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Shoshone Conservative: As disappointing as Otter has been in some respects, I think the only way he’ll leave office before he retires is if he’s caught with a dead girl or a live boy. He’s
ruffled a few feathers, irritated a few people, but hasn’t really screwed up majorly, either. The main disappointment is that the “maverick” (to use a political cliche) firebrand Legislator and Congressman has turned out to be pretty much a run of the mill “establishment” Governor. The voters who re-elected Kempthorne, the consummate slick, egotistical, professional politician, over an arguably strong Dem challenger, will have no problem voting for “Good Ol’ Butch,” who can at least play the part of the “cowboy populist” when he wants to.
Question: Are there any unabashed fans of Gov. Butch Otter out there?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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OutofStaterTater on December 15 at 10:43 a.m.
Unabashed? I don’t know about that. But given some difficult circumstances (mainly, the brutal economy) I think he’s done fairly well. I’m not sure if we’d be clicking our heels over anyone’s performance in this environment. We could debate the budget cuts ‘til the cows come home, but when the writing was on the wall, he didn’t just punt the problem to the legislature. Ordering the holdbacks early these last two years has helped make the budgetary mountain a little less steep to climb.
In this recession, the last thing people need is fewer dollars in their wallets, so I’m glad he’s resisted the calls to raise taxes as a means of balancing the budget.
Something that’s been overlooked in Otter’s term is the effect the Capitol renovations have had on his interaction with the legislature. For most of it, they’ve been in separate buildings. I don’t know about you, but if a colleague is just down the stairs instead of a couple blocks away, I’m probably going to visit that person a lot more often. Now that his offices are back in the same building as the legislators, I wonder if we’ll see a difference in the working relationship.
JamesBond on December 15 at 3:47 p.m.
I can’t stand Dirk Kempthorne, and I agree with the description of that loathesome man above, but the idea that Dirk was faced an “arguably strong Dem” is comical. Bob Huntley and the newspaper dude from Idaho Falls were placeholders, similar to Allred. The Dems have not put up a real candidate for Governor since Phil Batt rather handily defeated Larry EchoHawk, who was a statewide office holder and, like many of his fellow Democrats that year, was expected to win until perhaps the final week or two of the campaign, when most insiders knew it was going to be a bloodbath.