Trib: Otter was Andrus-esque

In his editorial this morning, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune comments:

The man who delivered the State of the State address Monday was, of course, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. But you could have mistaken his message for the kind of thing former Gov. Cecil D. Andrus used to say.

The Otter Idahoans have come to know would have been expected to comfort the comfortable by urging his fellow Republicans to lower the top income tax rate on corporations and wealthy families - or at least make another attempt to eliminate the personal property tax corporations pay on equipment. You can almost hear Otter crediting these folks with turning Idaho’s economy around - thanks to the $300 million in tax cuts approved during the past nine years while he’s been governor. As Otter likes to say, the proper role of government is to return budget surplus to taxpayers and hold the line on spending.

Andrus took a grass roots approach and on Friday, Otter gave-this Andrus-esque observation: “Our greatest resource,” Otter told reporters, “is the people of the state of Idaho, and our greatest effort on their behalf should be to get them educated and trained and schooled in order to participate fully and completely in our economic activity in the state of Idaho.” More here.

DFO: I have to agree. Otter’s State of the State speech was surprisingly focused on helping the little guy instead of corporate buds. Thoughts?