BOISE – Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, acknowledged disappointment Friday about not being assigned to a seat on the Idaho Legislature’s powerful joint budget committee.

    “Yes it was,” a disappointment, Smith said.

    Smith’s interview statement in the House of Representatives came after the Friday conclusion of the Legislature’s two-day organizational session, a prelude to the 2013 regular legislative session scheduled to start Jan. 7.

    Smith was left off House Appropriations Committee – the House side of the Legislature’s 20-member Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, known as JFAC, where the Republican majority maintains 16 seats.

    “I wanted to be on JFAC, but I’m not a Boise Democrat,” Smith said, citing the reason given to her directly by House minority leadership for not being selected.         Seniority for Smith, a seventh-term state lawmaker, tops that of Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, a fourth-term legislator who received the JFAC nod.

    But House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, defended the minority leadership decision, saying that maintaining an appropriate regional balance on JFAC was a major consideration.

    “Yes, she is more senior than Phylis,” Rusche said. “However, seniority isn’t the only deciding factor when someone goes to make choices for a committee.”

    Rusche noted that including Smith on JFAC would have put two Bannock County Democrats and two Latah County Democrats there, leaving Ada County – where capital city Boise is the county seat – without Democrats on JFAC.

    A spot on JFAC for the Pocatello Democratic delegation instead went to a freshman in the Senate – Roy Lacey.

    “We did get somebody from the Pocatello Democrats on the committee (JFAC), so that’s good,” Smith said.

    Lacey on Thursday said he was happy to land the position on JFAC.

    “I wanted JFAC, I wanted Local Government and Tax (Taxation), and I got em’,” said Lacey, who has moved to the Senate after one, two-year House term. “And, I’m just real excited about it. I think they’re both very important committees, and I think I can give a lot to both of them, so I’m excited about that.”

    Former Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello – who retired this year – was a member of JFAC for three two-year terms, through the 2012 session.

    In addition to Lacey and Smith from Bannock County, Rusche said a hypothetical situation including four Democrats would have put Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow and Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, from Latah County, on JFAC.

    That thought process led to omitting Smith from JFAC, Rusche said.

    “Thinking over the way to best represent the Democrats and the Democratic voice on JFAC, I made the decision, we made the decision that that would be the best way to do it,” Rusche said. “It came about, the fact that Ada County deserves some representation on JFAC. That’s the reason.”

    Rusche added, “She’s (Smith) a valuable member of the (Democratic) caucus, she’s a ranking member on the State Affairs (Committee), she’ll be on our economic outlook committee, but, you know, one of the things you have to make sure you do is get the (regional) representation.”

    Ringo, a sixth-term legislator, was reassigned to House Appropriations, but first-timers Schmidt, Lacey, and King filled the other JFAC Democrat slots.    

    Smith got assigned to the same three House committees that she was a member of during the 2012 legislative session – State Affairs, Business, and Environment, Energy and Technology.

    “I’ve been on State Affairs for 11 years,” Smith said. “I enjoy that committee, though, it’s a good committee. So, if I can’t be on JFAC, then I want to be on State Affairs.”