VIPs skip out on Reno’s speach

(U-WIRE) MOSCOW, ID – When Janet Reno spoke on the University of Idaho campus for the Bellwood Lecture last week, those with the worst view of the former attorney general were some of the most important people in the entire lecture hall.

The dignitaries, those sitting on stage in the powder-blue chairs staring at Reno’s backside, were the honored guests of the College of Law.

Last year, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke, that backfield lineup included folks like Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court Linda Copple Trout and UI President Bob Hoover.

This year, Reno had an impressive, but less familiar, rearview audience. These included L. Michael Bogert, Kempthorne’s legal counsel, UI Provost Brian Pitcher, a representative from the state attorney general’s office and a former U.S. attorney.

This difference was not intentional – many dignitaries had unavoidable conflicts – and not political – just because Reno is one of the most noted liberals in the country does not mean elected officials of one of the most Republican states in the country would skip out on her speech, right?

“It has nothing to do with the fact that it was Janet Reno,” said Mark Snider, Kempthorne’s press secretary. “You can pick any Republican and it would have been the same.” Where was the governor?

“It really doesn’t matter because he wasn’t there,” Snider said.

Hoover, who was listed on the program as a speaker, was also unaccounted for. Pitcher gave no explanation of Hoover’s whereabouts during his remarks. The president was in Boise for a president’s council, according to UI spokesperson Kathy Barnard.

All four presidents of Idaho’s four-year institutions met in the capital city last week. Their schedules are likely some of the most difficult in the state to coordinate, and Hoover was back in Moscow Wednesday. Justice Copple Trout also had an excused absence. She was in Coeur d’Alene holding court with the other justices. They do that to be more accessible to people in different parts of the state, the court’s receptionist in Boise said.

Even though Reno might not have had two rows of the state’s political celebrities, the university did rent security personnel to man the doors with metal detectors, something not seen when Scalia visited.

Managing Editor, Idaho Argonaut (U. Idaho)

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