Democrats getting back in the game

By COREY TAULE
Post Register

CResurgence is a word that requires electoral evidence, but recent actions show the Idaho Democratic Party is trying to get back in the game.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brady, former Post Register publisher, is reportedly well ahead of his 2002 fund-raising pace.

The party potentially has a strong candidate in the first congressional district, former Micron attorney Larry Grant, and a young, eager and aggressive candidate in the second district, Idaho Falls site worker Craig Cooper.

An infusion of cash from the national party led to the hiring of former Associated Press reporter Chuck Oxley as communications director. That's a fancy title for a guy hired to get the word out to a bunch of people he recently worked with and knows well.

And then there's the recent aggression of State Party Chairman Richard Stallings.

When the Post Register published a story about Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's campaign finance report on Aug. 7, Stallings reacted that same day with a news release lambasting the man who defeated him in a contentious 1992 race for the U.S. Senate.

The story detailed how Kempthorne spent some of his campaign cash on small personal expenses such as meals and haircuts. Similar stories ran in subsequent days in the Idaho Statesman (Boise) and the Idaho edition of the Spokesman Review (Spokane, Wash.).

The governor continues to raise money to pay off a $70,000 campaign debt, though he's not running for re-election in 2006.

"It makes you wonder what these big corporations have in mind when they pour cash into the governor's slush account and then show up at the Statehouse asking for laws that would benefit them," Stallings said.

Five days later, Stallings asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether some of Kempthorne's purchases should be subject to state and federal taxes.

"The specific reason for this inquiry relates to the nature of some of the expenditures detailed in the Kempthorne report," Stallings wrote IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "It would appear that a significant number of the expenditures are of a particularly personal nature."

The Idaho Republican Party, meanwhile, has been silent on this issue.

The founders didn't envision factions, but since Jefferson, Madison and Burr went one way and Washington, Hamilton and Adams the other, this has been the system.

And no matter which party you call home, you must concede that the game is more interesting when both teams show up to play.

For more information on these and other stories see today'edition of the Post Register or subscribe online.

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