Gov. Butch Otter’s recruitment of John Foster, a former Idaho Democratic Party executive director, suggests Otter is taking seriously his promise to defend “Students Come First” at the polls Nov. 6.
The news, rumored the past two weeks, prompted anger and disappointment in Democratic circles, where repealing the three 2011 laws authored by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna is a litmus test. In addition to a mandate for online classes, the laws restrict collective bargaining to salaries and benefits and enact pay-for-performance.
“It has changed and is gonna change the complexion and effectiveness of education in Idaho, big time,” Otter said. “In order to be successful, you gotta get the best people.”
Foster and his Seattle-based lobbying and consulting firm, Strategies 360, have lost one client as a result — the Professional Firefighters of Idaho, which is allied with the Idaho Education Association on many issues.
“It was a shock to hear,” said Mike Walker, a Boise firefighter and lobbyist. “John provided really good service and good advice, but loyalty’s pretty important.”
The kerfuffle forced Foster to abandon his plan for a contract with his company, and to take the job on the side. “It was decided that the firm itself wasn’t going to be involved,” said company spokesman Paul Queary.
Among Strategies 360’s clients is the Alaska teachers union. Said Foster: “I offered to just do this on my own.”
Foster will partner with Ken Burgess, who worked for former GOP U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and is a veteran lobbyist. “It appears John’s suffering the wrath, but I respect him, like him and I think he’s smart,” Burgess said.
Foster, 38, came late to politics and was viewed suspiciously from the time he was hired as the party’s executive director in 2007.
“Whatever his considerable skills, he had not demonstrated any particular depth of loyalty or involvement with the Democratic Party,” said former Chairman Keith Roark, who worked with Foster.
Foster was a professional cyclist and journalist before joining the Democrats. He made some enemies during Walt Minnick’s 2008 winning campaign for Congress, including former candidate and now party Chairman Larry Grant.
Foster raised more doubts in 2010 when he managed Minnick’s losing re-election bid, taking criticism for sharply negative ads that attacked Republican Rep. Raul Labrador for practicing immigration law.
After that race, Foster told the Boise Weekly, “There is no Democratic Party in Idaho. ... Any advice I would give would be to accept that reality and move on.”
Hearing the news Tuesday, Roark said, “There will be lots and lots of people in the Democratic Party whose reaction will not be outrage, but, ‘I told you so.’ ”
Roark said Foster has “some gifts and skills that are outstanding,” but that he doesn’t consider his defection decisive. “I don’t want to be harsh toward John, but I don’t think he has a record of success that would cause anyone on the other side to quake or tremble.”
Grant said, “I assume it’s about money,” an assertion Foster said was nonsense.
“I feel very fortunate to get paid as well as I do,”Foster said of his consulting practice. “The financialaspects are not a concern.”
Foster’s wife, who teaches online classes for the College of Western Idaho, is pregnant with their fourth child. He said he believes in education reform. “Despite the rhetoric and vitriol over the last year, there was a real void in the conversation because the vast majority in the middle who might be interested in education reform weren’t spoken to.”
Idaho Education Association Executive Director Robin Nettinga agrees with Foster that the issue is non-partisan. Still, she was troubled by rumors and said she confronted Foster on Jan. 20. After he confirmed his plans, she said she wished him good luck.
Word had reached Minnick, who had coffee with Foster the next day. “I asked him if it were true. He said he was thinking about it,” Minnick recalled. “He’s in the government relations business and he’s got to decide what clients he takes. I don’t have any comment with respect to his decision.”
Two important party figures close to Foster, former House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet and House Minority Caucus Chairman Brian Cronin, were uncomfortable talking about Foster’s leap. “He’s a big boy and makes his own choices,” Cronin said.
Roark said Foster can never work for another Idaho Democrat, and added, “The real question is will he be trusted by Republicans and Republican-leaning organizations?”
Foster said Democrats are crippled by dogma. “To assume that because I’ve done work for Democrats that somehow it’s wrong to support education reform is, in itself, wrong.”
