I got to know John Peavey as an Idaho state senator, a job he held in two runs, for three terms in the 1970s as a Republican and later in the ’80s and ’90s as a Democrat. He served 10 terms in all. He was a capable and active senator, and often in some kind of leadership position — formal or informal — while he was there.
Peavey, of Hailey, who died June 16 at 90, may also have been one of those unusual people whose personal efforts actually helped transform the politics of a local area. Blaine County, which he represented and from which he ran for office for so many years, probably moved away from a Republican tilt toward the Democratic side in considerable part because of the highly visible role Peavey played.
And yet Peavey, who was also an important figure in Idaho’s sheep industry and ran a livestock ranch all his adult life, might be as well remembered for demonstrating the impact a person can have even outside of elective office. He was a personal inflection point in Idaho history in at least three ways that had nothing to do with the Idaho Senate, or directly with his occupation either.
Peavey was in office in the early 1970s when he tried pressing for passage of a campaign finance and lobbying disclosure law, and found that the Legislature (notably members of his own party) weren’t very interested. So he went to work on it outside the Statehouse. In 1974 he was a key figure in promoting an initiative (the 1977 Idaho Almanac has a great photo of him carrying boxes of petitions up the statehouse steps) to set those open government requirements in Idaho law. With some adjustments over time, that law still is in force. Peavey is part of the reason we know as much as we do about who is behind changes in Idaho politics.
Some of Peavey’s compatriots also were less than thrilled when he helped lead opposition to the Pioneer Power Plant proposed by Idaho Power Company. That effort helped derail his legislative career for a time, when he lost his Republican primary in 1976. The Pioneer campaign he helped lead prevailed, however, and may have had a critical effect on Idaho development. With hindsight, Pioneer, then thought to be needed as a source power, likely would have become an expensive white elephant, and Idaho Power rates, which for many years have been low, might have ratcheted much higher. Idaho’s economic development in the last half century is likely in part a piece of Peavey’s legacy.
By the time Peavey returned to the Senate (as a Democrat) in 1980, he also was a central figure in the debate and eventual lawsuit over water rights at the Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River. That lawsuit, one of the most consequential in the state’s history, resulted in the Snake River Basin Adjudication and many other developments.
Wendy Wilson, former leader of the Snake River Alliance, said of Peavey’s efforts, “As a result, Idaho now has one of the most progressive water management systems in the West. When someday this system prevents the Snake River from being pumped completely dry — it will be in no small part because of John’s vision.”
There was much more too, notably on the environmental front, and watchdogging the Idaho National Laboratory (his Flat Top ranch is not far from its boundary line). The Trailing of the Sheep event at the Wood River Valley that he co-founded has become a local institution.
He did most of these things not from a position of special power, but from the office of citizen. There’s a lesson in that.
John Peavey had an instinct for grasping what was important and how to push to make a difference at the key moments when change could be had. He can continue to have an influence by showing us through example how much power we each can have.
Stapilus is a former Idaho newspaper reporter and editor who blogs at ridenbaugh.com. He may be contacted at stapilus@ridenbaugh.com.
