AG candidate attacks opponent on several issues

Idaho attorney general candidate R. Keith Roark tore into his opponent Monday, criticizing him for campaigning on taxpayer time as well as misrepresenting the law and the office.

"He's out there, right now, campaigning on our money -- the taxpayers' money," said Roark during a stop in Lewiston Monday.

Roark's competitor for an open position as the state's attorney is Lawrence Wasden, who is now chief deputy attorney general.

A former county prosecutor, Hailey mayor and defense attorney, Roark said Wasden is required to take a leave of absence while campaigning.

Wasden told the Associated Press that the office policy manual says candidates for office are "generally" not permitted to continue working, but the decision is at the discretion of the attorney general.

Retiring Attorney General Al Lance is backing Wasden, a fellow Republican and an employee of the office for 10 years.

Roark, a Democrat, took Lance and his protege to task, however.

He characterized their response to the terrorist attacks of 2001 as "panicky" and their package of proposed anti-terrorism laws a "grab bag of horrors."

Among other suggestions that did not become law, Lance's office proposed allowing county prosecutors to tap citizens' phone lines for 48 hours without authorization.

The proposal flies in the face of decades of law requiring judges to authorize wiretaps, Roark said. "We have been standing firm in that there is no greater intrusion of your privacy than electronic interception of your private communications."

A past president of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association and former director of the National District Attorneys Association, Roark hopes his 25 years of experience will carry him over Wasden's Republican affiliation.

Calling him an "administrator" who has not practiced law, Roark takes issue with most of his opponent's stances, including Wasden's recent statement to the press that his job "is to put people behind bars."

"The attorney general's job is not to put people in prison," said Roark Monday. "The attorney general doesn't have any original jurisdiction to lock people up."

Then there is Wasden's contention that Idaho's death penalty system can still operate legally.

Rubbing his face in exasperation, Roark said both the Idaho and U.S. supreme courts have already ruled that Idaho's death penalty is unconstitutional.

"And here is a man who is working for the attorney general who says 'Well, maybe.' "

"Those statements are so outrageous I can't even believe they're being made."

Roark is a supporter of the death penalty but said it is due for review, given that millions of dollars have been spent, but only one Idaho prisoner has been executed since 1959 -- and he volunteered to die.

"As attorney general, we will propose to the Legislature a valid death penalty statute," Roark said. "It isn't up to the attorney general to deal with whether or not the death penalty is cost-effective."

The moderate Democrat also said he is uncomfortable with state-sanctioned gambling, such as the lottery, but supports an initiative to make Indian casinos explicitly legal. "I have to say they (the tribes) have acted very responsibly, that they have used the money for the benefit of their people and, from what I can see, to the benefit of the people of this state."

Roark noted that, if elected, he will "enthusiastically" defend the initiative, which he said is expected to pass, but face an immediate court challenge.

Wasden would also be required to defend the initiative, but opposes its passage.

Perhaps the only issue on which the two men agree is the attorney general's role on the Idaho State Land Board, which oversees the use of state lands for the benefit of schools.

"The purpose of those lands is to earn income. They aren't state parks," Roark said. "That needs to be understood better than it is."

He, like Wasden, backs the board's decision to lease land to low-bidding ranchers over conservation groups offering more money. He said leasing land to conservation groups may endanger the ranchers' livelihoods and cost the state long-term revenue.

But Roark did attack the attorney general's handling of the issue.

"The attorney general's office has lost seven straight cases to (activist) John Marvel's land groups," he said.

He blamed the losses on the office's failure to explain a rational policy, rather than dismissing the conservation bids "out of hand."

------

Wilson may be contacted at awilson@lmtribune.com