It might seem odd that during these tight times, the state Department of Education is announcing eight new staffers for a new division to oversee all statewide, federally mandated student testing and the GEAR UP program, a program to help low-income students work toward college. But what’s being added at the department is being cut from the Office of the State Board of Education, so it’s a wash. It’s part of Gov. Butch Otter’s initiative to remove everyday management of K-12 schools from the state board office, and send it back to the department, which is headed by the elected state superintendent of schools. That’s how it used to work, before the programs were shifted amid political fighting when the state superintendent was a Democrat, and the governor a Republican. (Now, both, including Supt. Tom Luna, are Republicans.)

Five of the eight staffers in the new unit are moving directly over from the board office. Two are new hires who are taking on positions that had been vacant recently at the board office; the eighth, 2008 Teacher of the Year Carol Scholz, is filling a vacant position at the department for a special education coordinator that’s now being moved into the new unit. “We had some space for ‘em and we squeezed them in, and we’re glad to have ‘em,” said department spokeswoman Melissa McGrath.

Idaho’s “Project Filter” is now once again offering four weeks of free nicotine replacement therapy to smokers who want to quit, after the program was suspended in May and June due to lack of money. The start of the state’s new budget year yesterday put the nicotine-replacement program back in place with the new fiscal year’s funding. It’s a popular program started in July of 2008, authorized by the state Legislature through the Millenium Fund (tobacco settlement money) and operated by the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare. But the demand for it soared in late spring after a big hike in the federal tobacco tax. That, in turn, caused a huge jump in the number of Idaho smokers who wanted to quit, according to Health & Welfare - and the rest of the year’s worth of funding was quickly used up.

Jack Miller, program manager for Project Filter, said, “We know that there are many Idahoans who are serious about quitting smoking. Once someone makes that decision that today is the day to quit, we’re here to help.” The replacement therapy includes a free four-week supply of nicotine patches, gum and lozenges. It’s available at (800) QUIT-NOW or www.idaho.quitnet.com.

After serving as the university’s interim president, Steven Daley-Laursen takes on a new role today, University of Idaho President Duane Nellis announced, as a senior executive to the president with a focus on “special federal initiatives.” It’s a one-year appointment for the former dean of the College of Natural Resources. The university said Daley-Laursen “will remain a tenured professor of forest resources in the College of Natural Resources, but decided not to return as dean of that college.” Part of his work at the federal level will be taking over from Marty Peterson, who is scaling back his workload as he moves toward retirement; Peterson, who had been handling both federal and state government relations for the UI, now will focus on state relations. Click below to read the UI news release.

Continue reading Daley-Laursen gets new assignment at UI »

Rural Idaho residents have been staying put during the current recession, unlike during the previous recession, when they moved in large numbers to the state’s urban areas. “The length and depth of the current recession … has severely impeded the ability, and the rationale, for people to move,” Idaho’s Department of Labor reported. This according to a state analysis of the latest U.S. Census figures for city populations. Until the current downturn, Idaho had been seeing a steady migration from its rural areas to its urban ones, a trend that was even more pronounced when the state’s economy was booming. But that was when the draw of the bigger cities promised jobs. Said Labor spokesman Bob Fick, “The biggest job losses have been in the city.” You can read my full story here in today’s Spokesman-Review.

Gov. Butch Otter is out on a three-day trail ride along the Idaho-Nevada border, along with Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislators and federal and state officials. It’s an annual tradition for Otter, who started the rides as a congressman to discuss resource issues and see effects on the land close-up. The Twin Falls Times-News has an article today about this year’s ride, which is in the Three Creek area. It includes this mention: “Otter said he brought his own horse, Snuff, a 22-year-old roping quarter horse, while First Lady Lori Otter will ride another family-owned horse, Cooper.”

Otter, of course, was injured in a team-roping accident this past winter, losing a key week of the legislative session for shoulder surgery after, in Lori Otter’s words, “the governor zigged and his horse zagged.” He came back with his arm in a sling and endured weeks of physical therapy even as he battled with lawmakers over his legislative agenda. So is he, now, back on the horse that threw him? It’s an intriguing concept - and one that seems right in character for our cowboy governor. But no, Otter’s winter roping accident came when he was astride Cotton, a 9-year-old gelding quarterhorse, according to news reports.

