Presentation of Idaho reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

With additional major funding provided by the estate of Darrell Arthur Kammer in support of independent media that strengthens a democratic and just society.

And by the Hansberger Family Foundation.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And donations to the station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome to the special episode of Idaho Reports.

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Tonight we remember Dirk Kempthorne, US senator, Idaho governor and secretary of the interior.

Later in the show, Governor Brad Little and Senator Jim Risch join me to share their memories of Governor Kempthorne.

But first, we take a look back at his career in legacy with retired journalist Betsy Russell and Brian Whitlock, Kempthorne’s former communications officer and chief of staff.

I don't think he ever met a challenge that was unsurmountable in his mind.

Dirk Kempthorne started his political career early, serving as student body president in high school in San Bernardino, California.

At University of Idaho, he again ran for student body president, campaigning at each of the schools dorms, fraternities, and sororities.

While campaigning, he met his future wife, Patricia.

After graduating in 1975 with a degree in political science, Kempthorne spent time in both the public and private sectors before declaring his candidacy for Boise mayor in 1985, at just 33 years old.

He won that November after a door knocking campaign that focused on economic development.

For 20 years, downtown had just been this wasteland of gravel parking lots He had a vision of a way that the city could work, and he had a way of bringing everyone into that vision.

Gradually buildings were built, businesses came back, restaurants opened.

In 1992, Mayor Kempthorne threw his hat in the ring for the open U.S.

Senate seat after Senator Steve Symms announced his retirement.

Mayor was not going to be the end all for him.

There was much more to come because he had so much potential.

I think it was just a natural transition for him to say, okay, we've had this impact at the local level.

Let's go do some more good things on a national scale.

I come here as a mayor running for the United States Senate from a state as proud of our computer chips as we are our Idaho potato chips.

he was pretty much nonpartisan as mayor And I think that when he ran for the U.S.

Senate, a lot of people were surprised when there were partisan messages in his campaign, and they were pretty partisan.

He was a fairly conservative Republican.

America should always light the way to freedom and shine with the principles of individual initiative and self-worth, family values, free enterprise and private property rights.

After ten debates, he defeated Democratic Congressman Richard Stallings in the general election.

He was a popular senator.

One of the very first things that he did back in Washington, D.C., was go around and visit 99 other senators.

That was uncommon.

But it was so Dirk Kempthorne-esque.

He was told you're a freshman, your number 100 in seniority.

Bide your time, that was never his intention in running for the United States Senate.

He wanted to go and make a difference At issue today is nothing less than the well-being of the cities, the counties, the schools, and the states.

unfunded mandates are just one more straw on the backs of our communities, the very communities that Congress is trying to help.

Ultimately, Senator Bob Dole agreed with that idea enough that it was Senate Bill One and ultimately was signed into law.

The important thing is that Senator Kempthorne has been able to stick with it long enough to get it done.

Nice to see you, Wolf Blitzer.

It's nice to see you.

How does it feel to be the father of this, this new law?

It feels tremendous.

He was a gifted politician.

He remembered people's names.

He asked about their families.

I remember pulling into Preston, Idaho with him and I, I was so proud of myself because I knew the mayor's name and I knew the mayor's wife's name, and I knew the mayor's kids names.

But then he said, but the dog's name is.

And he knew the dog's name.

After one term in the Senate, Kempthorne decided to return to Idaho and run for governor.

That was not an easy decision for him to make.

It's one that he put a lot of prayer and consideration into and visiting with Patricia and his family, And how long have you been in Washington with your husband as a senator?

A little less than two years.

And is it what you expected when you came?

I didn't know what to expect.

It was a surprising decision from, you know, the conventional wisdom as to what a politician would do.

But it fit for him.

I Dirk Arthur Kempthorne, do solemnly swear.

And when he came in, he had never been a legislator.

And there were things that he proposed that just fell flat.

We are looking forward to your message.

We will consider it seriously and we welcome you to this joint session.

Thank you very much for coming.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

And the legislators were like, we're not doing that.

You were quite upset by this vote, and you issued a statement saying it simply defies logic and that the lawmakers showed a lack of vision.

