My column Monday about a new memoir penned by Chris Carlson, press secretary to former Gov. Cecil Andrus, continues to generate fresh anecdotes.

Today's comes from Rick E. Hansen, who was an 18-year-old senior at Borah High School in 1990 and a page for the colorful chairwoman of the Local Government & Taxation Committee, Republican Rachel Gilbert of Boise.

1990 was among the most difficult of sessions of the 23 I've covered, with a emotional debate over H.B. 625, which would have been the nation's toughest anti-abortion law had Andrus not vetoed it. Carlson writes that proponents of the bill didn't bother to lobby Andrus, assuming that his oft-stated pro-life views assured his signature.

Another famous flareup came when Andrus barred Idaho Cattle Association Executive Director Gary Glenn from his office. Glenn, you may recall, was a lightning rod who engineered passage of the Right to Work law in 1985 and voter affirmation of the statute in 1986. Glenn later managed to fit in a scrape with then-Lt. Gov. Butch Otter, lost the 1992 GOP congressional primary to now-U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and served six years as an Ada County Commissioner. After losing a re-election bid, he moved to Michigan to become president of the American Family Association.

Glenn seized on the slight from Andrus to draw more attention to himself -- a talent for which he didn't really require additional assistance.

Let's pick up the story from Rick Hansen, now a lawyer for Chevron Corp., in California and Washington, D.C., and holder of degrees from an impressive trio of schools BYU, Seattle University and Georgetown.

Hansen met Andrus with a group of pages not long after the flap over Glenn. He writes:

"I and the other the Senate pages were given the opportunity to meet with Governor in his office. At the end of the session Governor Andrus very politely asked if any of us had any questions. I raised my hand and rather impudently asked: 'Governor Andrus, no disrespect intended, but why did you kick Gary Glenn out of your office?'

"(You can imagine the pall of discomfort that immediately descended on the room when I, a very wet-behind-the-ears Senate page, put our host on the spot by asking this question.) Governor Andrus very good-naturedly but firmly schooled me in the realities of Idaho politics; I recall he began his answer by saying, "No disrespect intended. . ." Over the years, I have burned with shame that I never had the good sense to apologize to the Governor for being such a smart aleck. A couple of years ago, I crossed paths with him during a sporting clays event I attended with my father. I tried but was not able to get a moment of his time and deliver a long-overdue apology.

"Having kept up with Idaho politics over the years, I've come to appreciate what I clearly did not as a 18 year-old Senate page: Governor Andrus was a masterful and effective ambassador for Idaho and, more importantly, a very decent man. It's hardly an overstatement to suggest that he belongs among my home State's greatest governors. I look forward to reading Chris Carlson's book.

"If you're able, I wonder if you might do me the courtesy of passing along this long-overdue apology to the Governor? Many thanks."

Consider it done.

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