Archives for 2007

From the Spokesman-Review

Feb 10,2007 – Taryn Brodwater – SPOKESMAN REVIEW

The Idaho Department of Insurance is investigating an insurance fraud complaint against two commissioners for the Northern Lakes Fire Protection District.

Commissioner Larry House leveled allegations against Commissioner Terry Thompson and Chairwoman Lynda Thurman in December.

House told the Kootenai County Sheriffs Department that Thompson twice declined health insurance coverage through the fire district, then later asked a secretary to add him to the plan “because he had developed a heart condition and realized he needed insurance to cover it,” according to a sheriffs report released Friday.

Thompson told secretary Valerie Knapp he needed the insurance request “back-dated” to Aug. 1, House said in the report.

Though Thompson is employed with the Spokane Valley Fire Department, he allegedly didn’t want to make a claim under the department’s insurance plan “fearing that he would be taken off his normal duties due to a heart condition,” House told the Sheriffs Department.

Thompson said Friday he had seen the sheriffs report and it was “inaccurate.” “If you print anything on the police report it’s going to be inaccurate,” he said.

Asked what was inaccurate, Thompson said, “I’m not going to go into that.”

In a Dec. 26 interview, he refused to discuss his request for insurance coverage.

House told the Sheriffs Department that Commissioner Larry Clark refused to sign the letter requesting coverage back to Aug. 1 and Knapp went to Thurman, who signed.

Thurman said previously she didn’t know until after signing the letter that another commissioner had refused to sign.

But House said Thurman “signed the letter knowing that it was previously denied,” according to the sheriffs report. Thurman and House did not return calls seeking comment.

Northern Lakes Fire Chief Marion Blackwell referred all questions to the district’s attorney, Larry Beck. Clark also referred questions to Beck, saying the elected commissioners had agreed to have him “speak for the district.” Beck did not return a call Friday afternoon.

Clark said he was surprised the Sheriffs Department released the report. He said he hadn’t seen a copy and “was under the impression it wasn’t being given out publicly.”

Commissioner Dennis Arnende said he was “out of the loop.” “They told me nothing,” he said. “Until this all gets settled, I’d just as soon stay out of it anyway.”

Minutes of a Dec. 18 meeting showed all five commissioners present when Thompson’s request for coverage was discussed. The minutes note that “there was disagreement on the appropriateness of the request.” Thurman left the executive session after about 20 minutes, according to the record, and discussion continued.

House told the Sheriffs Department that Clark asked Thompson during the meeting if he had advised the district’s insurer of his heart condition and if he’d submitted a claim for reimbursement. House said Thompson replied he had not and became upset after further questioning. Thompson then reportedly said, “If it means so much to Commissioner Clark, I’ll cancel the claim,” the report stated.

House said Thurman became upset when she was asked why she signed the letter, “stormed” out of the room and began crying, according to the report.

The Northern Lakes Fire Protection District rejected a public records request from The Spokesman-Review seeking the letter Thurman signed.

Attorney Beck wrote in a Feb. 2 letter that Chief Blackwell had told him to deny the request because “it contains personnel information that is exempt from disclosure.” Beck’s denial said the document ” was intended to be kept confidential.”

Kootenai County sheriffs Capt. Ben Wolfinger said the Sheriffs Department turned the investigation over to the Idaho Department of Insurance because it’s within “their field of expertise.”

From the Spokesman-Review

From the Twin Falls Times-News

Feb 3,2007 – Matt Christensen – TWIN FALLS TIMES-NEWS
BOISE – A House bill regarding public records is ruffling the feathers of environmental groups, but the bill’s supporters say the hubbub is a misunderstanding over wording.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture wants the Legislature to pass a bill that would keep its laboratories’ test results confidential. Environmentalists say the bill’s wording is unclear , and withholding information from the public is un-American.

“We had a lot of folks jump to the conclusion that the bill covers water-quality samples and things like that,” said John Chatburn, deputy administrator in the ISDA’s division of animal industries. “And it doesn’t.”

House Bill No. 59 would seal ISDA lab results from the public. The agency sends tests involving environmental issues to non-ISDA labs, and those test results, Chatburn said, would remain in the public domain.

Others aren’t sure that’s true.

The wording in the bill makes unclear exactly which lab results would be kept confidential, said Courtney Washburn, community conservation director for the Idaho Conservation League, an environmental and watchdog group. “We’re not sure what the bill would entail,” she said.

That seems to be the consensus of environmentalists statewide, including Parma resident Alma Hasse, who used lab test results to shut down a Washington County dairy last spring.

“By attempting to shield more information from the public, it seems to me that we need to look even harder at what’s going on,” said Hasse, who has accused state agencies of stonewalling public-records requests.

That’s not what this bill is about, said Chatburn. The motivation behind the bill is, in part, to protect companies from trade-secret thefts, he said.

