04/04/07 Denney, Idaho House Speaker

When farmer-rancher Bruce Newcomb stepped down as Idaho House Speaker at the end of last year Lawrence Denney was elected to fill the vacancy. DENNEY "I believe in limited government, lower taxes and personally responsibility. And I believe that government should only do for us those things that we can't collectively do for ourselves." Now that the legislative session is over Denney can spend his time at his home in Midvale. He works for the telephone company, a blue collar kind of guy. DENNEY "And I'm very comfortable with a shovel in my hand getting down in the trench and digging dirt and putting in fiber optic cable, or conduit, or whatever needs to be done." While he prefers to say little, he's not afraid to speak out. Denney says he confounds the press, especially those reporters who follow the political doings at the Statehouse. DENNEY "If I can answer a question yes or no I answer yes or no and they say 'yes what?' And I say 'yes.'" Denney says he's proud of his House leadership team, a group he calls conservative, a group made up of farmers and ranchers. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill