Incoming Idaho attorney general announces first two hires for office, including solicitor general

Raúl Labrador, who won his race for Idaho attorney general, talks with attendees at the Idaho GOP election night watch party at the Grove Hotel in Boise, Idaho, on Nov. 8, 2022. | Otto Kitsinger, Idaho Capital Sun
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Idaho’s next attorney general, Raúl Labrador, announced Thursday he has hired two members of his executive team who will start their new roles on Jan. 2, according to a press release.
Labrador won the Nov. 8 election for the office and replaces 20-year incumbent Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. He secured 62% of the vote to Democrat Tom Arkoosh’s 37%, or 366,763 votes to Arkoosh’s 219,230.
Labrador named David Dewhirst as his chief deputy, and Theo Wold as the head of what will be Idaho’s new solicitor general’s office, which will be responsible for tracking federal cases and determining if Idaho should be involved. Labrador has said he will use existing resources within the attorney general’s office to staff that new division.
Both hires have plenty of federal legal experience, according to release
Dewhirst is currently Montana’s solicitor general, where he created state’s first solicitor general’s office and led major multi-state lawsuits against the Biden administration’s policies regarding the Keystone XL pipeline and federal vaccine mandates, the release said. He has also served as general counsel and chief environmental review permitting officer in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Dewhirst has a law degree from George Washington University, where he was symposium editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and president of the Federalist Society. Dewhirst also clerked for Judge Lawrence VanDyke on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Wold is a Boise resident who will be the first to fill the role of Idaho solicitor general in many years, the release said. He was acting assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice and a deputy assistant to former President Donald Trump, where he worked directly with the president and other administration officials to implement federal policies, the release said. He also served as deputy chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Wold earned his law degree from the University of Notre Dame, the release said, and he clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for Judge Janice Rogers Brown and the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico for Judge José Antonio Fusté.
Wold also worked with former Rep. Dorothy Moon, who now serves as chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party, to draft a bill that would have changed Idaho’s voting laws.
“It is critical we have experienced, professional leaders filling these roles,” Labrador said in the release. “I’m committed to modernizing and improving the office, and these dedicated and proven public servants will help me accomplish that goal. I look forward to serving the people of Idaho as we build a more prosperous, safe and free state.”
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Source: eastidahonews.com