Mr. Secretary

Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne has been named by President Bush to replace the outgoing Gale Nortion as the nations Secretary of the Interior. Kempthorne was the mayor of Boise when my family and I moved to town in 1987. In 1992 he was elected to the United States Senate but decided to campaign for the states chief executive slot when Republican Governor Phil Batt chose not to run for a second term in 1998. Governor Kempthorne hosted the President and he wife at a mountain resort this last August when the Bushs made their first trip to the state while the nations first couple. It has been kind of fun watching the political career of Dirk Kempthorne all these years, he seems like a fairly nice person but of only mid-level political skill. When he didn't get a cabinet post when the President was re-elected in 04' I thought his political career was over, but now it looks like he'll have the exact office I thought would be right for him. Former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus served as Secretary of the Interior under President Jimmy Carter.