Column: Idaho Congressional Race
Minnick Holds Cheap Gas Event
Idaho Democratic candidate for Congress Walt Minnick held a sale on gasoline today, and over 350 cars showed up.
The posted price at a Boise Chevron station was $3.59 a gallon, but for an hour this morning customers paid $2.26 a gallon, with the price difference of $1.33 paid by the Minnick campaign. 3,230 gallons were sold in 90 minutes. Minnick said $2.26 was the price of gas when Sali took office.
Minnick’s Republican opponent is incumbent Rep. Bill Sali.
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter
Living In A Privatized Idaho
One of the slogans that resonated most strongly throughout the 2006 campaign season in Idaho was Jerry Brady's "Idaho is Not for Sale." Two years after his defeat, someone observing recent political news from the state has to wonder if a chunk or two of it hasn't been sold.
First there's the news, broken by New West's Jill Kuraitis, that Idaho was the intended recipient of 6,700 tons of highly contaminated--and potentially highly dangerous--Kuwaiti sand. First, let's just consider the insanity of actually shipping 6,700 tons of contaminated anything the thousands of miles from it's current home in Kuwait to Owyhee County, Idaho.
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Follow the Money, Follow the Attitude: Column
LaRocco to Otter, Risch: No Contaminated Sand to Idaho
On Monday, U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco asked Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to stop 150 rail cars loaded with radioactive sand from entering Idaho. His staff hand delivered letters to each office.
In Idaho, the story of the shipment was first published here on NewWest.Net/Boise.
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Valuable Items Ignored
Break-In at LaRocco for Senate OfficeSomebody kicked in the locked door at LaRocco for Senate campaign headquarters on Saturday and did a “couple of hundred dollars” in damages, according to LaRocco’s communications director Dean Ferguson.
Since the intruder didn’t take anything of value – like expensive computers and equipment - “We will not know whether this was a politically motivated break-in or just a random act of senseless violence until the Boise police conclude their investigation,” said Bob Stout, campaign manager for LaRocco for Senate. UPDATED 5:15 p.m. after the jump
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Guest Opinion
Closed Primaries Are Right SolutionR. Keith Roark, chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party should read the U.S. Constitution before he offers such a wild condemnation of the Idaho Republican Party and its recent lawsuit to prohibit Democrats and other non-Republicans from participation in the Republican candidate selection process.
The Idaho Republican Party simply does not want Democrats and other non-Republicans granted the privilege of participating in the process of selecting Republican candidates for public office.
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Craig's Personal Funds running low
Wide Stance an Expensive Dance for Larry Craig
Funny footwork in airport bathrooms doesn't pay.
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has racked up more than $400,000 in legal fees to his lawyer Billy Martin since the June 2007 incident in which Craig was arrested, and pled guilty to, disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room. The fees have been paid, largely out of campaign funds.
But according to the Washington Post, Craig hasn’t used any campaign funds – something the Senate Ethics Committee warned him against continuing - to pay legal bills since his February admonishment by the committee. Craig has recently made an $80,000 payment to Martin’s firm out of personal funds.
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A roundup of the confusion
Field Day for Political Analysts
Trying to analyze yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary win for Hillary Clinton has political analysts jumping up and down like schoolkids with their hands in the air saying, “I know! I know!”
Conflicting commentary dominates the news cycle, with everything from she-won-but-it-doesn’t-matter to she’s-inevitable-get-used-to-it.
But analysis is more complex than conventional.
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Diary Of A Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman
Idaho Reps Misrepresent Mexican Consulate
I once called on a U.S. Embassy abroad for assistance. About a decade ago I was stranded in the Damascus airport, denied entry into Syria. Someone at the American Embassy there helped me find a flight out.
So I think a Mexican Consulate in Boise will probably prove helpful to some 50,000 Mexican-born Idahoans. And maybe it will remind Idaho politicians that Mexico is a sovereign nation with which we have normal international relations and not a slogan with which to rally nativist voters. The Mexican Consulate in Boise will make all of the Mexican art, culture, food and music that is already present in the Boise Valley and across the state more prominent.
Maybe Reps. Sali and Simpson will stop by for a lesson in hospitality.
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Guest Opinion
Idahoans Deserve Primary Election Freedom
By R. Keith Roark
Chairman, Idaho State Democratic Party
Editor's note: This guest opinion refers to a federal lawsuit against Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa filed by the Idaho Republican party. Full story here.
The Idaho Democratic Party believes strongly that all voters, Democrats, Republicans and Independents should be able to participate in all taxpayer financed elections, primary and general. The lawsuit filed last week by the Idaho Republican Party is an arrogant slap in the face of all Idaho voters who consider themselves independent. The Idaho Republican Party has now officially announced its “choice to implement closed primary elections.”
There are three features of this Idaho Republican Party “choice” that all Idaho voters and taxpayers should condemn. First, Idaho’s primary elections are paid for by all Idaho taxpayers, including those who consider themselves independent voters. The Idaho Republican Party lawsuit, if successful, will force independent voters to pay for elections in which they are not allowed to participate.
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