[Vision2020] More about Marty Trillhaase

[JLBrown]

This is from today's Idaho Falls Post Register.

Judy

 


Wednesday April 15, 2009 


Opinions page editor Marty Trillhaase leaving Post Register

Trillhaase has accepted a job with the Lewiston Tribune.


By COREY TAULE

ctaule at postregister.com

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 <http://www.postregister.com/e-news/04152009/full/A1-1004-2001.jpg> 

Trillhaase

Post Register editorial page editor Marty Trillhaase has accepted a job with
the Lewiston Tribune. He will begin writing editorials for the family-owned
northern Idaho paper sometime next month.

"An opportunity to work at this iconic newspaper editorial

page comes once in a lifetime," Trillhaase said Tuesday. "I realize this
chance came along only because Jerry Brady, Roger Plothow and Dean Miller

were willing to take a chance on a beat reporter a dozen years ago and give
him the support and time to find his voice."

Last year, Trillhaase took first place in editorial writing for the 2008
Best of the West contest, regarded as one of journalism's most prestigious
prizes. He was recognized for an editorial that criticized the Idaho
Republican establishment for not challenging Sen. Larry Craig's decision to
stay in office following his arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

But Trillhaase has never been about awards. He's known at the Post Register
for being the first person in the office and the last to leave. He is the
paper's institutional memory, having covered Idaho for more than 25 years.

"I would say he's the hardest working, most open, most honest and most
buoyant journalist I've ever come across," said his partner on the editorial
page and longtime friend, J. Robb Brady.

In his 12 years on the job, Trillhaase has become known for his willingness
to question powerful public figures and conventional wisdom.

Perhaps the best example of this came in 2006, when Gov. James Risch came to
Idaho Falls to sell a roughly $200 million shift in school funding from the
property tax to the sales tax.

Trillhaase wasn't buying it.

Risch said the shift was necessary in order to reduce property tax burdens
on homeowners. Trillhaase argued that shifting school funding from the
stable property tax to the sales tax would endanger the schools in a
recession.

"You can't know that," Risch said.

Now Idaho legislators look as though they'll cut school funding for the
first time in state history.

Still, Trillhaase has perfected the art of disagreeing without being
disagreeable, which explains why so many of those who felt his sting were
eager to sing the Idaho Falls native's praises Tuesday.

"God help the people of Lewiston," Congressman Mike Simpson said in an
e-mail Tuesday. "Marty is one of the good guys in journalism. He is tough,
but he is thorough and fair and I admire him for it. Marty's role isn't to
give me or any other elected official a free pass, it is to hold us
accountable and keep us honest and he is one of the best at doing just
that."

Trillhaase came to the Post Register in 1996 following a stint as the
legislative reporter at the Idaho Statesman in Boise.

On his page, Trillhaase has constantly championed transparent government,
school funding and environmental stewardship. Those that see the world
differently always got space on Trillhaase's page to express their views in
public.

"I haven't always agreed with Marty, obviously," Idaho Falls Mayor Jared
Fuhriman said. "What he did do is stimulate people's thinking. And he was
never afraid to go against the grain and take on controversial issues."

"Marty Trillhaase has made a terrific contribution to southeastern Idaho,"
Melaleuca Inc. CEO Frank VanderSloot said. "Even when we disagreed with him,
he caused us to think and constantly re-evaluate our position on both
political and civic topics. We will miss him."

Trillhaase is known for the depth of reporting in his editorials. These were
more than just reactions to the news of the day. A Trillhaase editorial
involves calls to a litany of well-placed sources that provide him
information that nobody else gets.

"I always tell people that no one is irreplaceable," Post Register Publisher
Roger Plothow said. "This is one time when that's not true."

Even public figures on the receiving end of his editorials said they
appreciated that Trillhaase always called them ahead of time to let them
know what was coming.

"He never did it unless he called first and said 'This is what I've got and
where I'm going, what do you have to say,'" Bonneville County Commission
Chairman Roger Christensen said.

Added Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, an Idaho Falls Republican: "I would
describe our relationship as friendly even amongst different disagreements."

So how does a newspaper replace the irreplaceable? Plothow said he's not
sure who will take over for Trillhaase, only that they'll have an extremely
difficult job, akin to the coaches who came after Bear Bryant at Alabama and
John Wooden at UCLA.

"He just has a depth of experience and passion for what he does that doesn't
exist in any other physical form," Plothow said.


	

 

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