Santorum’s public land sale proposal taps long-divisive issue in Idaho

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum won applause at a campaign rally in Boise this week when he advocated transferring or selling off federal lands in the state, but the issue has been a loser for other politicians over the course of history, report Idaho Statesman reporters Dan Popkey and Rocky Barker today. Those include Gov. Butch Otter, who backed off and apologized after co-sponsoring a bill in Congress to sell off forest land to pay for Hurricane Katrina cleanup, and President Herbert Hoover, whose 1929 offer to transfer 190 million acres to the states, but not the minerals beneath, was rejected as westerners derided it as “skimmed milk” or “the lid without the bucket.” You can read their full report here .