Otter applauds session’s work

BOISE – Gov. Butch Otter heaped high praise on the hard work and tough fiscal choices made by the 2010 Legislature to put the state in position to operate within its means this fiscal year and next, all without raising taxes in one of Idaho’s toughest economic climates in decades.

On the morning after lawmakers ended their business on the 78th day, Otter also cheered Republicans in the House and Senate for sending a series of stern messages to a federal government increasingly viewed as encroaching on states’ rights.

“I’m very proud of the legislative session we’ve just completed,” Otter said Tuesday. “I think we have reaffirmed Idaho’s values in terms of living within the taxpayers’ means and doing the best job with the money we have. This is one of the most successful sessions I’ve ever seen.”

The Legislature adjourned late Monday after pushing through dozens of spending bills and discarding others.

Otter, who has had his differences in recent years with lawmakers, seemed much more in sync with his Republican cohorts during a session shaped largely by the budget cuts and government downsizing brought on by Idaho’s ongoing financial woes.

With his own re-election campaign looming, Otter applauded lawmakers for making difficult decisions for public schools, health and welfare programs and other agencies forced to do more with less in fiscal 2011.

The public schools are facing a 7.5 percent budget cut next year. Budgets for universities also took a hit, as did programs like Medicaid.

“There are going to be folks on the other side who will say we didn’t do as good a job as we could … that we could have spent all of the money instead of saving some for the gap that may hit us now and between the end of the fiscal year,” said Otter, flanked by House and Senate leaders. “But living within the means I think is one of the reasons people sent us up here.”

For minority Democrats, the work of the last 11 weeks imperils the state government’s mandate to provide basic services.

Democrats on Tuesday chastised Republican leaders for ignoring Democratic proposals for creating jobs and expanding revenue growth and instead spending time debating and passing symbolic measures designed to pick constitutional fights with the federal government.

“These changes will be felt for years to come,” said Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, of Boise.