Property Tax Relief Bill Gets Along Fine Without Supporter

Freshman Rep. Larry Watson spoke out strongly for the bill that would expand the homeowner’s exemption from property taxes.

Watson, a deputy Shoshone County assessor, knows plenty about how property taxes work, and says residential taxes really are rising faster than commercial or industrial, partly because there’s less information available to help assessors set current market values on the latter.

Watson, a Wallace Democrat, was even quoted extensively about the issue when the House Democrats put out a press release this week. He co-sponsored the bill, along with eight other Democrats.

But when the bill came up for a vote in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee - a group that’s been hostile to the idea in the past and on which Watson is a new member - Watson wasn’t there.

“I just blew it,” he said.

Watson had attended the committee’s 8 a.m. educational session on the sales tax. Then he went to his desk for the hour break before the 10 a.m. meeting, to make a raft of phone calls and get some work done.

“I just thought I was getting so much done, and it was so quiet,” he said guiltily. When he noticed the time, it was 11.

But the first-year lawmaker lucked out. The bill won introduction on a 10-5 vote, and was referred to a subcommittee on which he serves.

Plus, Watson’s absence was balanced out. Another committee member also missed the vote - a conservative Republican.

I’ll be right behind you

Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, claimed it was an example of bipartisanship when he borrowed Watson’s car this week to go buy a lamp.

Watson topped him: He’s threatening to follow Pischner down the slopes at Lookout Pass pulling a toboggan, in case the Republican lawmaker needs his services.

Watson is a ski patroller at Lookout. And Pischner is a skier there who, this year, is learning to snowboard.

Must be long distance

When Gov. Phil Batt’s receptionist, Claudia Simplot, called in to let the governor know that “President Hoover is on the line,” Batt responded, “Claudia, Herbert Hoover’s been dead for 30 years.”

Actually, this was President ROBERT Hoover, head of the University of Idaho.

Now top that

Bob Bennett, president of North Idaho College, drew plenty of laughter and a standing ovation from the Legislature’s powerful budget committee this week, but it wasn’t for his speech.

Bennett closed his annual presentation by bestowing upon committee co-chairman Sen. Atwell Parry, R-Melba, a black mortarboard hat complete with a gold tassel. The gift came because Parry has long been a supporter of community colleges, but didn’t have a degree, Bennett said.

Parry, 71, a retired grocery store owner, said he particularly appreciated the gesture “as a guy that flunked first grade and had to take it twice,” who went on to drop out of high school to fight for his country.

With the hat nestled comfortably on his head, Parry said, “Even though my mother is blind, she’s going to see this and she’s going to appreciate it.”

Ban obnoxiousness, maybe?

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English regaled the House State Affairs Committee this week with the tale of how on primary election day, two initiative signature-gatherers tussled at the county fairgrounds, trying to get at voters from eight precincts who were casting their ballots there.

“They were literally swearing at each other with four-letter words, fighting over who has the best spot to basically harass voters as they came in and out of the polls,” English said.

He asked the committee to expand the no-electioneering zone around the polls from 100 to 300 feet to keep the pesky petitioners away. They’re paid by the signature these days, he noted.

But English ran up against a brick wall called the First Amendment. A 300-foot limit would mean a house across the street from a polling place couldn’t have a yard sign.

Now he’s working with Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Coeur d’Alene, on a new version of the bill.

, DataTimes MEMO: North-South Notes runs every other Saturday. To reach Betsy Z. Russell, call 336-2854, fax to 336-0021 or e-mail to bzrussell@rmci.net.