Blake Hall, a prominent figure in Idaho and national politics for 25 years, was fired Monday as a deputy prosecuting attorney in eastern Idaho, though he kept a legal job working for a neighboring county and still works for two other government entities.

Hall, a former member of the State Board of Education, pleaded guilty Friday to stalking a former girlfriend, who recently married another man. Hall began a 15-day jail sentence Saturday. He also was sentenced to a year of supervised probation.

Idaho Falls police reported that witnesses said Hall disposed of used condoms on the lawn of the woman's house. Nineteen condoms, collected on 10 dates, were turned over to police, according to a police report. Hall and his lawyer acknowledged the condoms belonged to him, police reported.

Between March and August, Hall repeatedly followed the woman to restaurants, stores, the movies and her home, and he ignored her repeated requests that he leave her alone, according to police and court records.

The victim, 37, testified Friday that Hall, 56, once followed her to a Walmart and took her car keys and would not return them until she agreed to "hear him out" concerning her marriage, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported.

"I was so tired of being victimized," the woman said. "It is unimaginable that a 56-year-old would be so deviant."

Bonneville County Prosecutor Dane Watkins Jr. said he met with Hall for about an hour at the jail Monday and fired him as the county's chief civil attorney, a job Hall had held since 1983.

"The bottom line is he just couldn't work for the county, representing the county's interests, when he was being supervised on a criminal conviction," Watkins told the Idaho Statesman. "He was a member of the prosecutor's office, and every day we make decisions that relate to this very thing. I just didn't think it was appropriate to preserve that relationship."

But Hall, of Idaho Falls, will keep his $31,000-a-year job as the civil attorney in nearby Fremont County, according to Prosecutor Joette Lookabaugh, a Republican who hired Hall in January.

In addition to his county work, Hall has a private law practice. He also is administrator of the state Catastrophic Health Care Program, or CAT fund, and an attorney for the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, or ICRMP. Hall's work for government agencies brings his law firm about $600,000 annually.

In a news release, Lookabaugh suggested Hall was singled out because of his prominence.

"There seems to be a certain amount of political glee in striking down the well-known for any real or perceived foible," she said.

Hall first became a member of the Republican National Committee in 1985, when he was elected Idaho GOP chairman. He was the second-most-senior member of the 148-member RNC, and since 1990, he had been Idaho's national committeeman.

Earlier this year, he resigned as the committee's general counsel. Also earlier this year, he quit the State Board of Education after nine years shaping education policy.

In a written statement, Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko praised Hall. "I am grateful for Blake's many years of service to the Republican Party and appreciate that he put the party first by submitting his resignation," he wrote.

Hall surrendered Saturday at the Bonneville County Jail, two days before he was required to report by District Judge Don Harding.

David Leroy, a former Idaho attorney general, is Hall's lawyer. "In my opinion, he accepted this severe penalty with extreme grace," Leroy said Monday. "He was calm and strong."

Harding denied Hall's request for work release, which would have allowed him to spend nights in jail but be freed during the day.

"Blake Hall has absolutely no prior criminal record," Leroy said. "Yet he was denied a privilege commonly given in that jurisdiction of work release to attend to business during a relatively brief period of incarceration."

Special Prosecutor Jay Rosenthal said Monday that the sentence was fair. "I believe the judge recognized how invasive this defendant was in the life of this young lady," Rosenthal said. "He held her effectively prisoner in her own community, and he needed to know what it was like to not be free."

Harding has been a judge for 18 years, working mostly in the 6th Judicial District. Harding was assigned the case in the 7th District because of Hall's many connections in the region's legal community. Said Harding: "I've never seen (a stalking case) this extensive, where it lasted so long and (was) such an invasion of privacy."

Harding suspended all but 15 days of a six-month jail sentence. But he denied Hall's request for a withheld judgment, which could have resulted in expunging the conviction had Hall completed one year of supervised probation and a treatment program. Leroy said Hall plans to ask Harding to reconsider his decision on the withheld judgment.

Dan Popkey: 377-6438