Ideas Begin To Multiply For Surplus

Bank millions and millions of bucks?

That’s what Gov. Dirk Kempthorne proposed doing with the state’s $54 million surplus this year. There was an immediate outcry from lawmakers who thought some of the money should be spent on pressing needs in the state, such as unsafe school buildings, but now the other shoe is dropping:

Tax cut fever is starting.

Some want to cut Idaho’s income tax rates, which unlike our property and sales taxes are well above average among the states.

Others want to speed up elimination of the so-called marriage penalty from the state income tax, to do the whole $10 million-plus shebang this year instead of just a fraction as Kempthorne proposed.

And others are calling for other election-year goodies they can fire back to the folks at home.

There’s just one problem.

The budget surplus is what they call in budget-speak “one-time money.” Just because it’s sitting here this year doesn’t mean it’ll surface again next. Tax cuts spend what’s called “ongoing money” the expense recurs year after year.

If the surplus is used to fund an ongoing tax cut this time around, the state could be faced with a hefty shortfall the following year when there’s no surplus to fill the tax-cut hole. And tax hikes aren’t near as fun as tax cuts.

Of course, one-time money could fund a one-time tax refund. Idaho is required by law to save $17 million of this year’s surplus in its official rainy-day fund. If lawmakers sent all the rest back to taxpayers as a one-time refund, every Idahoan would get about $31.

That’d let you live it up, right?

Trouble in GOP-land

Why are several Republican legislators from North Idaho endorsing John Goedde in the primary for District 3’s House seat B?

“I think we can improve on what we got,” said Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum.

That would be incumbent Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden, who’s also a Republican.

Sen. Clyde Boatright, R-Rathdrum, joined Meyer on the Statehouse steps to endorse Goedde, who has worked closely with lawmakers for several years, especially on issues involving improving U.S. Highway 95. Goedde, a Coeur d’Alene insurance broker and school board member, is a former chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce.

“I think I can more effectively represent the district,” Goedde said, adding that he believes the district needs “representation in Boise that can build coalitions and work effectively with fellow legislators.”

Sen. Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d’Alene, showed up at Goedde’s Statehouse press conference, but just “to listen,” he said. Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, missed the event due to a medical appointment, but Goedde said, “She had agreed to stand behind me today when I made the announcement. I don’t know whether to interpret that as an endorsement or just support.”

Former Post Falls Rep. Freeman Duncan also was on hand, helping Goedde by acting as official event photographer.

Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, who Goedde said had promised to show, strategically disappeared shortly before the event.

Justice lured into pit

Why is it that the chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, Linda Copple Trout, mentioned a couple of North Idaho legislators in her State of the Judiciary address?

“The picture of Senator Crow and Representative Pischner greeting us at the Snake Pit in Enaville will forever be etched in my mind,” Trout told lawmakers.

It happened when Trout was touring the state, and Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked her to meet him and Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, at the “Enaville Resort.”

The Silver Valley establishment is also known as the Snake Pit. When Trout and state courts administrator Patti Tobias showed up, the two lawmakers were “bellied up to the bar,” each with a soda pop in hand.

Crow was in suit and tie, having just come from a meeting. “Don was in his grubbies,” Crow remembered. “The looks on their faces were priceless when they walked in.”

During the chief justice’s visit to the “resort,” the group had a hearty lunch and talked for over an hour.

Never mind the ABCs

When state Board of Education chairman Harold Davis was about to address the Legislature’s budget committee, he noted that the board’s executive director, Greg Fitch, might be better-qualified.

“If you would review our credentials, you’ll note that Dr. Fitch has the Ph.D., and all I have is a little B.S.,” Davis told the committee.

Sen. Atwell Parry, R-Melba, the committee’s co-chairman, responded right back: “We have found in this committee, sir, that a little B.S. goes a lot farther than a Ph.D.”