Idaho Education Network stirs up more controversy

By JOHN MILLER

BOISE, Idaho

The $60 million Idaho Education Network became the focus of another fight Wednesday, with some local Internet service providers demanding it be put on hold because they're being excluded from the project and the state budget chief warning lawmakers against delays.

Lawmakers approved the statewide broadband network in 2008 to link public schools, universities and businesses. Qwest Communications Co. lobbied hard for the system and won a big share of building it.

Then, in December, telecommunication company Syringa Networks sued the state, saying it had been illegally excluded from the deal. Syringa, a consortium of 12 rural Idaho telephone companies, also alleges Department of Administration Director Mike Gwartney threatened to take away its other business with Idaho, if it complained.

Wayne Hammon, the governor's budget chief, joined the fray Wednesday. He warned House and Senate leaders of consequences should the chairman of the budget committee delay approving Gwartney's authority to spend a $3 million donation on the broadband network's next phase.

The money is from the private J.A. and Kathryn Albertson education foundation, and the budget committee chairman, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, has scheduled a hearing for Friday.

Cameron has long been critical of Gwartney's brusque style, something Hammon alluded to in his note.

"There have been rumors this week that the Department of Administration budget may be left open on Friday and the Idaho Education Network funding left out as a tool to further the personal war between Mike and Dean," Hammon wrote. "This is a bad idea on a number of levels. ... If necessary, we talk more (in person and off-line) about what might happen if IEN is not approved."

Hammon, who didn't immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for more specifics on possible consequences, apologized to lawmakers Wednesday afternoon.

"Unfortunately, I spoke out of turn and regret sending the e-mail," Hammon said in another e-mail obtained by the AP. "I was not speaking for the Governor ... and will not be involved in the issue from here on."

Cameron, who said he was offended by Hammon's tone, said he supports the Idaho Education Network and doesn't intend to let any friction with Gwartney or Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's budget chief block the project.

Still, Cameron concedes there's concern among some on his 20-member budget committee about moving forward with the network's funding Friday. He also noted that Syringa and the state plan to meet next week to try to resolve the lawsuit. Pre-empting those out-of-court discussions by setting the next tranche of the network's budget might be unwise, Cameron said.

"If we step ahead of that mediation, are we somehow influencing that outcome?" he said.

Also Wednesday, a spokesman for Intermax Networks, an Internet service provider in Coeur d'Alene, told lawmakers they should hold off on approving the $3 million from the Albertson foundation.

Mike Kennedy said his company and others, including Moscow's First Step and Microserv in Idaho Falls, could provide "last mile" links to schools as effective as the ones Qwest is now building, but at a fraction of the cost.

Idaho officials, meanwhile, defended the Idaho Education Network and Qwest's work, contending Kennedy and the others are just trying to muscle in on the action long after the project began.

None of the Internet firms submitted bids, said Melissa Vandenberg, Gwartney's staff attorney.

"We don't allow someone to come in after the prices are already disclosed and the cost disclosures are public record to come in and say, 'I can do it cheaper,'" Vandenberg said.

The Idaho Education Network now connects 56 schools.

For instance, Emmett High School is getting a Holocaust literature class from Weiser High School, while kids in Gooding can take live algebra classes from the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls without leaving their campus.

Tom Luna, Idaho's superintendent of public instruction, argued that delaying the Idaho Education Network could spell the demise of these links -- and harm students who are quickly growing to depend on them.

"There is no pause button," Luna said. "There's only a kill switch."