Musing on some of the things some lawmakers said about him this year, Gov. Butch Otter said this week, "In the heat of battle there's some passion that sometimes is released. I'd like an opportunity to set down and let 'em know where I thought, perhaps, their criticism of my efforts was maybe a little misguided. I think the best way to overcome or change the criticism that was the most harsh is to make sure the transportation executive order is fully executed, to the limit."

That harsh criticism would be House Education Chairman Bob Nonini's floor debate against a gas tax increase, in which he derided Otter's executive order for new accountability measures at ITD as "not worth the piece of paper it was printed on."

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