[Vision2020] Otter Plans Closed-Door Oath Taking

Sat Dec 23 12:59:02 PST 2006

So, what else is new?  Isn't the mantra of the Republican party..."Do it, 
but do it outta sight and quietly.  Leave no witnesses who can detail a 
different story than what you're putting out there."?

J  :]

>From: "Bill London" <london at moscow.com>
>To: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>, "Vision 2020" 
><vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Otter Plans Closed-Door Oath Taking
>Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:11:56 -0800
>
>Idaho's governor taking the official oath of office...what could be more
>public than that?
>Yet Otter is taking that oath at a private gathering and not allowing media
>coverage.
>Otter's choice to take the oath and then later to have a public party 
>(which
>is the present plan) is OK with me...but not allowing media coverage of the
>official oath event sucks.
>I am afraid Otter is planning to run a Bush-like secretive government for
>this state....
>BL
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2006 8:26 AM
>Subject: [Vision2020] Otter Plans Closed-Door Oath Taking
>
>
> > >From today's (December 23, 2006) Lewiston Tribune -
> >
> > Governor-elect "Butch" Otter has elected to have his oath of office
> > conducted privately.  This leaves to the imaginations:
> >
> > What other business will Governor Otter be conducting privately, out of
>view
> > from Idaho's concerned citizenry?
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Otter plans closed-door oath taking
> >
> > By DEAN A. FERGUSON
> > of the Tribune
> > When Idaho's new governor takes the oath of office on Jan. 1, the public
> > won't see it. Historians can't recall a recent governor taking his oath 
>in
> > complete privacy.
> >
> > A spokesman for the governor-elect called the closed-door oath
>"procedural,"
> > noting a public ceremony will be later that week.
> >
> > "There's no skullduggery," said Jon Hanian, spokesman for Republican
> > Governor-elect C.L. (Butch) Otter. "It has to be done so that's how he's
> > doing it."
> >
> > Idaho's constitution requires Otter to take his oath, "beginning on the
> > first Monday in January next after his election."
> >
> > That's New Year's Day. A public swearing-in ceremony will take place on
>the
> > Capitol steps on Jan. 5.
> >
> > "It's fair to say that on the first (of January), for most people, 
>that's
>a
> > holiday," Hanian said. "We're concentrating all of our effort on the 
>fifth
> > for the public swearing-in with all the pomp and circumstance and the
> > speeches and the prayers."
> >
> > Historians scratched their heads to recall a private swearing-in. One
> > historian said excluding the press struck him as odd.
> >
> > "I never heard of anything like that before," said Arthur Hart, former
> > director of the Idaho State Historical Society.
> >
> > "If memory serves, some territorial governors might have been sworn-in 
>in
> > Washington, D.C. ... and some of them never even bothered coming back
>here,"
> > Hart said.
> >
> > Jim Weatherby, a retired political science professor from Boise State
> > University, said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne held a private ceremony in the
> > governor's office one minute after midnight on Jan. 3, 1999 -- but it
>didn't
> > involve an oath.
> >
> > Kempthorne was so eager to be governor he changed the locks on the 
>office
> > four days early -- or, so his predecessor Gov. Phil Batt charged. But
> > Kempthorne's midnight ceremony was little more than a prayer and a glass
>of
> > water raised in a toast with First Lady Patricia Kempthorne, according 
>to
>an
> > Idaho Statesman report.
> >
> > His actual oath came at a public event later that day.
> >
> > "Swearing in the governor, that should be public," Weatherby said.
> >
> > In 1994, Batt's official beginning fell on a Jan. 2. He took the oath in 
>a
> > small affair with reporters present.
> >
> > Elected officials must file oaths with the Idaho Secretary of State's
>office
> > on Jan. 1, said Miren Artiach, a deputy in the office.
> >
> > "All of them are concerned about having the proper paperwork in order,"
>said
> > Artiach, who will work Jan. 1 to record the various oaths of office. 
>"Some
> > people think that ceremony on the steps is the actual swearing-in but 
>it's
> > just a public ceremony."
> >
> > Anyone from judges to notaries can witness the oaths.
> >
> > Outgoing Gov. Jim Risch will be in Sun Valley on New Year's Day and also
> > plans a private swearing-in ceremony. Risch became governor when
>Kempthorne
> > stepped down in May to be interior secretary. But, Risch was re-elected 
>as
> > lieutenant governor.
> >
> > "It's not public, but if someone in the media is up there in Sun Valley
>and
> > says, 'Can I come in and watch?' I don't think we'd be opposed to it,"
>said
> > Brad Hoaglun, a spokesman for Risch.
> >
> > Judy Austin of Boise, who retired after 36 years as an editor and
>historian
> > for the Idaho State Historical Society, said the "narrow question" would
> > make it tough to research how often oaths were privately taken.
> >
> > She doesn't doubt Otter will take his oath in a sincere and ordinary
>manner.
> > But a private oath disquiets her nonetheless.
> >
> > "I find it ever so slightly uncomfortable that there is no witness on
>behalf
> > of the public is how I'd put it," Austin said.
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya round town, Moscow.
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> > Moscow, Idaho
> >
> > "Let It Snow"
> > http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Let_It_Snow.mp3
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >                http://www.fsr.net
> >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > =======================================================
> >
>
>=======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
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>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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