The Senate Resources Committee vote unanimously this afternoon to recommend confirmation of the appointment of former House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, to the Idaho Water Resources Board. The vote came two days after the same panel put the appointment on hold, after Sen. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, said he was concerned about Rusche’s “social media posts and commentaries in the media that can be rather frank and rather polarizing.”

Before today’s vote, Bayer said, “I just thought it would be appropriate  to publicly share that conversations have taken place, and Dr. Rusche was contacted. … It was very constructive, and a lot of mutual recognition of concerns was expressed and alleviated in regards to actions from the previous committee proceeding, and I think it was very important to say that for the public record and to recognize it.”