Minority Democrats from the House and Senate said in their response to Gov. Butch Otter’s State of the State message this afternoon that the governor’s not going far enough to restore education funding or address the health coverage gap. “If this is the right thing to do, then it is worth doing right,” said House Assistant Minority Leader Mat Erpelding, D-Boise.

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, said, “Touting modest funding increases as the right path or getting better is not leadership.” She decried the idea of restoring school funding to 2009 levels, saying, “We believe students in 2016 need funding commensurate with today and not with seven years ago.”

The two also belittled Otter’s $30 million health care plan, which they dubbed “Ottercare,” saying “it comes at triple the price,” by spending state funds, continuing Idaho’s pricey and tax-supported CAT fund and indigent care program, and having Idahoans continue to pay federal taxes that support Medicaid expansion in other states, but not here. Erpelding said, “It’s not a case of not having resources; it’s a case of putting those resources in the wrong places.”

The House and Senate Democratic leaders called for sunsetting and reviewing all existing state tax exemptions and incentives; raising Idaho’s minimum wage; and creating an Office of Inspector General to investigate waste, fraud, and ethical lapses in Idaho’s state government. “Time and time again, Idahoans have told us they want to stamp out waste and corruption in Idaho government,” Erpelding said. “We agree this is something that is worth doing right.”