It’s difficult to say who had the worst session this year – Idaho legislators or new Gov. Butch Otter.

In two online polls, readers from the Idaho Statesman and the Lewiston Tribune rained D’s and F’s down on the 2007 Legislature for its failure to accomplish anything significant, other than approve $250 million in GARVEE bonding in the closing hours, largely to upgrade Boise-area freeways. Only 6 percent or 7 percent of the poll respondents in those two readership areas considered the do-nothing legislators worthy of A’s and B’s.

Amazingly, Gov. Otter was one of those who saw some good in the three months of wasted work at the state Capitol.

In an opinion column to the Statesman, Otter said he had “nothing but admiration, respect and praise for each of the 105 men and women who put aside their private lives to participate as citizen legislators in a profoundly public process. Republicans and Democrats alike deserve our thanks and our support for the jobs they do on our behalf.” Otter then proceeded to fill up most of the column with a list of worthy lawmakers. But he was short on examples of their good work.

In fact, Otter would be hard-pressed to point to anything important he accomplished himself. He deserves the D’s and F’s, too, unless you’re impressed with his six vetoes of largely minor bills and a foolhardy game of brinkmanship with the Legislature that resulted in approval for an inadequate Statehouse expansion.

Never have so many Idaho legislators wasted so much time and cost so much money – about $40,000 per day – to accomplish so little.

Nothing epitomizes the inertia of Otter and the 2007 Legislature more than their abject failure to approve a grocery sales tax credit of some sort. The measure was on the top of the agenda for both sides. Otter is a Republican. The Legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. Yet, legislators were blocked from increasing the grocery tax credit on the state income tax form by Otter’s stubborn insistence that the relief be provided only to low-income Idahoans.

The multimillionaire governor failed to see that Idahoans are clamoring for the Legislature to remove the regressive sales tax from groceries entirely.

Idaho Democratic Party Chairman Richard Stallings assessed the Legislature better than Otter. Columnizing, he said: “The people of Idaho should be outraged that the Republican-dominated Legislature did not live up to its promise to reduce or remove the sales tax from groceries. You’ve been had.”

Two other missteps of note by the new governor can be credited to his shoot-from-the-hip style and Libertarian bent.

In January, Otter delighted an anti-wolf crowd on the Capitol steps Jan. 11 by saying he was ready to take action, once wolves were delisted from the Endangered Species Act: “I’m prepared to bid for the first ticket to shoot a wolf myself.” He went on to call for public hunting of all but about 100 of Idaho’s estimated 650 wolves. Those words might play well among livestock owners and in Wyoming, where state officials and lawmakers despise wolves. But they’re a marked departure from the wise state policy of former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to compromise with the federal government to get wolves delisted.

Last month, Otter dismissed legitimate health concerns about workers and nonsmokers when he vetoed legislation that banned smoking from bowling alleys – and then watched as that veto became one of the few that legislators have overridden. Otter also gave the impression that some of his vetoes were nothing more than petty political retribution to teach a lesson to a legislator or several legislators who had opposed a pet issue or him.

Meanwhile, the Legislature kept pace with Otter’s statements and antics:

“The House Health and Welfare Committee killed sensible legislation to require minimum safety standards and criminal history checks for Idaho day cares. Afterward, Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, asked: “What can we do to keep mom at home?” Ironically, two days after the vote, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies released a survey that showed Idaho dead last in how states regulate child-care centers.

“GOP leadership allowed party tin gods to unilaterally kill popular measures by refusing to schedule hearings for them. In that manner, Loertscher, who is chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, killed vote-by-mail legislation, which was supported by state county clerks. Loertscher’s panel passed the bill in mid-February, but the chairman asked to pull it back from the floor, stating he had concerns about it. He then reneged on his promise to set another hearing.

In the end, the 2007 Legislature could be characterized as the Governor Who Shoots from the Hip meets the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight. Otter and the Legislature shot themselves repeatedly in the foot. The Legislature’s decision to adjourn a week ago was its most productive vote of the session.