[Vision2020] Avista gives cash to oust two N. Idaho incumbents

Thu May 10 13:10:03 PDT 2012

The bolded red type [2nd paragraph] in the story confirms your statement.

w.

On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>wrote:

> If Avista's pissed at them, then they must be doing something right.
>
> Paul
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
> *To:* vision2020 at moscow.com
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 10, 2012 11:51 AM
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] Avista gives cash to oust two N. Idaho incumbents
>
>      <http://www.spokesman.com/> May 10, 2012
> Avista gives cash to oust two N. Idaho incumbents
> Betsy Z. Russell <http://www.spokesman.com/staff/betsy-russell/>
> The Spokesman-Review
>  Tags:2012 Election <http://www.spokesman.com/tags/2012-election>Avista<http://www.spokesman.com/tags/avista>
> campaign finance <http://www.spokesman.com/tags/campaign-finance>
> George Eskridge <http://www.spokesman.com/tags/george-eskridge>
> Idaho elections <http://www.spokesman.com/tags/idaho-elections>
> Shawn Keough <http://www.spokesman.com/tags/shawn-keough>
>  BOISE – Avista Corp. is spending thousands of dollars trying to unseat
> two longtime North Idaho legislators, throwing its support behind tea
> party-backed challengers in next week’s Republican primary.
> *Being targeted is state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who supported
> unsuccessful efforts to establish a consumer advocate to review utility
> rate requests, and state Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, who advocates
> greater diversity in Idaho’s energy supply. Avista opposed both proposals.
> *
> Campaign finance reports filed with the Idaho Secretary of State show
> Avista has given each incumbent’s challenger $1,000 and has given $15,000
> to three political action committees that are funneling money back to the
> challengers, Danielle Ahrens and Pam Stout. The PACS are also sponsoring
> independent mailers and advertisements critical of Keough and Eskridge.
> Neil Colwell, Idaho lobbyist for Avista, acknowledged that while the
> utility has supported Keough and Eskridge in the past, it now would like to
> see them replaced. But Colwell cautioned against assuming all of the PAC
> contributions are being used exclusively to try to unseat them.
> “We don’t totally control those PACs or anything,” Colwell said.
> But one of the three, the Greater Education Movement, reported spending
> money to support only one candidate since Jan. 1: Ahrens.
> “We support candidates that are aligned with the interests of our
> customers and our company goals,” Colwell said. “And we just think we’re
> more in alignment with these challengers than the incumbents.”
> The three PACs are run by Lou Esposito, a highly connected GOP political
> consultant in Boise who was House Speaker Lawerence Denney’s pick to serve
> on Idaho’s legislative redistricting commission last year.
> Ahrens and Stout also reported in-kind donations of $1,000 apiece from
> Esposito’s consulting firm, Spartac Inc., for management services and
> broadcast advertising.
> “I’m not managing their campaigns per se, but I helped them out, gave them
> some advice, helped get them some mailing lists, those kinds of issues,”
> Esposito said. “Building their websites, I gave them some help with all
> of that.”
> The three PACs, which also include the Idaho Land PAC and the Free
> Enterprise PAC, sent $2,500 directly to Ahrens’ campaign and $500 to
> Stout’s. They also sponsored various ads and mailers bashing the
> two incumbents.
> Eskridge, the co-chair of the Legislature’s interim energy committee, was
> at the center of a battle between utilities and others two years ago over
> tax incentives for renewable energy, and he clashed with Colwell in the
> process. “As a constituent, we go to him and explain our position, and
> request that he support our request,” Colwell said. “And instead, he tells
> us why we should think something different, even though this is our
> business, and why we’re wrong.”
> Eskridge, a sixth-term lawmaker who retired after 25 years with the
> Bonneville Power Administration, including stints as an economist, marketer
> and district manager in several districts, said, “If we’re going to keep
> our energy prices low, we’ve got to have a diversified energy supply. We
> can’t just depend on one supply, like utilities would like to do.”
> Stout, Eskridge’s challenger, has made her opposition to wind power and
> other renewables a top campaign issue. “He’s an advocate of the alternate
> power, I definitely am not,” she told The Spokesman-Review in an
> earlier interview.
> Eskridge counters, “I’m supportive of renewable energy only when it’s
> cheaper than the other alternatives.”