It was a very strongly worded statement.

Intended to be.

then in later years, he found other ways to bring those issues that he cared so deeply about to the legislature and to accomplish them and to get his legislation through.

I sure know how to use the veto stamp.

There are times that you just have to.

It sends the clearest of signals.

That tension bubbled over during a fight over transportation funding in the 2005 legislative session.

The roads in our state were not safe.

Lives were being lost.

The thought of a mom or a dad not coming home to their children because our roads weren't safe was just untenable for him.

In Idaho, the approach to funding roads and bridges and maintenance and repair had been for many, many years, pay as you go.

The deferred maintenance costs were just going up and up and up, and the deferred maintenance list was expanding and expanding.

So looking at all of that, and again, this emphasis on on safety and families, what else could we do?

So we looked at the GARVEE program, which was an opportunity to take future revenue streams today so that you could build the infrastructure that would then provide the framework for additional growth, which would create a tax base and pay off those bonds over time.

it was something new.

It required a seismic shift in in the philosophical thinking of both legislators as well as the bureaucracy.

They'd never been asked to look at something like this before.

Senator Brad Little expressed that it's kind of like a blank check.

He's concerned.

He wants to see firm numbers put into this this bill.

Weeks later, after a stalemate on negotiations, Kempthorne invited the media to his office as he issued a now iconic series of vetoes.

I'm willing to stay as long as it takes.

This may be a very long session, folks.

So with that, I will take care of some of these House bills.

Ultimately, the governor won the showdown.

Today, when you drive around the state of Idaho, you have divided highways in eastern Idaho and on Highway 95 going north.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be living in the Treasure Valley today with two lanes on I-84 going east and west.

That vision was necessary to accommodate the realities of today.

In 2006, near the end of the governor's second term, President George W Bush nominated Kempthorne to be his interior secretary.

Dirk Kempthorne is uniquely qualified for this important position.

He is the first Secretary of the Interior to serve as a governor, a senator, and a mayor.

And at each of these positions, prepared Dirk well for his new responsibilities I come from Idaho, home to spectacular scenery.

There is no more beautiful cathedral than the outdoors.

America the Beautiful is blessed with countless natural cathedrals that deserve our preservation.

I think he had had a strong track record of protecting the environment, As mayor, he called himself a pro-business environmentalist.

he wants people to go out and hunt and fish and hike and kayak and and do all of those things out in nature that we love to do here in Idaho.

But to support that, you have to have a strong business base.

And I think, again, being a good steward of the public's lands resonated with the Bush administration.

But part of what made Kempthorne so remarkable and effective was his ability to connect with others.

Over the course of his political career, everyone who he touched remembered him and he remembered them.

He could observe things.

He looked outwardly.

His whole intent was to understand them and then offer whatever help or assistance that he could He just had a way of connecting with people.

When he was talking to you, you kind of felt like the most important person in the world.

It was uncanny.

Whenever we had a victory and had worked hard on something and it had gone well, we'd get a little yellow sticky note on our desk and it said, good job, buddy.

And you know, I laughed about it.

And I thought, you know, see that?

That's kind of silly.

But today I look back and To be told by him, good job buddy, when you have thousands and thousands of Idahoans and millions and millions of Americans.

Who today are saying, good job, buddy.

That meant a lot.

>>Joining me to discuss Governor Kempthorne's legacy are two men who followed him in that office and also worked closely with him, Governor Brad Little and Senator Jim Risch.

Senator, I want to start with you.

Tell me about your relationship with Governor Kempthorne.

>>Well, you know, I knew him for a long, long time.

Like a lot of people, he was in the group of people who do political things and run for public office.

And I first got to know him when he was a lobbyist for FMC right before he ran for mayor.

And then, of course, when he was a lobbyist, you know, you get to know people up there pretty well in the statehouse.

Then once he ran for mayor, he was, he was full bore in the in the lanes that we run in in political things.

So, I got to know him relatively well there.

And as time went on we became better and better friends, and of course, I served as lieutenant governor when he was governor and then followed him as governor.

