House speaker hopefuls dish out cash

BOISE – A pro-business insurance salesman who aims to replace Bruce Newcomb as Idaho’s House speaker has handed out thousands of dollars to Republican candidates across the state in hopes they will win – and pick him to lead the chamber’s majority party starting in 2007.

State Rep. Bill Deal, an eight-term lawmaker from Nampa, has given at least $11,000 from his own campaign fund to 22 GOP candidates since June, according to a filing with the Idaho secretary of state.

That’s more than three times the $3,400 dished out to 13 candidates by Rep. Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, the current House majority leader who also wants to be speaker.

Denney, an alfalfa farmer and five-term lawmaker, is a social conservative who sponsored the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage that’s on the Nov. 7 ballot.

When Newcomb, R-Burley, the House speaker since 1998, announced during the 2006 Legislature he wasn’t running again, Deal and Denney immediately said they were interested. Who wins is important: The speaker sets the tone for the relationship between Republicans and minority Democrats, manages rival factions in his or her own party and negotiates with the governor’s office over important bills.

Dealing cash to others’ campaigns has long been a way to curry favor and win leadership positions.

“It’s essentially a way of trading favors,” said Gary Moncrief, a Boise State University political scientist. Denney vs. Deal “is probably the most interesting race in the state Legislature this year. Clearly the Democrats aren’t going to gain control, so the only thing that matters is which faction of the Republican Party is in control.”

The winner will be decided by secret ballot in December at a meeting of Republican lawmakers in Boise.

Denney and Deal are running unopposed in November elections.

“We’d both like to have those votes in December,” Denney told the Associated Press. “We’ve looked at the races … at which ones are going to be the tightest, and that’s where we put money.”

Deal didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Though few lobbyists or Democratic lawmakers will openly discuss their preferences for House speaker they say privately the differences between the two men are well-known: Deal is considered more socially moderate and pro-business; Denney is well-connected to conservative issues important to his rural constituents.

This year, Deal has raised more than $51,000, with the biggest contributions coming from industry lobbyists and utilities, including Idaho Power Co. and PacifiCorp and Qwest Communications. In 2005, Deal sponsored a bill to deregulate Qwest’s telephone rates.

Denney has pulled in just over $15,000, with contributions that include $1,000 from the Idaho Chooses Life anti-abortion group and $800 from agriculture conglomerate J.R. Simplot.

Denney said he didn’t feel at a disadvantage because he’d raised less money – and had less to give out.

“Neither of us can give enough money to buy their votes,” he said.

In all, the two men gave money to at least nine of the same GOP candidates. Deal gave them a total of $4,500, while Denney gave them $2,600, including $1,000 to Rep. Ken Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, for his run against Democrat Allen Andersen.

Raul Labrador, a Republican candidate from the Boise suburb of Eagle, has gotten $200 from Denney and $500 from Deal.

Labrador, who was helped by the endorsement of Idaho Chooses Life in his May primary win, said contribution size won’t steer his speaker vote in December, should he win Nov. 7 against Democrat Daniel Westin.

The speaker candidates’ liberal peppering of races with money adds a new dimension to the 2007 election, Democrats say.

“I’ve told our candidates they are basically running in two races: one against their opponent, and the one for the speaker,” said House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, whose party now is outnumbered 4-to-1 in the Legislature.