Rep. Ringo: ‘That was a first in my … years on JFAC’

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said the motion she planned to make in JFAC this morning – before the joint committee abruptly adjourned – was to make the 2 percent raises for state workers next year all ongoing, rather than half permanent and half one-time. She’s none too pleased that Co-Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, adjourned the committee as she began making her motion. “I’m irritated to the max over this,” she said. “I thought it was rude and inappropriate, and I could throw out all kinds of other adjectives.”

Ringo said she spoke with Cameron after the meeting. “He told me my motion would’ve just gone down,” she said. “I said, ‘That does happen to me now and then.’ But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have the opportunity to represent the people.” Ringo said she considered making the motion at the start of budget-setting, but then “thought I’d wait ‘til we got clear to the end, to see what kinds of balances we had.”

Ringo, a seventh-term representative who is running for the 1 ^st District congressional seat, said, “That was a first in my … years on JFAC. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody be denied the opportunity to make a motion.”