “unfair” and “dishonest.” Crane’s fund transfer that drew the criticism in the audit, which shifted the full impact of the investment loss to the state rather than a local government fund, was sharply criticized by Crane’s Democratic challenger in the last election, Deborah Silver, but Crane, a Republican, won re-election with 61 percent of the vote. Here’s a link to my story from last July looking into the issue.