The MountainGoat Report

Otter: Balancing the Budget On the Backs of Idaho Kids

Is Otter Twisted?

This is what Idaho Governor Butch Otter calls a "great session," praising legislators for their "efficiency, sensitivity and civic virtue?"

The Idaho Statesman's Colleen Lamay reports on the effects of budget cuts on the state's mentally ill:

"We have a lot of panicked people out there and a lot of disarray," said Dr. Larry Banta, a Caldwell psychiatrist who contracts with the Idaho Bureau of Mental Health and Substance Abuse to see state patients.

"We worry as providers that without sufficient funding of the mental health centers, we are going to have more tragic outcomes," Banta said.

Those outcomes could include suicide, homelessness or violence against other people, especially if patients stop taking prescribed medications, he said.

Tragic outcomes and potentially increasing a prison population that is already overcrowded, underfunded and stressed.  Many adjectives would seem appropriate--some would use "difficult"--great isn't one of them.

Is Governor Otter twisted or just out of touch?

'Stop This Insanity,' Indeed

It appears that once again the Idaho Legislature, Governor Otter and Attorney General Wasden are a little premature--this time in spouting off about "states rights" and "unconstitutional mandates."  While Idaho's already bare-bones budget is being systematically dismembered due to lack of revenue (some would say, the lack of will to raise revenue), the Legislature passed the Idaho Health FreeDumb Act.

Then Governor Otter proudly declared "a high priority on sovereignty," publicly making a show of signing it into law and curiously becoming semi-notorious for doing so.  (Contrast that with his "cloak and dagger" swearing in... what was that all about?)

Not to be outdone, then AG Wasden (cheered on by "stop this insanity" Otter) announces that he's joined 12 other states in a lawsuit against the federal government and "it will not be inexpensive" to "protect" Idahoans from health care.

Now, it seems all of that is moot . . . or the political grandstanding it appeared to be.

From Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) discussing a provision of the legislation he authored saying, "You don't have to abide by it -- just set up your own plan." 

It's called the "Empowering States to be Innovative" amendment. And it would, quite literally, give states the right to set up their own health care system -- with or without an individual mandate or, for that matter, with or without a public option -- provided that, as Wyden puts it, "they can meet the coverage requirements of the bill."

Governor Otter, AG Wasden, Idaho Legislature:  Stop this insanity.  We don't have the money to waste on political grandstanding, your 15 minutes of shame or to refurbish your anti-gumment credentials. 

Can't a Guy Get a Little Compassion?

Idaho Governor Butch Otter says his job isn't any fun.  He says it's tough making cuts to state government and he deserves some compassion for doing it.  Really.  He said so to reporters this morning.

He said that's what he was hoping for when he released a scathing opinion attacking the press for criticizing some of those budget decisions last week--some compassion--all the while curiously insisting that he has a thick skin.

Here's how Boise Weekly reported the governor's comment:

"Otter doesn't want to cut," Otter said. "I would like to see some compassion. This is a tough tough position to be in and I've got to pick and I've got to choose."

Third-person Otter aside, it's hard to feel compassion for a guy who reported a net worth of between $8.9 and $31.7 million in 2006 and whose toughest day would probably seem quite utopic to many.

If Otter wants to know what tough is, he should ask that young man who appeared recently in a Nampa courtroom charged with stealing a bag of chicken.

Or maybe he should ask that young college student who couldn't afford the prescription the doctor ordered last month.  It wasn't really optional.

Or maybe that family over on 15th Avenue who lost their home to foreclosure a few months ago.

Or that elderly Nampa woman who couldn't afford insurance for her car or to pay the citation for not having it.

I bet there are tens of thousands of Idahoans who could describe a tough day to Butch Otter.

No, can't say as there is much compassion for Butch Otter and his "tough job" here.

Cowboy up, Butch.

Governor Otter, Stubborn Facts and Petard Hoisting

Yesterday Idaho Governor Butch Otter released a scathing opinion accusing the press of a lack of civility and glossing over the facts when reporting on his proposed budget cuts this year.  Quoting John Adams saying "facts are stubborn things," the opinon disputes claims that he wanted to cut funding for public schools and shut down seven state agencies.

But Governor Otter is trying to have it both ways.

In January, in an election year and facing "breathtaking" budget shortfalls, Otter attempted to veer back to his libertarian, government-shaking roots by proposing weaning some agencies off government funding.  When those agencies turned out to be popular and his ideas widely criticized, even by traditionally very conservative editorial boards, he now says he really didn't mean it.

Otter's recently penned opinion lambastes media criticism of his budget plans, essentially claiming that he had no choice but to propose cutting public education budgets and denying that it was his intention to "shut down State parks and the Department of Parks and Recreation, Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Human Rights Commission, the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs, the Idaho Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities, and the State Independent Living Council."

