As George W. Bush prepared to accept his party's nomination for president in 2000 in Philadelphia, an Idaho Falls lawyer was nearby, making sure everything went as planned.

Blake Hall, former chairman of the Idaho GOP, was sergeant-at-arms at the Republican National Convention, working with the Secret Service and police to assure a smooth launch for Bush.

Hall's wife, Laurel, a top aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson and popular in her own right in the GOP, was helping write the platform Bush used to beat Vice President Al Gore.

The convention marked a high point in Blake Hall's remarkable career. In addition to helping elect presidents, Hall, 56, has advised governors and secured government clients that pay his law firm $600,000 a year. He recently earned $20,000 a month as a lobbyist for the contractor cleaning up the Idaho National Laboratory.

For a quarter century, Hall has been Idaho's most powerful unelected politician, influencing elections, judicial appointments and state policy, including education, economic development, welfare reform and health care. Now, Hall is in retreat, shedding power and leaving it to others to fill the void.

As a member of the State Board of Education for nine years, Hall spearheaded former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's reform agenda. He helped to strip authority from the elected superintendent of public instruction, require new standardized tests, expand charter schools, mandate more math and science courses, and make exit exams a requirement to graduate from high school.

Hall also has been considered for appointments as a U.S. district judge and a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. While not a household name, Hall is so well known in GOP circles that he's simply "Blake," no surname needed.

"They (Blake and Laurel Hall) were a great first family and representatives of the Republican Party for years," Gov. Butch Otter says.

But the Halls had a troubled marriage. Blake Hall first filed for divorce in 1993. The union finally ended bitterly in 2007, after a fifth divorce filing, with accusations by both parties of domestic violence, infidelity and financial disputes.

Since the divorce, Blake Hall has surrendered clout that took 30 years to acquire. He has left powerful local, state and national posts, sometimes amid criticism of his performance by Republicans.

Last year, after a public spat, Hall lost a prestigious tenant - Rep. Simpson - at the Idaho Falls office building owned by his law firm.

In January, Hall resigned as the top lawyer at the Republican National Committee after his candidate for party chairman lost.

In February, Hall's law firm changed its name after losing a prominent partner, Marvin Smith, a former judge whom Hall takes credit for putting on the bench. Hall said Smith left because a long-running conflict of interest limited his ability to work for a client. Smith did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In March, concerns about access to the building Simpson vacated prompted Hall to resign from the Idaho Falls redevelopment agency board. Hall said he left because he opposed a proposal, one of several alternatives under consideration, to close one of the streets serving the building to make way for expansion of the city's greenbelt.

Finally, in April, Hall quit the Idaho Board of Education as Otter and the Legislature reversed Kempthorne's and Hall's concentration of power in the board.

Some Idaho political leaders say the divorce - which divided friends and political allies - is a key factor in Hall's withdrawal.

Some suggest it follows decades in which Hall made enemies.

And some take Hall at his word, that he's purposefully changing his priorities, moving away from public life to spend time with children and grandchildren.

The man Hall beat to become Idaho Republican Party chairman in the 1980s said Hall's influence is waning. Jerry Deckard, a former legislator and Eagle mayor, now is a lobbyist. His clients include a hospital run by the man who married Hall's ex-wife last year.

"Blake has been a very powerful guy and still has a lot of juice," Deckard said. "But there have been people who have felt they've been stepped on over the course of 25 or 30 years. And, as Sen. (Jim) Risch says, 'You make friends, but along the way you accumulate enemies.' Now, does Blake's personality help that along? Probably. He's very forceful."

Otter said he respects Hall for refocusing. "I think Blake has decided to extract himself from a lot of things and focus his life in a different direction," Otter told the Idaho Statesman. "I think that's what Blake should do."

Hall said he's content with his diminished role. "I've given up power in the past and I will give up power in the future. Power is not important to me. ... If you do have power, it's only beneficial for one thing: And that's to do good things with it. And that's what I have attempted to do."

A PUBLIC LIFE

Hall grew up in Idaho Falls, the second of seven children in a Mormon family. He was drawn to politics early: He studied political science at Brigham Young University. While still attending BYU, Hall and Laurel Peterson married, on Dec. 27, 1974, in the Idaho Falls Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1976, he graduated magna cum laude and moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended George Washington University Law School and worked for Sen. Jim McClure, R-Idaho.

Hall passed the Idaho bar in 1979 and began practicing law. In 1983, he was hired by Bonneville County to handle civil legal matters, a job he still holds. Two years later, Idaho Republican Party Chairman Dennis Olsen died. Though just 32, Hall was nominated to succeed Olsen by his widow, Sheila, and elected in 1985.

"He looked even younger than he was," Olsen remembers. "But I saw experience and confidence and loyalty and willingness. He seemed to be a natural."

RISING GOP STARS

Laurel Hall also became active in the GOP and was elected precinct committeewoman, a post she still holds.

