Eye On Boise

‘Problem is not going to go away’

March 19, 2009 12:40 p.m. • 7 comments

Stunned backers of the governor’s gas tax bill said they hope the governor will be able to come up with some kind of plan that will clear the House. “I’ll continue to work with the governor’s office to see if there’s another proposal that would be acceptable, because the problem is not going to go away,” said Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly. “We’re still at a funding crisis in transportation here in Idaho.” North Idaho lawmakers split right down the middle on the governor’s gas tax bill, which went down 27-43, and only three Democrats in the House voted in favor of the bill; House Speaker Lawerence Denney had estimated he’d need nine Democratic votes to get the bill through the House because of opposition in his own party. The debate, which lasted close to two hours, included 11 representatives speaking in favor of the bill, and 10 against. Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com.

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

slfisher on March 19 at 12:49 p.m.
If Denney and the Governor’s staff are looking for Democratic support, maybe they should stop shooting off their mouths about the North End and start treating them with respect.
Sisyphus on March 19 at 1:50 p.m.
What the….? Are pigs flying Sharon? You ask too much. How did Paisley vote?
JamesBond on March 19 at 10:19 p.m.
This obsession of Idaho’s last two governors, post Phil Batt, for announcing huge public works projects accompanied by various and sundry tax and “fee” increases is really comical, to me as a long-time Republican. What happened? It’s no surprise that Republican legislatators would not support this kind of thing. At some point, someone needs to really sit down with the lobbyists who have been pushing our two governors to do these things and explain to them that the entire approach is wrong. Idaho is a conservative state, fiscally and socially. The social stuff is not going to mollify the fiscal conservaties at all, though, and these kinds of proposals, the way they have been sold, and just everything about them, is at the root of why the Republican strangehold has been cracking and will continue to crack. Mister, we could use a man like Phil Batt again!
Sisyphus on March 20 at 7:36 a.m.
I dunno Bondo, the op-ed Batt circulated earlier in the session showed exactly such support for this type of measure and acknowledging the truth in the title of this post.