He says that zeroing out these agency budgets over four years was an "effort to nudge those agencies toward the greater efficiency we need, or give them the chance to find alternative funding methods."

He continues:

It was not an artful process. That’s a fair criticism. However, I did not propose closing any parks or eliminating any agencies. I did not propose “a batch of half-baked plans to zero out small but politically popular state services.” [Idaho Statesman] I did not ignore “hidden costs.” [Spokesman-Review] My approach was not, “If it brings joy to people, government has no business doing it.” [Boise Weekly] And I am not trying “to run parks or public TV on the cheap.” [Idaho Statesman]

Facts are stubborn things.

The governor would like to believe that criticism of his budget plan, including eliminating general fund revenue for popular state agencies, is unfounded but what did the governor expect people to believe when he said in his 2010 State of the State and Budget Address that his proposals for "sweeping changes" in State government were "meant to be permanent?"

Here is what he said then:

With that in mind, let me say again that the budget recommendations I bring you today are based on the fact that it is not State government’s money. It is the people’s money.

As a result, these recommendations are responsibly conservative.

They were developed with great care, deliberation and a full understanding of their consequences – real and perceived.

And they provide for a balanced budget, as our Idaho Constitution so wisely requires.

My recommendations include some sweeping changes to the way we do business in State government.

Those changes are meant to be permanent – based on a philosophy of government that recognizes our responsibility to individual Idahoans rather than to government itself.

I believe they represent what can and must be achieved within the realities we face, and to more closely align our government with its properly limited role.

He didn't say anything about "nudging" state agencies toward efficiencies as he now claims was his intention.

No.  In fact he made his intentions quite clear.

There Otter is saying that some functions of current state government don't fit within his limited-government philosophy and should be realigned.  Although he didn't explicitly state what agencies he believes fall outside that philosophy, he made it perfectly clear in his budget proposal—by phasing out their general fund revenue.

And he said that the decision to do so was "developed with great care, deliberation and a full understanding of their consequences."  Only after being widely criticized for that decision does he concede that it was "not an artful process."

Facts are stubborn things.

Here is what the governor wrote in his fiscal year 2011 budget highlights:

The Governor’s recommendation fully integrates several legislative priorities that his office plans to advance during the 2010 legislative session, including the beginning of a four-year phase out of General Fund support for:

• Human Rights Commission
• State Independent Living Council
• Developmental Disabilities Council
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission
• Hispanic Commission
• Idaho Public Television

The Governor’s recommendation includes the elimination of the Department of Parks and Recreation, with park maintenance being transferred to the Department of Lands and the fees portion being transferred to the Department of Fish and Game. The combination will result in fiscal year savings of $10 million with ongoing savings of $7 million annual. The goal is to ensure the continued operation of Idaho parks for residence [sic] and visitors.

Governor Otter can state that he "did not propose ... eliminating any agencies" but it wouldn't be true.  He did--explicitly when he recommended eliminating Parks and Rec and implicitly when he said those other six agencies weren't worthy of taxpayer funding by eliminating general fund support for them.

Governor Otter can be the ax-wielding, limited government budget cutter or he can be the amiable, efficiency seeking budget nudger.  He can't be both.

Governor Otter can criticize the critics but facts are stubborn things and his criticism embarrassingly epitomizes "hoist with his own petard."

Let Them Eat Cake

Advice for Governor Otter and the Idaho Legislature from Idaho Mountain Express:

They need to talk about the elephants in the room, including the de facto zero sales tax on sales of goods on the Internet and taxes on gasoline that haven't been increased since 1996.

The first is grossly unfair to bricks-and-mortar retailers who must charge sales taxes on goods while Internet merchants gain the advantage of being able to charge less.

The second is stupidly shortsighted.

State departments and commissions on the chopping block have quickly found ways to stave off their demise for now.

But nothing will save education and the services needed by Idaho's weakest citizens unless Otter and legislators take off the political blinders, roll up their sleeves and do what businesses and families do every day: Figure out palatable ways to bring more money through the door.

Won't happen.  Won't happen because stupidly shortsighted is apparently a sacred mantra for Idaho leaders.  As we speak, the governor and legislators are hoarding money on the off chance they'll need to tell the federal government to shove its health care reform.  And not to shove health care reform for them.  They've already got theirs.  They want to tell the federal government to shove health care reform on behalf of every other Idaho citizen.

What they don't like—what they are stockpiling our money to fight—is a mandate that everyone buy insurance, never mind that they are already enforcing their own insurance mandates on Idahoans.  (Apparently they don't like the feds creepin' on their corner.)

In very simple terms the problem is this:  if you don't require that everyone buy insurance but you do require that companies insure everyone with preexisting conditions and not drop anyone when they get sick, the price of health insurance will go through the roof.  Companies simply will not take on the cost of paying millions of claims for the less healthy without increasing premiums, co-pays or deductibles for everyone.  There has to be a larger pool of generally healthy people in the mix.

