AG's Office: Gap in statute allows Idahoan to qualify for press exemption

The Idaho Attorney General's Office has determined The Idahoan, an election campaign-focused publication mailed out a few weeks ago, qualifies for the press exemption under Idaho's sunshine laws, but it may not be exempt under federal law. 

Newspapers are exempt from the state's sunshine laws, provided they are not owned or controlled by political candidates or a party. 

In a letter, Idaho Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane wrote that The Idahoan qualifies for the press exemption under Idaho law because the word "committee" is not included in the state statute.

Kane wrote that while the newspaper is not funded or controlled by a candidate, there is a question whether it is controlled by a political committee. Some of the funding for the publication, about $100,000, appears to have come from a political action committee headed by Lou Esposito, one of the Idahoan's editors. 

Kane noted that as publisher and editor Esposito does control much of the content in the Idahoan. 

"Although purporting to be a newspaper, The Idahoan appears to be a shill intended as cover for Mr. Esposito's political committees and their corresponding viewpoints," Kane wrote, in a first version of the letter released to media. 

 The AG's office looked into the matter at the Idaho Secretary of State's request after the Idaho Democratic Party complained the Idahoan is funded by conservative political organizations and is an attempt to circumvent campaign and election laws by being improperly classified as a newspaper. 

Kane suggested Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney consider amending the statute to include the word "committee"  if Denney believes the activity in his analysis warrants oversight.