Stapilus I got to know John Peavey as a state senator, a job he held in two runs, for three terms in the 70s as a Republican and later in the 80s and 90s as a Democrat, 10 terms in all. He was a capable and active senator, and often in some kind of leadership position—formal or informal—while he was there. Peavey, who died on June 16, may also have been one of those unusual people whose personal efforts actually helped transform the politics of a local area.
Blaine County, which he represented and ran for office for so many years, probably moved away from a Republican tilt toward the Democratic side in considerable part because of the highly visible role Peavey played. And yet Peavey, who was also an important figure in Idaho’s sheep industry and ran a livestock ranch all his adult life, might be as well remembered for demonstrating the impact a person can have even outside of elective office. He was a personal inflection point in Idaho history in at least three ways that had nothing to do with the Idaho Senate, or directly with his occupation either.
Peavey was in office in the early 70s when he tried pressing for passage of a campaign finance and lobbying disclosure law, and found that the legislature (notably members of his own party) weren’t very interested. So he went to work on it outside the Statehouse. In 1974 he was a key figure in promoting an initiative (the 1977 Idaho Almanac has a great photo of him carrying boxes of petitions up the statehouse steps) to .