And we became- when I was lieutenant governor.

And actually, even before that in the Senate, I traveled with him on some, on some international travel.

We were promoting Idaho products in what they call a trade mission.

But over time, when you're dealing with issues, particularly issues that may be controversial or what have you, you get to know somebody pretty well.

So I knew him quite well.

>>I want to expand on that a little bit.

You were his third lieutenant governor.

You had already known him for years at this point, and you had that unique shared experience as both acting as governors and U.S.

senators.

And you've also both led through some challenging times, and you continue to lead through some challenging times.

He was governor during the 911 terrorist attacks.

You're the head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

Were there any lessons you learned about leadership through tough times from Governor Kempthorne?

>>Well, I think it's more of a sharing experience as opposed to learning.

I, I had been in governance for a number of years before I got to know Dirk.

So, it was a shared experience.

And I think people probably don't understand that as governors and former governors, we talk regularly and we have some unwritten rules.

No governor ever, at least in my lifetime, no governor has ever criticized another.

They may disagree and you may have a conversation about it, but it's very private.

So that's the way those things work.

And, and we're very fortunate in Idaho, as we've had a string of governors, five of them specifically, who are all in the same lane as far as understanding what is the proper role of government.

All of us were, to a degree more or less, mentored by Phil Batt who kind of started those things.

But he- I had numerous conversations with him.

I probably branded too, and we talked.

But it is between amongst ourselves.

>>Governor little, tell me about your relationship with him.

>>We got acquainted when he transferred the University of Idaho.

I think we took- I only took one political science class, and I took it with Dirk Kempthorne.

And there's some interesting stuff there, but then I, I did, I think, actively campaigned for him.

Not that he made a darn bit of difference when he ran for student body president.

So, Dirk and Patricia, we had a lot of- Theresa and I and Dirk and Patricia had a lot of common friends.

So we would, you know, that period in your life when your friends are getting married and you go to weddings... but then we got out of school and went to work for the state for a year or two.

Then he worked at- worked with FMC.

And at that time I was involved in industry and, and so, I knew Dirk very well when he was there.

Matter of fact, the head of the FMC facility was a really good friend of mine who had hired Dirk.

So then I perhaps might have offered him a job one time, but he said he'd rather be mayor of Boise than work for me.

And I said, "That's probably a good idea."

And but and then, you know, when he when he campaigned for Phil Batt in his first race, he was Phil's either official or campaign manager, and then, you know, obviously I supported him when he- in both his gubernatorial and Senate races and spent a lot of time, but Dirk and Patricia and the kids... But because we're... Theresa and I and Dirk and Patricia were the same, we had a lot of common history together.

>>So you had already known him for a couple of decades by the time he was governor, and you were a state senator serving on the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee.

Has your view of his actions and approach when he was governor changed, now that your governor?

Because it was no secret that you disagreed with him on a couple of big issues, including the GARVEE push in 2005.

>>He were... He... He's reminded me of that to the last, but I did eventually.

I just thought that when we did GARVEE, and both Governor and Otter and I were in that, we had to pay for it, and not just borrow the money.

We ought to, there ought to be a dedicated source of revenue.

But in hindsight, GARVEE was one of the... because he did it right before the big recession, and all our big projects were much cheaper because we had money set aside.

And more importantly, our big contractors were thriving in Idaho and are still here in Idaho because of what he did on GARVEE.

I still would have rather paid for it.

But yeah, we did have a little disagreement on GARVEE.

>>Just a little one.

Governor Butch Otter was unable to join us today, but he did want to share an anecdote.

He served as lieutenant governor for three governors.

And he told me, quote, "I learned patience under Dirk.

Phil Batt moved pretty fast.

Cec Andrus moved pretty fast.

I got so that whenever I needed to get something done, I moved pretty fast.

But Dirk was a little more calculating, a little more steady."

Does that sound about right with your..?

>>That's fair.

>>That's fair.

>>I agree with that.

>>That that is fair, but he was... But he also, rather than have a gut reaction, he also was very... and he and he had a good staff... he was also very calculating about what he did.

