Legal-Courts
Lowe Got 3/4 Million Settlement
August 22, 2012 
Betsy Russell of the SPOKESMAN reports former Idaho transportation director Pam Lowe ened up with $.75 million when she settled her suit with the state. Details of the detail were filed in U.S. District Court.
A payment of $34,594.38 was recently paid from the Department of Administration to the law office of Holland & Hart in defending the case, bringing that total to nearly $600,000.
After all the hassle, according to Russell the state offered up a glowing letter of recommendation. Seems silly to fire someone so well thought of.
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© 2012 Boise Guardian. 
Aug 22, 2012, 4:18 pm
Employers usually write glowing reccomendations for people they want to get rid of. Also Otter Corp. is trying to save face.
What a bunch of amature clowns and the insane clown posse that keeps them in power.
Aug 22, 2012, 4:47 pm
Seems silly to give the lawyers $600,000 which is almost as much as her settlement.
Butch and his cronies at the ITD should all be fired at the next election for base and extreme incompetence. And it ain’t like the State Roads are in great shape.
Aug 22, 2012, 7:20 pm
Nothing sticks to Butch. He has a teflon exterior
Aug 23, 2012, 7:31 am
The Republican party owed Butch a retirement program. Maybe now he’ll step down and allow one of his cronies to get one.
What happens when your state is a one party system.
Aug 23, 2012, 10:28 am
Certainly, the almost $1.5m seems exorbitant for something like this, but for an agency like ITD it’s just couch cushion change.
It would be a fun exercise to look at the original bid cost for something like the Ten Mile Interchange and then compare that to the final project cost. I’m sure ITD paid more than $1.5m in one change order on that project or other high visibility projects such as the WYE interchange, Vista and Orchad, the I-84 widening, etc.
The point is: Millions go down the drain due to poor estimates, engineering snafus, and the over-building of roads. That’s not as sexy to a journalist but much more detrimental to the taxpayers.
EDITOR NOTE– Ms Hen, we would be glad to post the results of a “fun exercise,” if you are inclined to provide some details.
Aug 23, 2012, 5:51 pm
When you hire pricey big city law firms to represent you in a losing case, you might as well take out an infinite line of credit. Pam Lowe’s status as a non-at-will employee under the law was as clear as day to any lawyer who honestly sat down and looked at the law. The work had already been done, as a matter of fact, in an Attorney General opinion that has been on the books for years. I am just disgusted by this entire situation. Total, utter malfeasance, incompetency, stupidity, etc. Everyone involved needs to go.