Geez. You just can't make this stuff up.
Yet another prominent Republican has fallen from grace. What, you ask, brought this one down?
Used condoms. No kidding.
More after the fold.
Idaho is a red state. Intensley red, in fact. Idaho politics is the domain of the few, the white, the Republican males. Prominent Republicans aren't just upity-ups in the state party and the RNC, they also enjoy lucrative contracts and positions of power in state agencies.
And so it was with Blake Hall. According to the Idaho Statesman:
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.
Hall, along with his private law practice, was also a prosecuting attorney in Bonneville County and a civil attorney for Freemont County. He also is administrator of the state Catastrophic Health Care Program, and an attorney for the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program. Hall's work for government agencies brings his law firm about $600,000 annually.
Like they say, membership has its rewards.
But then Blake Hall's world crumbled. It seems that .... you guessed it! ... he has a problem with women. And sex. And stalking. He was charged with stalking a former girlfriend, but that's not the whole story:
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.
Hall plead guilty and received a six month jail sentence. All but fifteen days were suspended. Hall will do a couple weeks in county jail. In Idaho, that's a pretty stiff sentence for a rich, white guy.
But that's not the end of the story.
A supplemental police report filed Nov. 5 alleges Hall had sex with a woman who had been his client in a divorce case - not the woman he was accused of stalking. The woman "said that she had initially paid Blake Hall for his legal services and then met with him in a secluded parking lot a couple of days later where he returned her money," according to the report.
The woman "also said that Blake Hall was her attorney for 45 days and on the 46th day they traveled to Driggs, Idaho, and had sex," according to the report.
What a guy! He returned her money. Now that is indeed unusual for a Republican. I suspect the only reason he returned her money is because lawyers are prohibited from having sex with clients.
Hall has resigned his RNC position and has been fired from his Bonneville County job. The party faithful, however refuse to acknowledge the truth.
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 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.
Foible indeed. Like I said, you just can't make this stuff up.