But when he, like I said, GARVEE was a good example.

Some of the things he did on education and early childhood, he was very calculated about that.

>>There was so much about Governor Kempthorne career that we weren't able to fit in the package earlier in the show.

You know, we his work at the Department of Lands, his work on the USS Boise and the USS Idaho, his work with the Bipartisan Policy Center, his work to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

What stands out to you most about his legacy?

>>Well, first of all, I think a lot of people are not going to even have knowledge of the fact, facts of what he did as far as helping get people out of Afghanistan.

I worked with him regularly on that.

Obviously, I had access to transportation and security and other things that he didn't.

And he was, he was single minded on that and pressed hard on it.

I was honored to work with him on it.

He had, he, he, on the other hand, had some financial resources privately that that we didn't have access to.

He was a real hero in that.

He saved people's lives.

People... some of them who will never even know that Dirk Kempthorne helped them.

So, he deserves a great kudos on that, and it just doesn't get discussed very much.

It's very quiet.

A lot of the stuff was classified, so you couldn't talk about it anyway.

On the USS Idaho, that was his, that was his love at the end.

He, he dedicated himself to that.

He did amazing things.

Most people don't understand that when the Navy builds a ship like that, they get a state that adopts it and what have you.

And he, and Dirk was all in on this.

And as he, he advised both of us and other friends of his last spring that he was in pretty tough shape physically.

He, even with that, he stayed with it as much as he could.

So, as we got along and it became obvious that Dirk was, was going to leave us, I went to the Navy and I said, "Look, I want to name part of this ship after Dirk Kempthorne."

And they said, "Oh, well, we've never done that before."

I said, "Well, that's not the answer I wanted."

Okay, so I kept after him and I really wanted the heart of the ship, namely, namely the engine compartment containing an engine that was developed in Idaho for Dirk.

And after enough calls, I had to go all the way up to the Secretary of the Navy, but after enough calls he finally rolled over.

Then the same thing happened as we got close to the commissioning of the ship, which was done two weeks ago, Brad and I were there.

Dirk... In that commissioning ceremony, there's a lot of usual government stuff, and the Navy for all that they do and, and salutes and all this sort of thing, and I, and they had somebody scheduled to do the main speech there, the keynote speech, and it wasn't Dirk.

So again, I started up... "No, well, that's the that's not the way we do things."

I wound up with the Secretary of Navy.

After enough calls, he agreed to let Dirk do that.

Dirk wrote a really good speech and but wasn't able to deliver it.

So he asked me to do that, and, and I did that, but he... and then fortuitously, he died.

We did that at what time, Brad, About 10:00 in the morning or 11 in the morning?

He had died at 9:00 the night before.

And they the family, rightfully, didn't, didn't put that out until after all of this was over with.

So, that was a, that was a sadness over that.

But he that that USS Idaho was, was his baby.

>>And you were at that commissioning too.

>>Well, but... That is a common theme in Dirk's service.

When he was in the Senate, he was on the Armed Services Committee.

And, and when he was governor, you know, the National Guard, the 1/16 were deployed.

And so, Dirk has been incredibly consistent in his unwavering support for defending this country, for the men and women that has served.

And then, of course, the USS Idaho.

We were laughing at the U.S.S.

Idaho event.

Richard, who was the head of the commissioning, that the next two states, Oregon and Wisconsin were there.

And when they saw all the things that Idaho did, I know they were going, oh my goodness, what?

Dirk sent a bar for Idaho, for the U.S.S.

Idaho, that Oregon, Wisconsin, that will be the bar for every single dedication of a naval ship in the name of a, of a state or even a city.

That will be... because I looked at my notes when he first called me, and it was we're going to raise $200,000.

He raised over a million and scholarships for the for for the cruise kids.

The, the inside of the... And you'll have it on your special.

The inside of the submarine looks like Idaho and, and, and believe me, those sailors are going to know all about Idaho [laughs] when they spend 90 days underwater in that thing.

>>You know, there were 800... there were 800 Idahoans that showed up for that.

And Durk had arranged for the dinner the night before.

