Guv apologizes to JFAC co-chairs

In an interview with Idaho Public Television’s Thanh Tan, taped this morning for Friday night’s “Idaho Reports,” Gov. Butch Otter apologized to the co-chairs of JFAC and other lawmakers for the tone of the threat he had his budget director deliver yesterday, as the governor took on the Legislature for buying new laptop computers after he’d line-item vetoed the funding. “It was a poor choice of words,” said Otter’s spokesman, Jon Hanian. “We understand that, especially in this particular budget, there’s a lot of emotion. … At least we have the ability for two equal branches of government to question each other.” The Otter interview will air in full on “Idaho Reports” Friday at 8 p.m.