“The bill would protect the information that comes from tests we run for companies,” he said, “when (the tests) don’t involve enforcement activities.”

The bill leaves it up to the ISDA director to determine which lab results become public, and that raises the concern of at least one legislator in the committee in which the bill was presented.

“That’s putting up a flag for everybody,” said Donna Pence, D-Gooding, who sits on the House Agricultural Affairs Committee. “I’d like to see a whole lot more information on this, because it seems to me, and a whole lot of other people, that (ISDA) just slammed the door on public records.”

The bill is yet to be placed on the committee’s calendar, but it’s likely it will be discussed in the coming weeks.

From the Twin Falls Times-News

From the Idaho Statesman

Gov.-elect Butch Otter signed his official oath of office without announcing it Thursday, ignoring requests from news media outlets to witness the event on the public’s behalf.

Otter will have a ceremonial swearing-in Friday at the Capitol and had originally planned to take the legally required oath on Monday, the day he takes office.

As first reported Friday on IdahoStatesman.com, Otter signed the oath at 12:05 p.m. Thursday with Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and Deputy Secretary of State Miren Artiach in Artiach’s office. There were no other witnesses and no public announcement. The oath will be stamped to record its receipt on Monday, Artiach said.

Ysursa said Otter came alone on the spur of the moment, although he first made sure Artiach, a notary public, had not gone to lunch. Dressed in a blazer, tie, khaki pants and cowboy boots, Otter signed the oath form “on a magazine or something,” Ysursa said. “The thing was over in a matter of minutes,” he said.

Otter did not respond to repeated requests for comment Friday. His spokesman said he could not reach him.

“He doesn’t want to distract from the public event on the 5th, and he felt like this thing was kind of a tempest in a teapot and a storm of the media’s creation,” spokesman Jon Hanian said. “He says this is not a big deal. It is purely ceremonial and perfunctory and not that big a deal.”

Hanian said Otter still plans to take the oath again privately for out-of-state family members on Monday, with U.S. District Judge Ed Lodge administering it. Hanian said he did not know where or when that would happen, and he said the public and press are not invited.

Otter’s actions are completely legal, Artiach said. Four other statewide elected officials have taken and signed their oaths early, too. “As long as they’re in here by the date they take office, there is no issue,” she said. “He’s not pretending in any way to have already taken office.”

Idaho’s two previous elected governors, Phil Batt and Dirk Kempthorne, allowed reporters to witness their oaths. After Otter said he wouldn’t allow that, the Idaho Statesman and the Associated Press asked him Wednesday to change his mind.

Statesman Managing Editor Bill Manny said Friday that he thought the point had been made that the public, through the press, should be able to witness Otter’s constitutional assumption of power. The paper has no plans to pursue the matter further, he said.

“We’re terribly disappointed the governor-elect didn’t see fit to include the public and press in what is a very vital moment for our state and government,” Manny said.

Jim Weatherby, a retired Boise State University political scientist, said Thursday’s oath could indicate that Otter won’t be open with the press.

“All of this may very well be much ado about nothing, and I hope it is — that it is merely an isolated event of questionable public relations,” Weatherby said. “However, if this becomes part of a pattern of denying access, then it does not auger well with for new administration.”

Idaho’s constitution says the governor, like all executive officers, must take office on the first Monday in January after the election. An Idaho law says the oath must be taken before he “enters upon the duties of his office.”

Artiach said it’s not uncommon for a public official to take the oath before its official due date, especially when that date falls on the New Year’s holiday.

But Idaho Press Club lawyer Allen Derr said he reads the constitution to say the governor should take the oath on the day he takes office, not before.

“I think that’s skirting what I consider to be the clear terms of the constitution,” Derr said. “The constitution starts a four-year term on the first Monday of January, and the old governor’s term doesn’t end before then.”

Derr said official government actions should be taken in public. “I can’t imagine a governor not wanting to do it in the open,” Derr said.

It is not known how many previous oaths of office were open to the public or press, but Artiach said many previous governors have more than one oath on file. Most recently, seven-month Gov. Jim Risch took the oath privately at home.

Seventy-eight percent of people said Otter should let the media in to cover his oath, according to an unscientific online poll of 1,755 people conducted Thursday at IdahoStatesman.com.

Other elected officials also have taken their oaths early this year, Artiach said. On file already are signed oaths from Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Treasurer Ron Crane, Schools Superintendent-elect Tom Luna, and Ysursa. State Controller-elect Donna Jones and Lt. Gov.-elect Risch, now governor, will take their oaths on Monday. Of these officers, only Risch has announced that his Sun Valley oath-taking will be open to the press.

Topics Editor David Staatscontributed to this story. Contact Shawna Gamache at 377-6416 or sgamache@idahostatesman.com.

From the Idaho Statesman