And that dinner was spectacular.

And they had all the donors up there, and it was the who's who of Idaho that, that Dirk had rounded up to, to pay for that instead of government money.

>>You know, he, he did all of these grand things that had national and international impact.

But he was also so personable.

He remembered people's names.

I was an intern... I was an intern during that 2003 legislative session that broke records for its length.

I have Dirk Kempthorne stories from, from when I was a little intern running around the statehouse, and he really remembered people's names to.

So many people's names.

>>He was a master at that.

There's the... I've only known one other person that had that, as much ability as he did not only their names, but their spouse, their kids, who they knew and everything else.

He was an absolute master at that, with names.

And when, when you talked to Dirk Kempthorne, you were talking to him and his mind wasn't anywhere else.

He was talking to you and listening to what you had to say.

He... that is a an attribute that very few people have, but Dirk was an absolute master At it.

>>Yeah that, Fred or whatever your name is, that remember names is a hard thing to do.

[laughs] >>You know this comedian thing isn't good, Brad, stay with the governorship.

[laughs] >>But he was and it didn't matter who you were.

He gave Theresa and I and our sons a tour of the Capitol building.

The security guards, the elevator operators, everybody there, he knew them all.

It was just it was uncanny.

But it's an incredible, to Jim's point, it's an incredible example, everybody, to engage with people, how to engage with them and how much people appreciate that.

>>And it was sincere.

I mean, this was not make believe stuff.

This was... that was Dirk Kempthorne.

>>It certainly felt that way when you were speaking to him.

My last conversation with him was about two months ago, and that was still my experience.

He also frequently spoke about his family.

That was the most important thing in his life, and it was so clear how much he loved his children, his grandchildren, his wife, Patricia, who you said you've known as well.

>>Yeah.

We went to school together.

>>Yeah.

So important to him.

Any, any last thoughts on his legacy?

>>Well, I mean, it is so broad, and I know that Dirk would want is as we go through these, his official service and the family service and the interment... His wish would be that young people of Idaho to serve.

You know, he came to- he was he came to Idaho, went to school, was active in university politics, was active in local politics, city, federal level, state level.

But that state and local government class... I took it because I had a two our time slot.

He took it because he believed passionately in it and public service was... he was such an icon, of public service.

I hope everybody learns from it.

>>I would say one of the things he will be remembered for, I believe, is he was one of the best public speakers I've ever seen.

He, he, he delivered a speech... I've heard a lot of political speeches, okay.

But he gave one of the best, if not the best I've ever heard when he got an award from ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council in 2001.

The reason, and it was in August of 2001.

The reason I remember that, of course, is what happened on 911.

This was in New York City.

Dirk and I, and Patricia and Vicki, and a lot, a number of other people from Idaho had lunch at the Windows on the World restaurant, which was at the top of the World Trade Center.

And that was in about 2 or 3 weeks before 911.

In any event, the ALEC gave Dirk, a couple of days later, this Jefferson Award.

That was a big award and a huge crowd there because it was a national organization.

ALEC is a big, big organization.

Dirk delivered a speech there that is as good as I have ever heard anyone give a speech.

It was about America.

It was about being an American.

It was about who we are and what we are.

Interesting to be... It'd be interesting to go back and listen, because this was the this was a time before DEI came in and socialism came in, and all these other things that came along.

So, be interesting to go back and listen to that.

Great speech.

Great speech.

>>Well, we're going to have to leave it there.

But thank you both so much for joining us.

And Governor Kempthorne is scheduled to lie in state at the Idaho State Capitol starting 10 a.m.

on Friday, May 15th.

He will be transferred to the Cathedral of the Rockies at 10 a.m.

on Saturday.

The public is invited to the funeral at 11 a.m.

that day, and it will be streamed on the Cathedral of the Rockies website.

Thank you for watching.

Presentation of Idaho reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

With additional major funding provided by the estate of Darrell Arthur Kammer in support of independent media that strengthens a democratic and just society.

And by the Hansberger Family Foundation.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And donations to the station from viewers like you.

Thank you.