Snuff does, however, have a history. Back in 1988, Snuff was the horse Otter pal Mike Gwartney was riding when he broke his back and suffered other serious injuries that almost killed him. In 2008, recounting the incident to Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey, Otter said, “Snuff is a three-quarter-million-dollar horse. I paid $3,000 for him and Gwartney paid three-quarters of a million for all the medical stuff he went through.”

Among the new laws taking effect today are reforms to Idaho’s Open Meeting Law, which had been limited by a 2007 Idaho Supreme Court decision that blocked prosecution of any violations that couldn’t be proven in court to be “knowing” or intentional. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, sponsor of the reform legislation, said, “It was in need of revision to ensure the people’s business remains the people’s business.” In a news release, Wasden said, “The hard work and foresight of the journalists, local government officials and my staff who worked hard to overhaul this law is commendable.  For my part, I will continue to work tirelessly for open government and will recommend legislative changes to help ensure open government.” Click below to read his full release.

Full disclosure here: As the president of both the Idaho Press Club and IDOG, Idahoans for Openness in Government, I was among those who worked with the AG on the legislation. IDOG has worked with Wasden’s office to present seminars to hundreds of local government officials, reporters and interested citizens around the state over the past five years to encourage knowledge of and compliance with the state’s open meetings and open records laws; the Supreme Court decision had the bizarre effect of creating an incentive for ignorance of the law. That ends today.

Continue reading Idaho open meeting law reforms take effect today »

Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Eismann has been named to the National Drug Court Hall of Fame, the highest honor given by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, which represents more than 2,300 drug courts nationwide. As a district judge, Eismann founded the Ada County Drug Court a decade ago; it’s now had more than 600 graduates, 80 percent of whom have had no new criminal charges. The courts focus on integrating criminal justice procedures and drug addiction treatment, with the goal of stopping the “revolving door of crime, victimization, and incarceration by drug addicted criminal defendants,” according to the Idaho Supreme Court. Eismann also pushed for expansion of drug courts to all seven of Idaho’s judicial districts and broadening the model to include mental health courts.

Idaho now has 55 of the special “problem-solving” courts; other states have used Idaho as a model. The award Eismann received is officially called the Stanley M. Goldstein Hall of Fame Award, named after the Florida judge who established the nation’s first drug court 20 years ago. Click below to read the full press release from the Idaho Supreme Court.

Continue reading Idaho chief justice named to national drug court ‘Hall of Fame’ »

Sharon Harrigfeld, a longtime Idaho juvenile corrections employee and official, has been named the new director of the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections, replacing Larry Callicutt, who is retiring Aug. 1. “We’re losing a great director and a valued member of my team with Larry’s departure,” Gov. Butch Otter said in a statement. “His dedication, experience and professionalism will be sorely missed. At the same time, I couldn’t ask for a more qualified, better prepared or more committed person than Sharon to be taking the reins. I know that Juvenile Corrections won’t miss a beat under her leadership. The people of Idaho will continue getting the kind of protection they deserve and our troubled youths will get the firm and just guidance and direction they need.” Click below to read more.

Continue reading Idaho gets new Juvey director »

A statewide effort by law enforcement agencies to target impaired drivers kicks off today and runs through July 12. Funded by a federal grant, it’ll focus on catching and arresting anyone driving under the influence, including motorcycle riders. Special patrols are planned over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Click below to read ITD’s announcement.

Continue reading Statewide crackdown on impaired driving starts today »

The legislative task force looking for funding for state parks and ISP has wrapped up its meeting for the day and tentatively set its next meeting for Aug. 11; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, warned, “Right now it seems like the only solution is a tax increase, and I suspect that’s not going to pass in the House. So I would like to see us be more broad.” Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, responded, “It does have to pass both the House and the Senate. That’s partly why we’re into this pickle.” Among the agenda items for the next meeting: A report from the state Tax Commission. The panel will hold its next meeting at the Idaho Supreme Court’s basement meeting room - because today’s meeting quickly became a roast-fest in Boise’s 90-plus summer temperatures. The Capitol Annex meeting room has window air conditioners, but the units are too noisy to run during meetings, and were operated only during breaks. Additional meetings are likely to follow in September and October.