Hall's GOP chairman job, while unpaid, was demanding. In 1989, Hall resigned, saying he was spending as much time on party business as he was on his law practice. Stepping down cost Hall his spot on the Republican National Committee, made up of party chairs and the national committeeman and committeewoman from each state.

That year, Hall, then 36, was considered by then-Sen. McClure as a nominee for U.S. district judge in Idaho. Hall said McClure called and said he wanted to include his former aide on McClure's list of candidates, telling him the application process would be a good experience. McClure ultimately recommended Edward Lodge, who had 26 years of experience as a judge. Lodge got the job.

Hall's respite from the RNC lasted less than a year. In 1990, he was elected national committeeman, a post he retains, making him second in seniority on the RNC. In 1992, Hall cast one of Idaho's four electoral votes for George H. W. Bush.

PROBLEMS AT HOME

Around the time of Blake Hall's first divorce filing in 1993, he moved out for a year and a half. Hall now says he had an affair, which he said was widely known in Idaho Falls. The Halls, who have six children, reunited in 1994.

But on Aug. 22, 1994, both Halls filed for divorce. That evening, Laurel Hall told sheriff's deputies her husband struck her while she was at work in the office of then-Rep. Mike Crapo. She recanted three days later, according to a sheriff's report. No charges were filed, and the couple reconciled.

In the fall of 1994, after Phil Batt was elected governor, Hall served on his transition team. He later advised Batt on welfare reform and health care.

In 1996, Hall was back at another GOP national convention, chairing the Credentials Committee in San Diego.

At home, Hall's influence grew. In 1997, he became the first chairman of the Regional Development Alliance, an economic development agency formed to distribute $20.5 million in federal funds for Eastern Idaho as part of a settlement that Batt negotiated over waste at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Under Hall's leadership, which lasted to 2007, the money was given to about 70 companies and agencies. The RDA says it created hundreds of jobs. The agency also abandoned an effort to build a spaceport in Eastern Idaho after spending $523,000 of a $1 million budget. Hall said he pulled the plug to save tax dollars.

In September 2000, six weeks after Hall took part in his fifth GOP national convention, Gov. Kempthorne named him to the Idaho Board of Education. Eight months later, Hall became board vice president. In April 2002 he began a two-year term as president, becoming the first person to serve a second year at the top.

REFORMING EDUCATION

During most of his nine years on the eight-member board, Hall dominated.

As president, he helped Kempthorne win approval of the University of Idaho's University Place real-estate project in Boise. After the project failed in 2003, costing the U of I millions, Hall supported a $1 million investigation and worked to recover some money. After the inquiry documented widespread problems at the U of I, Hall said he blamed himself for the board not doing a better job of signaling to U of I employees that they could bring their concerns about the project directly to the board.

Hall also implemented Kempthorne's agenda on testing, charter schools, and math and science. And he oversaw a broad shift of duties away from Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard, at the time Idaho's lone Democratic statewide official.

ANOTHER SHOT AT BENCH

In 2003, Hall's was among four names submitted by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, to President George W. Bush for an opening on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a rung below the Supreme Court. The nomination was delayed by U.S. Senate politics. Bush ultimately chose Randy Smith, a state judge from Pocatello, who was confirmed in 2007.

During the vetting process, Hall said, he disclosed the 1994 sheriff's report, including his wife's recanted allegations of abuse, but he said it played no role in Bush's decision.

Early in the campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, Hall supported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and briefly led his Idaho campaign. But in March 2007, Hall left the Romney campaign when he was appointed general counsel of the Republican National Committee by a friend, GOP Chairman Mike Duncan. As general counsel, Hall oversaw the party's legal operations.

Three months later, Hall fought Romney's attempt to persuade the Idaho GOP to shift its May 2008 primary to a January 2008 caucus or convention. That made foes among some in the Romney organization. But Hall said it was his job to enforce party rules and to warn states they would lose delegates if they changed dates.

MISSING BOARD MEETINGS

In the months surrounding his September 2007 divorce, Hall began to miss Board of Education meetings. Having been absent six times in seven years, he missed 10 of 11 meetings between July 2007 and January 2008. "I believe it was unrelated to my going through the divorce," Hall told the Statesman. He said he was busy with work and his children, including a son he picked up overseas after his LDS mission. Between February 2008 and his April 2009 resignation, Hall missed only one meeting.

The divorce did play a role in the dispute with Rep. Simpson over the congressman's office space and the First Amendment.

In April 2008, Hall shooed anti-war protesters from the grounds of his building at 490 Memorial Drive in Idaho Falls, which then housed the law firm, as well as offices for Simpson and both of Idaho's U.S. senators.

At the time, Simpson said his motive for leaving was preserving constituents' free speech rights. Now, Simpson says, the incident only accelerated his departure. Simpson told the Statesman he was planning to move because of the "discomfort of Laurel being there in the office after the divorce." Laurel Hall, who worked for Crapo from 1993 to 1999, had joined Simpson's staff after Crapo advanced to the U.S. Senate.

"We were probably going to move at the end of the year anyway," Simpson said. "This kind of speeded it up."

