Trib: At Least Dirk Showed Up

When C.L. (Butch) Otter became Idaho’s governor in 2007, one thing seemed certain: He’d shine in comparison to his predecessor, Dirk Kempthorne. … Five years later, Otter has yet to deliver any major initiative through the Legislature. After failing miserably to persuade his own party to back a badly needed infusion of cash into transportation in 2009, Otter has ceded the stage. Lawmakers have dominated spending issues. Others have usurped the governor’s traditional role of setting the political agenda, whether it was schools Superintendent Tom Luna’s school reform package or the Tea Party’s effort to defy national health care reform through the discredited tactic of nullification. Five years later, it’s Kempthorne who gets points for engineering a successful rebooting in his fifth year, while Otter’s fifth year shows no turnaround/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More to come. (AP file photo: Dirk Kempthorne, as Interior secretary in 2008, testifies in Washington)

Question: How do you consider to be the better governor — Dirk Kempthorne or Butch Otter?