According to our local skewspaper, the Coeur d’Alene Press, first-term State Representative Lucas Malek is considering becoming a candidate to be Idaho’s Secretary of State.

Predictably, the Press article had a mini-bio which included this statement:  “His education and work experience are a good fit to lead the office, he said. A graduate of the University of Idaho’s law school, he’s a former Kootenai County deputy prosecutor and served Jim Risch as North Idaho regional director when Risch was governor.”

Wow!  He’s a former Kootenai County deputy prosecutor!  Hard-hitting crime fighter? Oh, not so fast, Lukey-Dukey.  According to the Idaho State Bar Association, Malek was admitted to the Bar on April 28, 2011.  And according to Malek’s own LinkedIn information, he served as a deputy prosecuting attorney from May 2011 until April 2012.  But that same LinkedIn information also notes that Malek declared his candidacy for the Idaho State Legislature in December 2011, so we wonder how much time he really spent as a functioning deputy prosecuting attorney.  By his own admission, it was no more than one year.

It appears to OpenCdA that Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh put Malek on his office’s county payroll more to bolster Malek’s political resumé than to serve as a functioning deputy prosecutor for the people of Kootenai County.  Malek had been endorsed by outgoing Representative Marge Chadderdon, and it was her vacant seat Malek sought.

Thus far, Malek’s resumé appears to reveal more self-serving ticket-punching than a legitimate long-term commitment to public service.