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Campaign ‘96

Compiled From Staff Reports

Now that’s name dropping

Shoshone County coffeehouse pundits likely will spend months jawing over why incumbent County Commissioner Gary Waters narrowly lost the primary to fellow Democrat Jim Vergobbi. Consider the theory of Waters’ signs. One of his most visible - at the Interstate 90 off-ramp leading into Wallace - said simply “H2O.”

Can you spell lobbying opportunity?

State Rep. Don Pischner, a freshman Republican, will be North Idaho tour guide next week for the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. It’s the most powerful committee in the Legislature, the one that doles tax dollars out to state departments and programs.

Among the committee’s stops: a tour of the Lake Coeur d’Alene parkway; a visit to the Bunker Hill site in Kellogg; a tour of a film set in Wallace; a ride on the Silver Mountain Gondola; a tour of North Idaho College; visits to some state offices; a barbecue at North Idaho College; and end-of-day refreshments at Idaho Forest Industries. But nothing stronger than 7-Up, we assume.

Does that bronze hot dog come with fries?

The recipe is a little vague, but Food Distributors International is heaping a helping of laudatory pie on U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s plate this coming week. The organization is giving North Idaho’s Republican representative its “Thomas Jefferson Award” for “her outstanding record in promoting economic prosperity and free enterprise in the 104th Congress.” The culinary connection, apparently, is a Jefferson quote that the appropriate serving of government “shall leave men otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” The National Federation of Independent Businesses also sent a thank-you to Chenoweth for her pro-business positions, but made no culinary or constitutional connection.

The new Republican roster

New Kootenai County Republican Central Committee officers for 1996-97 are: Kathleen Sims - chairwoman, Christy Oetken - vice chairwoman, Tina Jacobson - secretary, Laurie Thomas - treasurer, Ruthie Johnson - state committeewoman, Don Johnston - state committeeman, and Justin Thomas as youth committeeman. Eighteen delegates also were selected to represent Kootenai County at the state convention, June 20-22 in Nampa. There still are positions open for alternates.

Virtual convention CBS News will pump live gavel-to-gavel video coverage of the Republican and Democratic national conventions onto the Internet with its “Campaign 96” Web site. (We’re already on record liking the name of that home page)…The video coverage will appear in a window on computer screens, and CBS News will provide schedules, speaker profiles and regularly updated campaign news, The Hollywood Reporter says.

Web Site of the Week

And speaking of on-line political coverage, there’s been another merger of campaign cyber-services. PoliticsUSA and ElectionLine have joined forces to create Politics Now, which harnesses the resources of The Washington Post, Newsweek, ABC and others…Found at http:/ /www.politicsnow.com, this site provides access to those news organizations’ reporters and pundits, polls and libraries, and a healthy set of links to other political sites. It has one fun feature, too, which lets you know how often your local congressperson agrees with you on key issues. The “Check the Record” feature asks how you stand on more than a dozen issues, then tells you what percent of the time the senator or representative for your ZIP code votes your way.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: How they voted

MEMO: Campaign ‘96 is published regularly during the campaign season and is compiled from staff reports. To submit information on a political event or a question you want the candidates to answer, write us c/o The Idaho Spokesman-Review, 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Or call Cityline at (208) 765-8811 on a Touch-Tone phone, then press 9893 to leave a message, your name and phone number.

Campaign ‘96 is published regularly during the campaign season and is compiled from staff reports. To submit information on a political event or a question you want the candidates to answer, write us c/o The Idaho Spokesman-Review, 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Or call Cityline at (208) 765-8811 on a Touch-Tone phone, then press 9893 to leave a message, your name and phone number.