If the Idaho State Parks & Recreation Department got no replacement for the gas tax money it’s now receiving for off-road recreation, it’d lay off 10 people and endanger programs that now result in grants to local government entities - $32 million over the last 20 years - and pay for everything from  snowmobile trail grooming to boat ramps to trails to fixing roads and bridges at state parks. Dave Ricks, acting state parks director, told a legislative task force today that tourism is Idaho’s third-largest industry, and brings $3 billion a year into the state’s rural economies. The loss of recreation funding would impact that, he said.  

Idaho now has its first case of West Nile Virus of the season, a Bonneville County man in his 70s, who has been hospitalized. It’s a big year for mosquitoes, which carry the virus, and state Health & Welfare officials are advising Idahoans to take precautions. Click below to read the full H&W press release.

Continue reading Idaho has its first 2009 case of West Nile Virus »

Dick Rush and Wally Hedrick have been confirmed by the Obama Administration as Idaho’s new USDA farm service agency director and state director for rural development, respectively. Both were nominated for those posts by Congressman Walt Minnick, Idaho’s highest-ranking official who is of the same party as the administration, Democratic. “Richard Rush has a solid understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our rural communities and will help build on the Obama Administration’s efforts to rebuild and revitalize rural America,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. And on Hedrick’s appointment, he said, “Wallace Hendrick will be an important advocate on behalf of rural communities throughout the state and help administer the valuable programs and services provided by the USDA that can enhance their economic success.” Yes, the USDA apparently added an N to Hedrick’s last name.

The Idaho State Police has some suggestions for how to make up the loss of roughly $20 million from its budget when gas tax funds the ISP now receives shift to highways in a year: Raise vehicle registration fees by $5, to generate $8 million; raise driver’s license fees by $5 to generate $1.7 million; place a surcharge on tires, batteries, vehicle and other transportation-related items, to generate up to $13 million; charge a half-percent fee on all new car sales to raise $10 million; raise transfer, new and out-of-state title fees by $5 to generate $2.7 million; and/or tap into the state’s general fund whenever other funding sources fall short. One catch: Some of those fees, including those for driver’s licenses and titles, already were increased by lawmakers this year.

If the Idaho State Police had to just absorb the funding cut when it loses gas tax funds a year from tomorrow, ISP would have to lay off 204 people, Lt. Col. Kevin Johnson just told a legislative task force. “On the patrol side we would have to cut 123 officers, that’s just troopers.” The remainder of the layoffs would be sergeants, lieutenants, captains and dispatch personnel. “That would leave us with a small amount of people to cover the county roads and federal and state highways,” he said. “It would not be enough, obviously, to patrol. … We would essentially not be patrolling the highways.” Currently, ISP patrols the roads with about 35 troopers per day, he said. “Mostly, we’re covering the highways right now from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m.”

Continue reading ISP: ‘We would not be patrolling the highways’ »

The hole that looms to be filled in the Idaho State Police budget is actually larger than some may think, a legislative panel heard this morning. The fiscal year 2010 budget gives the ISP $15.7 million from the state highway fund, which largely comes from gas taxes; that will go away on July 1, 2010. But Rep.  Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, noted, “We’ve gone down with both the parks and ISP budget the last two or three years. … Are we going to deal with what they’ve lost, or are we going to deal with what’s currently there today?” If the current gas tax funds are replaced for both agencies, he said, there’s “still a shortfall.” Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, responded, “An excellent question … I don’t know the answer to it. … The language in the resolution calls for us to replace the funds that were there, so that’s our first priority.”

Legislative budget analyst Dick Burns told the task force that the highway fund money available to ISP has fallen significantly short, prompting the Legislature to make up part of the shortfall from an ISP personnel fund and part from state general funds. “The revenues will not be there to support that,” Burns told the panel. In fiscal year 2009, he said, “We supplied over $3 million in general fund money to purchase cars and so forth. … To do it right may require in the area of $20 million to $21 million.” Cameron commented, “We see a little bit of the depths of the problem.”

