This morning’s Idaho Statesman article by AP reporter Rebecca Boone is headlined Gov. Butch Otter orders probe of Idaho prison ran by Corrections Corporation of America.

OpenCdA’s post on February 8 asked the question When Is a Criminal Investigation Not One? That post reported that Idaho Attorney General Wasden had asked the Governor to order a formal investigation and had been told that the Idaho State Police had already determined that CCA had not committed any criminal violation of Idaho law.  But the ISP had not conducted a formal investigation to arrive at that conclusion.

Today’s article in the Idaho Statesman reports that Otter has done an about face (it’s an election year, after all) and has directed the ISP Director to open a formal criminal investigation.  OpenCdA thinks that the Governor should have ordered the formal investigation at the outset.

Otter’s order reported today puts the ISP between the dog and the fire hydrant.  If the formal ISP investigation reveals probable cause to believe criminal conduct occurred, it will be fair to ask why the evidence wasn’t uncovered in its earlier non-investigation.    It will also reinforce the opinion that the formal investigation should have been the first one.  On the other hand, if the formal investigation returns the same results as the earlier non-investigation, people will now reasonably question if the ISP was merely covering for the Governor and to protect its own reputation.

Either way, Governor Otter’s 180-degree turn appears destined to make the Idaho State Police Director the fall guy in this matter.