The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1906-10-31
'GOODING GRAFT
LANSDON LOOT
Public Records Show Crooked
Methods Of the Gang

which are now penang against koD-I
ert Landson, the Gooding nominee
for Secretary of State. it will no
doubt be of passing interest to the
voters Of the state to learn that at the
time Of the Pocatello convention,
Mr.. Gooding demanded that Lansdon
be nominated Secretary Of State. ex-
claiming ~ know Lansdon. He is
man we can work with. !" Governor
Gooding knew what sort of a man
MIR. Lansdon was and is.
On November 10, 1905, Mr. J.
W. Keefe, deputy state examiner, in
his official capacity visited Weiser
and inspected the books and records
of the various county officials, among
others the sheritf's office.
At the january meeting of the
Board of County Commissioners Of
Washington county, not having recelv-
ed a copy of the report from the
hands Of the proper official, the
Board of County Commissioners, on
January 8, 1906, entered an order
on their records (See Book A, page
42O) directing that the clerk Of the
board write the Governor for this
report. On the same day the clerk
of the board did 50 write the Govern
or for the report. Receiving no reply
from this letter the board phoned to
Governor GoOding for the report
The Governor promised the board that
he would take up the matter with Mr..
Keefe and send down at the earliest
date copy Of the report. This he
never did. On the contrary, the re-
cords in the office Of the state ex
aminer show that on the 18th day of
January, 1906. this report was
mailed to the Governor and it has
never been heard from since. Later,
in June 1906, Mr.. Keefe, as deputy
state examiner, gave to the clerk Of
the Board of County Commissioners
of Washington county, duplicate
copy of said report which he signed
in his official capacity, to take the
place of the copy pigeon holed by
the Governor. The report is here
with printed in full:
Boise, Idaho, Jan. 10, 1906. To
His Excellency, Frank R. Gooding,
Governor Of Idaho
Dear Sir. I'm compliance with
your request, l beg leave to submit
my report on the Examination of
Washington county, which | visited
on or about November 10, 1906.
CLERKS OFFICE.
l found the affairs of this Office to
be conducted in most businesslike
manner under the able supervision Of
Frank E. Smith. ex-ofnCio Auditor
and Recorder. Ills fee accounts were
absolutely correct. The balance OF
cash ON hand fully covering collec-
tions reported. The system In use
in this Office Is about the same As that
of other counties and while 1t Is my
intention to introduce uniform sFs-
tenn Of accounting as far as possible
this could not be accomplished q
that time or all at once, for thu
reason that we had to visit al
counties in order to select that. sys
tenn which was best suited and castles
adopted by the whole.
In regard to the Assessors oftic'
would state that the books have beel
recently exported for the years l99l
to 1904, inclusive, and that the re
port has been accepted by the Coun
ty Commissioners. There seems t
have been little OF. no system main
tanned in this Office in the past ant
the books show balance outstandin
against the assessor for the year
1902, and also against the incum
bent for the years 1904.
The total amount due the count
from those offices being in th
neighborhood OF four thousand eigh
hundred and sixtyfive (s4, sos. 00) {
this amount "a, COZ SO appears to 3
unsolicited personal prop rty an
poll tax, leaving q balance {
s745. SO against the Assessor 70
1902 and s1I2.2 % against Robel
Lansdon for the years 1904.
understand that the Board I
County Commissioners have brougi
suit against the Assessor and b
bondsmen for the years 1901-2, an
that the amount of his shortage h
been rendered to. them. with the e
ception Of the uncolIected person
property and poll tax. amounting
sl,T34.o5.
Whether the county can bold Z