When the legislative task force ended up with time for some comments from the public this morning, off-road enthusiast Tom Crimmins of Hayden Lake was the first to step to the podium. “I recognize that you have a difficult task and challenge ahead of you - I wish you well,” he told the lawmakers. He said recreationists look forward to working with the lawmakers, but they’re none too happy. “Beginning in 1963, the recreational community agreed up-front … that giving out a bunch of $10 and $12 refunds cost the state more than it should,” he said. Those were refunds for gas tax paid on gas that never got burned on the roads, because it went into recreational, off-road use for boats, snowmobiles, dirt bikes or other off-road vehicles. So recreationists agreed to pay the tax, as long as the portion they paid was designated for trails. “Now it appears that the Legislature has chosen to renege on their part of the deal,” Crimmins told the panel. That puts recreationists in the position of either trying to get that decision reversed - his preference - or asking for their refunds back.

“I understand the Legislature’s reluctance to raise fuel taxes in this economic climate,” Crimmins told the task force. But if the task force is going to identify new funding sources, “It still appears to be a tax on somebody - it’s just a smaller target,” he said. Task force Co-Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, responded, “Frankly, it wasn’t my idea to make the transfer the way it’s done.” But, he said, “The way I read the task force requirements, our job is not to find a funding source for transportation. … That ship has sailed. Our job is to sort of fill the hole that was created last year.”

Crimmins suggested perhaps tapping the sales taxes that are paid on boats and other off-road vehicles and their parts and accessories to replace the trails funding, but Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, noted that those sales tax proceeds now go to the state’s general fund - so the result would be tapping the general fund. “There’s already a shortfall,” he said. “I guess that’s the old adage of robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Crimmins said, “If the Legislature chooses not to increase taxes, which is what they did, and now they appoint a committee of eight folks to find a way to increase taxes on a smaller group of folks, that seems to me to be somewhat disingenuous.”

Crimmins was followed by four other off-road recreation enthusiasts. Sandra Mitchell of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association told the panel Idahoans treasure their recreational use of public lands, and it boosts not only their qualify of life but also the state’s economy. “They took away timber for the most part, they took away mining, but what they left was recreation,” the former staffer for then U.S. Sen. Steve Symms told the task force. Recreationists are proud, she said, that “we pay our own way,” in part through the gas tax. “We believe it is a fair and equitable use of fuel tax that’s burned off-road.” Karen Crosby of the Idaho Recreation Council warned that the funds now provide matching money for federal grants that have paid for recreational trails all over the state.

Continue reading ‘Legislature chose to renege on the deal’ »

Recreationists were there in force at today’s legislative task force meeting, many wearing specially printed-up name tags that said in bright red above their names, “Hello,” and below their names, “I WANT MY GAS TAX BACK.” The Idaho Recreation Council printed them up, said Wendy Coome of the Back Country Horsemen, along with bumper stickers to match - and she promised there’ll be plenty of them seen around the state. Speaking on behalf of “the equine users of the back country,” Coome told the panel that several years ago, horse groups proposed legislation to impose a tax on horse trailers to fund equestrian trails. “We were shot down,” she said. “We were offering you a source of funding, and it never made it out of committee. Somebody might want to go back and look at that again.” She said the bill had an agricultural exemption, but the Idaho Farm Bureau and the Cattlemen’s Association opposed it anyway. “We had a majority of all the horse groups behind us,” she said.

Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, said he’d like to take a look at that proposal right away.

Continue reading Recreationists: ‘We want our gas tax back!’ »

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, spoke out sharply after Sen. Dean Cameron’s opening remarks at a legislative task force meeting this morning, objecting to Cameron’s statements that the task force can’t simply shift funding for state parks and the Idaho State Police to the general fund when the agencies lose gas tax funding in a year. “I am troubled by your statements,” Labrador told Cameron. “It sounds like you’ve already decided what we’re going to do, so I’m not sure what we’re doing here.” Cameron said, “I apologize that you’re troubled,” but said he was relying on the wording of the legislation that created the panel. It instructs the panel to identify “dedicated” funding, which Cameron, co-chair of the Legislature’s joint budget committee, noted is budgetary “vernacular” for money that doesn’t come from the state’s general fund.

