House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, said, "There's not a lot of ways we can bring protests to the system up in front of everyone." Forcing full reading of bills, as required by the Idaho Constitution, is one of them, he said. Rusche said House Chief Clerk Bonnie Alexander "did really well" reading a 25-page bill in full today, adding, "I probably owe her a box of throat lozenges. We did volunteer to help, and we'll continue to do that."

Rusche said "there's an easy way" that Republicans can bring the stalling tactics to a halt. "All we're asking is give the people a chance to be heard on issues that are of great importance to them," he said. "Really, that's all we're asking." Democrats are demanding hearings on two bills: A $1.25 per pack increase in the state's cigarette tax, and a measure calling for an advisory vote of the people on this year's school reforms. Rusche said House Democrats are prepared for the consequences of what they're doing, including possibly being in session through the weekend or into late hours. "Friendships will be frayed," he said. "Some of our bills may end up getting deep-sixed, not that we have so many we were able to get introduced."

Rusche, a physician, said Idaho would benefit greatly from increasing its cigarette tax, both from deterring people from smoking and from garnering $50 million to boost its Medicaid program. "There are really good public policy reasons to consider this, and not to be able to present this is really a perversion of the process," he said. He also decried the introduction this morning of two bills to add emergency clauses to the already-passed school reform bills, a move that would prevent a referendum campaign from blocking them from taking effect, though it still could overturn them in November of 2012. "Big changes, rushed through, with serious opposition in the Idaho population - you can ask anybody," he said. "Are they trying to slam things down the throats of Idaho citizens?" He said the move appears designed to "speed things up to subvert legal recourse and popular opinion."