> Avista’s beef with Keough is less clear-cut; Colwell cited her support for
> a consumer advocate in Idaho’s public utility rate-setting process. But
> Keough said, “That bill that I sponsored was over 10 years ago.” The
> measure didn’t pass, but the concept has now been raised again by others;
> Idaho is one of eight states with no independent utility consumer advocate,
> and the only one in the West.
> Colwell said, “There was talk of introducing that again this year. … I
> believe she said she wouldn’t sponsor that, but we weren’t at all clear on
> where she was going to come down.”
> Keough said she found Avista’s move “very surprising.” She said, “We’ve
> had a great working relationship” and have worked together for years on
> issues involving Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake.
> Idaho limits contributions to candidates to $1,000 per election, whether
> they come from an individual, a PAC or a business. But there’s nothing to
> stop the same contributor from donating to the candidate and also to PACs
> that then funnel money to the candidate, said Deputy Idaho Secretary of
> State Tim Hurst.
> “A lot of the PACs are doing independent expenditures, and they can do
> that,” Hurst said. However, there’s been confusion about reporting
> requirements; the PACs have to report specific candidates they’re targeting
> or backing, with amounts, and many this year haven’t. Hurst said the
> Secretary of State’s office plans to send letters out today to all PACs
> clarifying those requirements.
> “There’s provisions for fining people, but our goal has never been to
> balance the budget – we’re trying to get disclosure,” Hurst said.
> The campaign finance reports filed this week are Idaho voters’ only chance
> to see who’s funding the various campaigns before Tuesday’s primary
> election. Here are highlights of what North Idaho legislative candidates’
> reports showed in contested races in District 1. Coming tomorrow: Districts
> 2, 3 and 4.
> District 1
> *Senate*
> Keough has raised $34,338 for her campaign since Jan. 1, on top of the
> $15,396 she carried over from before, and spent $23,789. She received 21
> donations from named individuals in her district and received 17 maximum
> $1,000 donations, including contributions from Idaho Power, the Idaho
> Loggers PAC, the Priest Lake State Lessees Association, and $1,000 each
> from Jack and Mary Jo Ambrosiani of Sandpoint.
> Ahrens has raised $13,175 for her campaign since Jan. 1 and spent $6,345.
> She received seven donations from named individuals in her district and
> loaned her campaign $2,000. The $5,000 she raised from Avista and the three
> PACs made up almost 40 percent of her campaign funds. She also received a
> $250 contribution from state schools Superintendent Tom Luna, and $1,000
> from Rep. Bob Nonini’s PAC, the Idaho Association for Good Government.
>  *House Seat A*
> Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, has raised $25,033 since Jan. 1, had
> $13,067 in the bank before that, spent $17,339 and has $20,762 in remaining
> campaign funds. He received donations from 37 named individuals in his
> district and received 13 $1,000 contributions, including from Potlatch
> Corp., the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utility Association and House Assistant
> Majority Leader Scott Bedke.
> GOP challenger Donna Capurso raised $5,878, spent $5,384 and had $494 left
> at the close of the reporting period. She received donations from 18
> individuals in the district and got $1,000 donations from both Richard
> Braun of Moyie Springs and the Charles L. Fox Trust.
> GOP challenger Louis Kins raised $500, mostly from three individuals in
> his district – Janet Conlin, Marjorie Kinne and Anita Perry – and spent
> $852, leaving him $352 in debt.
>  *House Seat B*
> Eskridge has raised $25,218, on top of the $8,368 he carried over; he
> spent $11,314. He received 14 contributions from named individuals in his
> district and got 14 $1,000 contributions, including from James Livingston
> of Sandpoint, the Idaho Forest Group, Idaho Realtors PAC and the Sandpoint
> law firm of Elsaesser Jarzabek.
> GOP challenger Pam Stout raised $13,125 and spent $8,847. She’s loaned her
> campaign $6,380, received donations from five named individuals in the
> district and pulled in $1,000 donations from Avista and Idaho Power and a
> $400 contribution from Pacificorp. She also reported $2,000 in in-kind
> contributions from Lorna Finman of Rathdrum and Finman’s business,
> LCF Enterprises.
>     Get more news and information at Spokesman.com<http://www.spokesman.com/>
>
>
> --
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>
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-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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