When I arrived for new student orientation at the University of Idaho in August 1974, the second person I met, welcoming us all on the tour bus, was the new student president, Dirk Kempthorne. He was a great greeter – really, my introducer to Idaho.
From right then I could tell: To the degree people simply have innate political and campaigning talents, you could see them in Kempthorne, who died on April 24. Over the next academic year I observed him in my role as a student newspaper reporter covering the student government. The idea that he might end up in higher office in the “real world” was thought a possibility.
To meet him at any point in his adult life was to encounter a courteous, self-possessed, able communicator well capable of navigating whatever social waters he encountered. He really was well suited for politics.
What I didn’t know on orientation day but learned later was that Kempthorne already had been through a political wringer. The February student election was contentious, with Kempthorne facing initially one opponent, Jeff Stoddard, then a third entry, Rod Gramer (in the years since a prominent regional journalist and education advocate). Kempthorne was a plurality and not a majority winner, and the question of what might have happened if Gramer had not entered – as in many such cases – has been hashed over ever since by those who were around at the time.
But there was more. After the election a student activist named John Orwick filed a petition saying the election rules had been violated (he didn’t allege any candidate was responsible) with the implication that the election results should be thrown out. That wrangling went on for weeks until time came to swear in the new student officers, and at that point Orwick agreed to drop the challenge. His pullback followed discussions with Kempthorne which convinced him the new president would work to change and improve the election process (which he did). Kempthorne announced that decision, adding, “John decided to withdraw his petition so the people who took the oath of office tonight wouldn’t have to worry about being bounced out of office.”
Over the years ahead, Kempthorne seemed to have the golden touch in Idaho politics, reaching a succession of offices – Boise mayor, U.S. senator, Idaho governor, Interior secretary – no one else has matched.
That does not mean it was all automatic. Sometimes he happened to be in the right place at the right time. And some of it involved something more.
Kempthorne’s political trajectory really began with his successful race for Boise mayor in 1985. But that candidacy did not come out of nowhere. It emerged from what was then a roiling stew of Boise politics, over the unlikely subject of downtown redevelopment: The leaders of city hall had one vision for how that should proceed, and an increasingly large and popular opposition had another. That well-organized opposition won two seats on the Boise City council in 1983, and was poised for a takeover in 1985. Its leadership picked out a slate of contenders from across the political spectrum. A key question: Who should they choose for mayor? Maybe someone new, who could project well across a wide range of people?
Dirk Kempthorne, who was just one among several serious prospects, emerged from that selection process, and he was an excellent choice. His run for mayor – helped by riding a popular insurgency – was smooth and efficient. After he won, his tenure as mayor won widespread applause, and he remarkably won re-election unopposed. His elections to the Senate and the governorship were not surprising.
From a distance, all of this would look easy, and in hindsight, almost foreordained.
But the point here is that even in the case of well-timed political talent, there are hinges that can swing either way, and can choke off a path of progress as easily as enable it. Dirk Kempthorne seemed to understand those hinges, in politics and often in government as well, well. He was able to make a difference as a result.
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