“I’ll be the first to tell you that if we’re unsuccessful, that does put the pressure on the general fund,” Cameron told Labrador, adding that he sees it as the panel’s job to avoid that. “I have no preconceived notions as to where that alternative funding source should come from,” Cameron said. “You will hear a presentation from the state police on some ideas they have. … They haven’t been investigated fully yet.” Cameron said today’s meeting should “lay a foundation” for the panel’s deliberations. “Does that give you any further ease, representative?” he asked Labrador. “I will listen to the presentation,” Labrador responded.

Continue reading Labrador: ‘I’m not sure what we’re doing here’ »

As the Legislative Task Force that’s charged with finding new funding sources for state parks and the Idaho State Police to replace gas taxes they’ll lose one year from tomorrow began its first meeting this morning, Co-Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, told the joint House-Senate panel that they must find money that’ll be available “on an ongoing basis,” which he called “a key phrase.” “It is not for us to come up with one-time money,” he told the lawmakers on the panel. The group also can’t turn back the clock to undo this year’s Legislature’s decision to shift the gas tax money away from the two agencies, he said. “That’s really not an option for us. Nor is it an option for us to shift responsibility to the general fund.” If the general fund must fill the gap, he said, “it will mean that this task force has failed. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to work on failed task forces. I want to find a solution.”

Continue reading ‘Will mean that this task force has failed’ »

Idaho unemployment claims are running at high volume, with 45,000 active claims as of June 12, thanks to the economic downturn and widespread layoffs, including those in the high-tech sector. Here’s an oddity, though: 60 percent of jobless claims in the first quarter of this year were filed online, as opposed to in-person, the only other choice for initial claims. But the state Department of Labor’s online filing service can be accessed only with Internet Explorer 7. That leaves out those who’ve updated their browsers to the new Internet Explorer 8 (Labor spokesman Bob Fick says a work-around for IE 8 users should be ready “within a couple of weeks”), and, of course, anyone who uses a Mac.

“What we have was developed 15 years ago,” Fick said. At that time, he said, it was determined that only the Microsoft browser could handle a secure session that might stop midway through, then restart later, without the user having to start from scratch inputting data. When the system first was developed, Fick said, 97 percent of users had Internet Explorer. “Now, only about 80 to 85 percent of the people have it,” he said. The department’s tech people are now looking at Firefox and Safari to see what adaptations might be necessary in the online claim-filing system to make it compatible with those browsers. “It’ll be within a year that they’ll have it fixed,” Fick said. “As far as the complaints, there hasn’t been any increase or decrease in complaints. There have been Mac users that have complained all along they can’t get in. Fixing it is a question of money, and of time.”

It pretty much doesn’t get more wild than this when it comes to a press release from Fish & Game: There could be a wounded grizzly on the loose near Harriman State Park, where early Sunday morning, three Idaho black-bear hunters “were unpleasantly surprised after their hounds surrounded a female grizzly with cubs.”

Reports Idaho Fish & Game, “The bear took after the hunters, knocked down Keith Klingler, bit him on the right arm and tossed him around.” While the bear was on top of the hunter, his brother struggled to get his revolver out of a backpack and fired - at which the bear let go, got up and ran off.  “We don’t know whether the bear was hit, if we have a wounded bear, a dead bear or an unharmed bear,” said John Hanson, Idaho Fish and Game regional conservation officer from St. Anthony. They’re running DNA tests on the wounded man’s clothing to match against a database of known Greater Yellowstone grizzlies - that’s right, there is one. Click below to read the full release.

Continue reading Wounded grizzly could be on the loose in Idaho… »

Young Idaho mom Amanda Buchanan picked up an old copy of “Consumer Reports” in her local library in Weiser and began leafing through it last year, and saw a call for health care stories that people wanted to share. She had just the thing. Now, the magazine’s “Cover America Tour” project has made the young, uninsured Idaho mom the face of health care challenges in Idaho - and she’s hosting a letter-writing event for health care reform today at Boise’s Municipal Park. Consumer Reports suggested it as a way to do something about the problem, she explained; she’s by the big, yellow banners that say “Write a Letter for Health Care Reform,” and is scheduled to be there until 5.

Amanda and husband Jason Vlcek wanted to have a second child, but adding the family to his insurance coverage at work - he’s an elementary school teacher - would cost the young family $820 a month in premiums, 34 percent of their household income. They couldn’t afford it. “It got to the point where the insurance was just too high - it was eating into our basic needs,” Buchanan said. She wondered if they could afford to have a second child.