Sens. Crapo and Risch now plan to leave Hall's building as well. They say they aren't departing because of a beef with Hall, but because they want the delegation located together.

BROKEN PARTNERSHIP

Hall's ex-wife is Simpson's top aide on issues regarding the Idaho National Lab and natural resources. Simpson said he believes Blake Hall's clout has been diminished by the divorce.

"I do think that Blake underestimated the value that Laurel was to him, in terms of how well she is liked among Republicans and people she deals with," Simpson said. "But then, don't all of us men do that?"

Hall dismisses Simpson's view. "Do people take sides in these things? You know that happens. But I don't believe there's been any consequence."

Four months after Simpson moved offices, Laurel Hall remarried in the Bountiful, Utah, LDS Temple, on Oct. 18, 2008. Her husband, Jeff Sayer, is president and CEO of Mountain View Hospital in Idaho Falls. Three weeks before the wedding, Romney toured Sayer's hospital as part of a Risch campaign event.

Blake Hall has not remarried, but has dated and moved to make amends with old foes.

A CHRIST-LIKE APPROACH

Hall said he has tried to soften his take-no-prisoners image.

"So if some people have noticed that, I'm glad," Hall said. "I've tried to become kinder, more gentle and more Christ-like in my approach throughout life, and maybe it's starting to catch."

Hall, who teaches gospel doctrine at his LDS ward, said he went through a review related to his marital infidelity and complied with "all the church processes."

In January, Mike Duncan, Hall's candidate for re-election as national Republican chairman, was defeated by Michael Steele, who was backed by Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko. Hall said he had decided to resign as general counsel whether or not Duncan was re-elected. Hall stepped down, but was elected to the RNC's budget committee, which he said puts fewer demands on his time.

Hall has clashed with Steele. He was part of a group of five senior RNC members who pressed the new chairman to concede to financial oversight. Steele agreed to some changes, but lashed out at Hall and the others, writing in April that they sought a "completely unprecedented usurpation of the authority of the RNC chairman."

Hall said his concern is good governance at the RNC.

QUITTING THE STATE BOARD

In February, Hall lost a key 6-2 Board of Education vote against a plan to speed a medical school at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He'd also lost lesser battles, including opposing new blue turf at Boise State University's Bronco Stadium. Hall first wanted a study on the cost-effectiveness of turf as opposed to natural grass.

On April 3, Hall submitted his resignation to Otter, effective immediately. Otter said he didn't force Hall out, but acknowledged that reforms Otter championed undid Hall's efforts to make the board more powerful.

"Dirk (Kempthorne) wanted him on the board to do those things," Otter told the Statesman. But Otter said the board was "involved way too much in the management and operations."

Working with the 2009 Legislature, Otter returned the board to its traditional role - setting policy and overseeing higher education - and restored power to the superintendent, now Republican Tom Luna. This month, eight jobs were shifted from the board to Luna to oversee federally mandated statewide testing and a program to help low-income students get to college.

"You've got to remember I was changing pretty dramatically the culture of the board," Otter said. "I'm not saying this is why Blake quit, but they were going from the master of the education universe back to the policy and their primary concern with higher ed."

A HOUSE OF CARDS?

Hall told the Statesman he had accomplished everything he could and had no interest in being reappointed in 2010 when his term expired. "I needed to have my life simplified," he said.

Former state Sen. John Hansen, a Republican who chaired the Senate Education Committee in the 1990s, is a critic of Hall's tenure, saying his "ideological power play damaged education in Idaho."

Hansen said he was surprised to see Hall quit, but reads the resignation as proof of slipping clout.

Hall deftly used political connections to build his law practice, said Hansen, also a lawyer in Idaho Falls. "He left the impression that if you wanted to get through a door, you needed to do it with him," Hansen said.

Hall's aura of invincibility has faded since the divorce, Hansen said. "He's not the same guy," Hansen said. "People were frankly afraid to buck him. He was able to project the image that he had a lot of influence and could hurt people. He was able to build a house of cards. And now, it may be falling."

SLOWING THE PACE

Hall's boss at Bonneville County, Prosecutor Dane Watkins Jr., said he has noticed Hall struggling personally and is keeping a close watch.

"I think Blake has been down more recently than he has (in the past) in terms of emotionally," Watkins said. "But I do think, at the end of the day, he is a very good attorney and the county is actually getting a bargain."

Last year, State Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, tried to force Hall off the Board of Education over financial mismanagement, including a $1.4 million deficit and the near-loss of $36 million in scholarships. Hall fought ferociously, Jorgenson said: "He pulled out all the stops to save his career and save face."

Jorgenson now says he takes Hall at his word that he wants to wind down. "I honestly believe he felt it was the right time to go. He'd defended his honor. The inquisition had passed. And now he should be recognized for all the good things he's done for the state and his party."

Hall said he's doing fine and wants more time with his children and grandchildren. "My grandfather used to say, 'You can run half your life and you can walk half your life. And it's a lot easier to run your first half of your life so that you can walk the second half.' "

Dan Popkey: 377-6438