Johnson Post: Changing Idaho’s Fabric

Make no mistake, times are tough in Idaho, nevertheless, what Otter has suggested - and he has proposed elimination of several small agencies, including the 40-year-old Idaho Human Rights Commission - is more about philosophy than budgets. Otter has suggested, by virtue of his budget proposals, that parks, the Human Rights Commission, public television, and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, among others, are not legitimate functions of government. The governor has also proposed an unprecedented second year of real cuts in public school, community college and higher education support. This tees up the kind of debate that some folks in Idaho have long relished - what is the legitimate role of government in good times and bad? It will be fascinating to watch/ Marc Johnson , The Johnson Post. More here .

• DFO: I’ve added Marc Johnson’s excellent, new blog, The Johnson Post, to my Idaho Blogs roll in the right rail.

Question: Is Gov. Butch Otter using the current bad times to impose his philosophy of smaller government on Idaho for years to come?