Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R) Elected 1998, 2d term up Jan. 2007
Born:	Oct. 29, 1951, San Diego, CA
Home:	Boise
Education:	U. of ID, B.A. 1975
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Patricia)
Elected  Office:	Boise Mayor, 1986-93; U.S. Senate, 1992-98.
Professional Career:	Exec. Asst. to Dir., ID Dept. of Public Lands, 1976-78; Exec. V.P., ID Home Builders Assn., 1978-81; Campaign Mgr., Phil Batt for Gov., 1982; ID Public Affairs Mgr., FMC Corp, 1983-86.
Office	P.O. Box 83720, Boise 83720, 208-334-2100; Fax: 208-334-2175; Web: www.state.id.us/gov.
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Dirk Kempthorne was elected governor of Idaho in 1998 after six years in the U.S. Senate. He was born in San Diego, grew up in Spokane, Washington, and graduated from the University of Idaho. He has spent most of his adult life in the political arena, starting in state government, then working for the Idaho Home Builders Association and FMC Corporation. He managed Phil Batt's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1982 (Batt finally won in 1994) and was mayor of Boise for seven boom years from 1986-93. Kempthorne was elected to the Senate seat vacated in 1992 by two-term incumbent Republican Steve Symms and over tough competition from Democratic Congressman Richard Stallings. A Mormon and a conservative on abortion and gun control, Stallings was a three-time congressman from the eastern Idaho 2d District. Kempthorne won with 57%, barely carrying the northern panhandle, but running far ahead in the Boise market and carrying the Mormon areas in the east.

Kempthorne started off 100th in seniority in a Democratic Senate, concentrating on the nonstarter issue of unfunded mandates. But after the 1994 Republican victory, Majority Leader Bob Dole made Kempthorne's unfunded mandates bill S.1, the first order of legislative business. Kempthorne impressed colleagues with his knowledge of detail and his willingness to face off with West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, who fought mightily against the bill as an infringement of congressional prerogatives; it passed the Senate easily with bipartisan support.

Then Idaho beckoned. Phil Batt, elected at 67, decided to retire after a long career in state politics and one successful four-year term as governor. In September 1997, Batt announced his decision to step down; in October 1997, Kempthorne announced he was running. He was willing to give up what easily could have been a lifetime Senate seat for a more limited tenure as governor. Once Kempthorne was in, the race was essentially over. Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Huntley ran, he said, to maintain two-party competition. Kempthorne won 68%-29%, carrying every county but the one including Sun Valley.

In 1999 he proclaimed "the Generation of the Child" and got the legislature to pass a $5.5 million Idaho Reading Initiative and scholarships for 3.0 high school graduates at in-state colleges. He passed a voluntary immunization registry bill. He worked on a four-state salmon recovery program and entered a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian tribes as part of the Northwest Power Planning Council's sub-basin planning process. He got funding for a Rural Idaho Initiative, with state money for projects in the non-booming parts of Idaho.

In his first three years, Kempthorne and the legislature cut taxes several times. But by late 2001 revenues came in under expectations, and there were rounds of cuts in planned increases in public schools and actual cuts in higher education. The state tapped the Budget Stabilization Fund and tobacco settlement money and state employees were laid off; $200 million in projected spending was cut. He opposed giving state businesses the benefit of George W. Bush's 30% immediate depreciation allowance. Many members of the overwhelmingly Republican legislature complained that Kempthorne was aloof and uninvolved. They were unhappy when in early 2002 Kempthorne vetoed their repeal of term limits; the voters upheld the repeal by a narrow margin in November. Kempthorne had articulate opposition that year from Democrat Jerry Brady, owner of the Idaho Falls Post Register, the state's second largest newspaper, whose great-grandfather James Brady had been elected governor as a Republican in 1908. Brady spent $320,000 of his own money and attacked Kempthorne for cutting education spending in a "formulaic" and "lazy" way. He criticized Kempthorne for ousting Fish and Game Commissioner Rod Sando and said the commission was subservient to farmers and ranchers; he said he would appoint new members nominated by sportsmen. Kempthorne protested that he had only cut planned increases in school spending and that he would permit no further education cuts.

Kempthorne won by the reduced margin of 56%-42%. He lost the counties containing Sun Valley and Pocatello, three northern panhandle counties and, surprisingly, Boise's Ada County, where voters presumably know him best. Republican margins in the legislature were reduced to 28-7 and 54-16. Facing a budget shortfall in January 2003, Kempthorne proposed the largest tax increase in state history; after battling with conservatives, he signed into law a one-cent sales tax increase in April. He got the legislature to approve $70 million of bonds for colleges and universities by supporting projects around the state. He vetoed tax breaks for renewable energy, saying they would lose too much revenue. He reached an agreement with other governors on expanding the Bonneville power grid. He signed a ban on smoking in restaurants. In May 2004 he reached an agreement with the Interior Department and the Nez Perce tribe on water rights, in which the tribe waived a portion of its water rights in return for protection of salmon and other benefits; it was approved by Congress when Senator Larry Craig inserted it into the omnibus spending bill in November 2004.

Kempthorne became chairman of the National Governors Association in August 2003 and said the most important issue before state governments was the rising cost of long-term care. In June 2003 he was described in news accounts as the leading candidate to succeed EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman; but he may have been too open about his interest, and Utah Governor Mike Leavitt got the job. He was also said to be a possible choice for the cabinet after the November 2004 election, but no call came. Republicans gained three seats in the Idaho House in 2004, and Kempthorne announced he would propose a highway bond program. Energy-conscious, Kempthorne in November 2004 started using a Suburban SUV that ran on fuel that was 85% ethanol, produced from potatoes by a Simplot plant in Idaho. In December 2004 J. R. Simplot and his wife donated their hilltop house overlooking Idaho to the state for use as a governor's mansion.

During the 2002 campaign Kempthorne said he planned to serve only two terms as governor. But in March 2004 he said he wouldn't reveal his plans for 2006. He finally cleared things up in his January 2005 State of the State Address, when he said he would not seek a third term. Waiting in the wings were two Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch and 1st District Congressman Butch Otter, who first ran for governor in 1978. On the Democratic side, Jerry Brady, the 2002 nominee, said he would run and state Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett was a possible candidate.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent
2002 general	Dirk Kempthorne (R)	231,566	56%
	Jerry Brady (D)	171,711	42%
	Other	8,200	2%
2002 primary	Dirk Kempthorne (R)	95,882	66%
	Milt Erhart (R)	37,523	26%
	Walter Bayes (R)	6,873	5%
	Raynelle George (R)	5,271	4%
1998 general	Dirk Kempthorne (R)	258,095	68%
	Robert C. Huntley (D)	110,815	29%
	Other	12,338	3%