Democrats Claim Misrepresentation : Quayle Assails Dukakis on Western Water Rights

The seedy old Diversion Dam up on the Boise River has been an unchanging part of the landscape here for three generations, through world wars, the coming of the Atomic Age and 15 different presidents, both Democratic and Republican.

It stands, as it has each farming season since 1908, re-channeling some of the flow of the Boise River into a canal for downstream agricultural irrigation.

On Tuesday, this venerable symbol of Western water was pressed into duty for the 1988 presidential campaign by Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle.

The Indiana senator came to the dam to spotlight his contention that longstanding traditions of local control of water would be threatened in Idaho and throughout the sagebrush West by Democrat Michael S. Dukakis.

Management of Watersheds

The issue, as Quayle described it, is management of water that flows off huge federal watersheds in the West.

Quayle said the Republican ticket headed by Vice President George Bush favored state-by-state management of this water.

He charged that Dukakis would shift control and priorities to Washington--a charge that the Dukakis campaign quickly denied.

Quayle toured the dam before telling a rally of 2,500 at the state Capitol: “The governor of Massachusetts . . . says that the federal government should have authority over water on public 1818324580law in this state.”

The vice presidential candidate charged: “In states like Idaho, where 65% of the land is owned by the federal government, the Dukakis proposal could be disastrous. Control over state water544368999bureaucracy could adversely affect farmers and ranchers throughout the West.”

Based on Interview

Quayle aides said the candidate’s charge was not based on a Dukakis policy statement but on a newspaper interview the governor gave last spring. At that time, Dukakis was quoted in the Denv1701978192with the special legal rights and responsibilities that go along with water rights in the West. But if these are rights which pertain to the land, I would assume they are the property of the people of this country unless otherwise designated.”

Dukakis campaign spokesman Mark Gearan said later that Quayle was “misrepresenting Gov. Dukakis’ position and engaging in a pattern of hit and run.”

Gearan said the Democratic nominee “believes the federal government must recognize the primacy of state water laws, particularly in the West, where a steady and high quality water system is the backbone of the local economy.”

Water rights have become a popular issue for GOP politicians in Idaho this election. Bush himself was in Idaho in May speaking to the question, and interest has been heightened by anxiety over the stubborn drought.

Departing Idaho, Quayle flew to Las Vegas for another rally.