$600 can openers, stealing flags and pay cuts: Welcome to Boise

BOISE – When Butch Morrison, owner and operator of the Crescent ‘No Lawyers’ Bar & Grill, testified to a Senate committee about proposed liquor license reforms, Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, remarked on the name of his establishment.

“You understand that a few of us lawyers still sneak in and enjoy your food?” Davis asked Morrison.

The bar owner responded, “We do, but we also have a lawyer fee – (adding) $100 to the above prices.”

‘Rep. Scrooge’ OK with $600 can opener

Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, took some ribbing from fellow legislative budget writers for his far-reaching trimming in the Division of Veterans Affairs budget, which included eliminating the replacement of a van that had 125,000 miles on it.

Eskridge said division officials assured him they could make it last another year. He also said he only OK’d the replacement of a lawnmower “because the old one blew up.” Various other JFAC members then started calling Eskridge “Rep. Scrooge” and “Rep. Esk-scrooge.”

But then it surfaced that the budget included some new kitchen equipment, including a can opener. Eskridge said he didn’t want to micro-manage the agency to the extent of checking up on the can opener – but he took ribbing again when it came out that the can opener cost $600. Apparently, it’s a big industrial model, for opening big cans.

‘From a practical standpoint, this is a disaster’

Rep. Marge Chadderdon’s flag-manufacturing bill was sidelined to the House’s amending order this week, after several representatives objected to the bill’s requirement that if any political subdivision of the state of Idaho purchases a state or U.S. flag that was manufactured outside the United States, it could refuse to pay for the flag. That’s how Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, and co-sponsor Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, explained a clause saying that such purchases would be “null and void.”

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, said, “I think there’s some constitutional problems with this issue – I don’t even know how you’d put that into effect. It’s got problems.”

Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, told the House, “Nobody wants to vote against mom, apple pie and the flag,” but he said, “I also see some problems here. … I really appreciate the intent here, but from a practical standpoint, this is a disaster.” After Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, called the bill “the end-of-the-session warm fuzzy,” Clark moved to send it to the House’s amending order. His motion passed.

Zero funding for rural partnership

The Idaho Rural Partnership will be zero-funded next year, under a budget approved in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this week for the state Department of Agriculture. Several committee members objected to the move, but supporters of the budget motion said the partnership’s executive director is leaving, and their idea was to zero-fund the program for now, but refund it in the future when the director is replaced.

Commissioners get pay cut, too

JFAC has taken formal action to apply the 3 percent across-the-board state pay cut to state tax commissioners, industrial commissioners and public utilities commissioners. The commissioners’ pay is set by state law, but the joint budget committee unanimously adopted “notwithstanding” language, setting aside the legally set salaries to accommodate the pay cuts. It’s the same cut that will apply to all state employees, except elected officials whose pay can’t be changed during their term in office.

Historic barn survey rejected

House Agriculture Chairman Tom Trail’s resolution encouraging the state Historical Society to conduct a study of the state’s historic agricultural buildings was rejected in the House on a 20-48 vote, after House GOP Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, spoke out against the measure, HCR 26, in part because of its $5,000 cost. A few minutes later, Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, asked unanimous consent to change his vote on the measure, but Roberts objected, and the vote change wasn’t allowed.

Hart said later that he didn’t actually vote on the bill – but his voting machine registered a “yes” vote, when he meant to vote “no.”