A private policy for Amanda cost less, but carried an additional $5,000 maternity deductible.  They decided on a plan: She’d buy private insurance, but after the baby was born, she’d cancel hers, and use that money to pay down her medical debt, while purchasing a separate private policy just for the new baby. Meanwhile, Jason’s school district began offering a “catastrophic” insurance plan, with a $3,000 deductible, after which only 50 percent of costs are paid. They signed Jason and toddler son Kwei up. “I just wasn’t going to leave him uninsured,” she said, watching the active 2-year-old toddle around the park. New baby Merin is now six months old.

State Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, a physician and the House minority leader, said when lawmakers commissioned a study of the uninsured in Idaho, “It’s just these people - young, employed. … typically young people, who were working but just couldn’t afford it.” The 2007 study showed 18 percent of Idaho’s non-elderly population uninsured, but much higher figures for young adults - 38 percent for those age 18 to 24, and 28 percent for those age 25 to 34; it also showed that 60 percent of Idaho’s uninsured adults are employed.

Amanda knows she’s taking a risk, and it concerns her. But she and her family also are healthy - aside from giving birth, she’s never been admitted to a hospital, and hasn’t gone to the doctor since 2004. “The fact is, the cost of decent insurance cripples my family financially,” she said.

Continue reading When health insurance is priced out of reach »

Gov. Butch Otter says there are some bright spots in Idaho’s current economic downturn, including an Idaho Air National Guard project at Gowen Field that’s restoring 57 jobs, a 16-employee manufacturing firm moving from Spokane to Post Falls, and an expansion in ammunition manufacturing in Lewiston. “Many people are working behind the scenes, helping our companies and communities recover and prosper,” the governor wrote in an op-ed piece. “None of that lessens the very real challenges still facing many Idahoans right now, but I hope it offers some hope that we are on the right track.” Click below to read the governor’s article.

Continue reading Otter: ‘Idaho is weathering this storm’ »

Idaho wants to know whether owners of heavy trucks and cars are paying their fair share for roads. A previous study on the subject suggested heavy trucks underpay and owners of cars and pickups pay too much in transportation fees and taxes. But problems with data that suggested the study might not be valid prompted the state transportation director to scrap it in 2007. This time, Idaho will follow the examples of other states, using new Federal Highway Administration methodology that recently worked well for Nevada and appointing an advisory committee from all sides to oversee the study, as Oregon did.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said he’s all for that. “You’ve got to have those folks sitting at the table,” he said. “Even if they believe they’re being in one way or another knocked out of balance … they should all be considered, and we shouldn’t be afraid of that information.” In Oregon, the question of whether cars and trucks paid their fair share became so political that voters in 1999 amended the state constitution to require highway cost allocation studies every two years, with the Legislature tasked to adjust taxes or fees based on the results to keep things equitable. Oregon state economist Tom Potiowsky said the system has worked well there, where representatives of the state’s trucking association, the AAA, counties and experts serve on an advisory committee to oversee the study; he chairs the panel. The committee can’t change the results, which are developed by an outside consultant.

“You have the stakeholders in the room together, they’re seeing how the sausage is made, and they have input based on their opinions,” Potiowsky said. “They understand they are only advisory, but I think it makes for a richer outcome. Over time, it has reduced the politics.” You can read my full story here in today’s Spokesman-Review.

Idaho pollster Greg Smith today released results of a new poll, conducted June 15-18 of 400 randomly selected Idahoans 18 or older, and found that U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Congressmen Walt Minnick and Mike Simpson all are seen much more favorably by Idahoans than unfavorably. Gov. Butch Otter, while also ranked favorably by nearly half of Idahoans, was viewed unfavorably by 35 percent.

Here are the numbers: Crapo, 59 percent favorable, 17 percent unfavorable; Risch, 49 percent favorable, 19 percent unfavorable; Minnick, 47 percent favorable, 20 percent unfavorable; Simpson, 56 percent favorable, 8 percent unfavorable. For Otter, the comparable figures were 47 percent favorable, 35 percent unfavorable.

Longtime Idaho political observer Jim Weatherby says Gov. Butch Otter’s decision to have his transportation funding task force present its recommendations in December 2010 - a year and a half from now - could lead to a rerun of this year’s difficult legislative session in 2011. In November of 2010, every seat in the Legislature is up for election.

