HAGADONE SHIFTED DONATION TO SECRET IDAHO ED GROUP
Millionaire Idaho businessman Duane Hagadone took back money from a group that was reporting it publicly and gave it to another that fought to keep its donors hidden.
On Aug. 6, Hagadone gave $15,000 to Yes for Education, a political action committee campaigning to preserve public schools chief Tom Luna’s education overhaul at the ballot box Nov. 6.
On Aug. 14, the PAC returned Hagadone’s $15,000, according to records filed with the Idaho secretary of state’s office.
On Sept. 24, he gave $15,000 to Education Voters of Idaho, a group that sought to keep its contributors secret but was forced by a judge Wednesday to reveal financiers, including Hagadone.
The Associated Press
EX-OFFICIAL HAS ROLE IN LAPTOP DEAL
A former Idaho state official now with Education Networks of America would play a key role under the state’s $182 million, eight-year contract for laptop computers for high school students.
The contract, obtained Tuesday by The Spokesman-Review under the Idaho Public Records Law, includes information about key staffers for the companies that partnered in the successful bid, including Hewlett-Packard, Education Networks of America and Xtreme Consulting. Among them is a familiar name: Garry Lough, Idaho director of customer services for ENA.
Until March 2 of this year, Lough was a state employee, working for the Idaho Department of Education and the Department of Administration as communications director for the Idaho Education Network.
The IEN is a state project that provides a broadband connection to every Idaho high school.
Lough is a former Idaho Republican Party executive director who went to work for the state in 2007 as a legislative liaison for the State Department of Education after a stint with the state controller’s office.”
Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review
