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Clout And No Clout

Found this headline in the Twin Falls Times-News, "Our outsized - if temporary - clout in legislative budgeting" and the editorial that followed interesting, especially for Treasure Valley residents.  Here's a snip:

Six of the 20 members of the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee - including the co-chairmen - for the legislative session that began Monday are from the Magic Valley and Wood River valleys. By contrast, only three are from the Treasure Valley - home to 45 percent of Idaho's population. (The Idaho Panhandle also has six JFAC members and eastern Idaho has five).

[...]

Our region has long had an oversized influence on JFAC, the committee that sets the agenda for the rest of the Legislature. Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, and Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, have been its leaders since 2002. ... Cameron and Bell are extraordinarily influential in every aspect of public policy. Of JFAC's other four members from south-central Idaho, Rep. Wendy Jaquet of Ketchum spent a decade as House Democratic leader, Sen. Bert Brackett was a JFAC member in the House before he moved on to the Senate and Reps. Fred Wood of Burley and Jim Patrick of Twin Falls are effective second-term lawmakers.

The Treasure Valley with 45 percent of the state population is represented by only 15 percent of the "committee that sets the agenda for the rest of the Legislature."  While budgeting revenues are scarce, this lack of clout may be more detrimental to a larger portion of the population than it would be in better economic times.  Not exactly "taxation without representation" but it's definitely skirting it.

January 14, 2009 at 09:44 AM in 2009 Legislature |

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Quotes For 2010

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Quotes For 2009

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  • "I’m not wearing rose-tinted glasses. But I am a glass-half-full kind of guy." — Gov. C. L. "Butch" Otter attempting to remain optimistic while delivering tough economic news in his State of the State/Budget message.

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