“I’m surprised,” said Weatherby, political scientist emeritus at Boise State University. “What I heard during this legislative session was the importance to address the maintenance need as a public safety issue. It’s interesting to me that this is deferred until just a month after the election. It would seem to me to make more sense, maybe not politically, when you’re talking about raising taxes, but in terms of public safety and addressing our deteriorating roads, that those issues be laid on the table and discussed during the campaign, before candidates again, as they did in the last election, lock themselves into a position of opposing any tax increase. … It seems to me it has the potential of a rerun of the session we just had.”

Gov. Butch Otter today named his task force to find solutions for transportation funding in Idaho - but said they’ll bring their recommendations forward in December of 2010. That means nothing for the next legislative session - the election-year session that starts in January of 2010. “Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do,” Otter said when asked about the time frame. “That gives them plenty of time.” The 15-member task force, he said, is “not going to hurry into anything - all options are on the table.” Asked if his announcement means he won’t be proposing transportation funding legislation - tax or fee increases - next year as he did this year, Otter said, “It doesn’t mean I will, and doesn’t mean I won’t.” He said lawmakers “made a good point” when they complained that transportation already was getting lots of funding this year, between the big investments from the federal economic stimulus and GARVEE bonding. “Perhaps we have enough money for a while,” Otter said. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

Senate Transportation Chairman John McGee, R-Caldwell, who joined Otter in answering reporters’ questions after the groundbreaking ceremony today for the 10-Mile Interchange on I-84 in Meridian, said, “The task force the governor put together is not a one-year or a two-year look at transportation in Idaho - it’s looking into the future. So hopefully we take the time to do it right.”

Otter noted that a legislative task force looking into replacement funding for gas taxes that now go to fund the Idaho State Police and parks and recreation could well propose legislation next year. Here’s the governor’s 15-member task force: It’ll be chaired by Lt. Gov. Brad Little. Members will include McGee; House Transportation Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby; Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson; Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint; Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise; Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello; Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian; Rep. Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot; Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls; Rep. Bill Killen, D-Boise; Idaho PUC Chairman Jim Kempton; Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce Chairman Mark Bowen; Valley County Commissioner Gordon Cruickshank; and Intermountain Forest Association President Jim Riley.

Continue reading Otter’s transportation funding task force won’t report ‘til 2011 session »

Idaho pollster Greg Smith today released results of a new statewide poll that showed that Idahoans are less favorable toward President Barack Obama than the nation, but they don’t feel all that strongly about it. The poll, which queried randomly selected 400 Idahoans 18 and older from June 15-18, also found that 53.8 percent of Idahoans feel the state is going in the right direction. Tomorrow, he’ll release results looking at Idahoans’ perceptions of Gov. Butch Otter and the state’s four-member congressional delegation. Click below for today’s results.

Continue reading Smith poll: Idahoans unexcited about Obama »

As Idaho prepares to consider raising car or truck fees to address a huge shortfall in road funding, a 2007 state study that showed car and pickup owners pay more than their share and subsidize heavy trucks has languished, unfinalized. A copy of the study, obtained today by The Spokesman-Review under the Idaho Public Records Law, shows that since the previous study in 2002, a rough balance between cars and heavy trucks has tilted. “Autos and pickup users are overpaying about 10 percent, while all trucks are underpaying about 10 percent,” the study found.

Draft results from the $20,000 study were presented to the Idaho Transportation Board in October 2007, but shortly after that, Pam Lowe, Idaho Transportation Department director, decided to scrap it. Lowe said she didn’t hear from any interest groups objecting to it. Instead, she said she was concerned with statements in the study, prepared by Palouse Partners Inc. of Pullman, that suggested glitches between Idaho’s record-keeping system and the software used for the study could result in some inaccuracies. “My own consultant was saying it might not be valid,” Lowe said.

State Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said, “I was frustrated that they didn’t finalize that cost allocation study, because it really would have been helpful in the debate.” But Kathy Fowers, president of the Idaho Trucking Association, said, “We never really approved of that study. … A cost allocation study is only as good as the people who participate in it. It can be very political.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com, and see the draft study here.