And that is why those who understood it were demanding that a public option be included in any health care reform package.  If you are going to require that everyone buy a policy, you have to give them a choice.  A choice that includes something besides the crappy policies currently offered by the insurance company monopoly.  A choice of buying into a not-for-profit pool if it meets their needs.

It would be like having a freeway system alongside a toll road system. One built and maintained by the government and one built and maintained by private companies.  Those who like the private route and find that it gets them where they want to go, can take that road.  For those who don't, there is an alternative route.

A requirement that everyone take the toll road would be insane, yet that is exactly what a mandate without a public option does.  On the other hand, if the toll road is going to be the only route available, without a mandate very few will be able to afford even getting on the road.  But yet, it was the public "freeway system" that was demonized as "socialism" by those trying to scare people and score political points.

Stupidly shortsighted.

Idaho, those are your "leaders"—your Congressional Delegation, your Governor and your Legislature—advocating a toll road-only option for you, because they obviously know best.  And on your behalf, hoarding money so they can tell the federal government where to shove your health care reform.

Nothing ever tasted so bitter.

'Under' Every Great Man. . .

Recently released economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau's ongoing American Community Survey indicates that during this recession Idaho's poor—especially women and children—aren't faring well.  It's not clear that those making decisions in this state have plans to ease this burden any time soon.  In fact if anything, it seems the load being carried by Idaho women and children will get heavier before it gets lighter.

Average household income ($59,429) is down from the previous year.  The percentage of people using food stamps (7.6%) is up.  Households with incomes less than $25,000 (23.5%) are up. Those making between $25,000 and $35,000 (12.2%) are down.  The percentage of children with all parents in the workforce (65.1%) is up.  Per capita income ($22,748) is down.  The percentage of grandparents responsible for grandchildren (54.2%) is up—from 26th to ninth in the nation.  More people—renting and buying—are paying a higher percentage of their income in housing costs.

Nowhere is it more evident just who is taking the brunt of this recession than in the number of Idahoans living in poverty.

While the percentage of all Idaho families below the poverty level increased slightly from 9.3 percent in 2006 to 9.4 percent in 2008, during the same period female householders living in poverty grew at a significant rate of 17 percent.  The number of single women with children under eighteen living in poverty climbed from 34.7 percent to 40.6 percent.  Those with very young children (under five) jumped nearly ten percentage points, from 47.7 percent to a whopping 56 percent.

One contributing factor is the disparity in earnings between men and women in Idaho, where the median earnings for women are 72 percent less than for men.  This disparity has persisted over time, but Idaho women working full-time, year-round in 2008 had a median salary of $29,730, down slightly from $29,880 in 2006.  Men, on the other hand, saw their median wage increase over the same period from $40,866 to $41,461.  In only five states (Wyoming, West Virginia, Utah, Indiana and New Hampshire) do women encounter a greater earnings disparity than that of Idaho women.  [For a sobering snapshot of how this earning disparity persists across all occupations in Idaho, even those dominated by high percentages of women, check out this chart.]

Idaho women were more likely than men to find themselves living in poverty in all educational attainment categories.  Fifteen percent of female high school graduates had incomes below the poverty line compared with eight percent of men.  Even nearly 6,000 women with a bachelor's degree or higher had incomes below the poverty line in 2008—nearly two-thirds more than their male counterparts.

The survey estimates that in 2008, 13.7 percent of Idaho children under eighteen were without health insurance—nearly 4,000 more than '06 and '07 estimates of 12.2 percent.  The number of uninsured Idahoans overall is estimated to be 267,000 or 17.8 percent.  Although the survey doesn't separate these most recent numbers by gender [at least I defy anyone to locate this data if it exists], a report issued in March from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation indicates that in the last decade the number of uninsured women in Idaho has increased at a rate of 37 percent, while the rate of increase for men is 4.7 percent.

Women in Idaho earn less, are more likely to live in poverty, are becoming increasingly uninsured and, as the primary caretakers for children in this state, during this recession are being asked to do more with less.  With his new budget proposals that include slashing 6 percent out of higher education, inexplicably the governor of this state is cutting women off at the knees, creating obstacles to the primary tool they have of creating a better life for their children—education.

Idaho women are legendarily tough but this gives a whole new meaning to "women and children first."

Update 10.06.09:  Betsy Russell has more on 2008 children's health insurance data from the U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey with results that vary from the data in the American Community Survey.

Lost In Anger

Jared Hopkins of the Times-News reported the reaction Rep. Maxine Bell (R-Jerome) had to the thirty-five bills vetoed by Governor Otter this week as, in the waning days of the session, he attempted to bully the Legislature into passing a fuel tax increase to pay for road maintenance.

"One bill would’ve sent a message. Two bills would’ve sent a message. A bill a day would’ve sent a message.  But this message – the message was lost in the anger."

Capitol City Heats Up

Governor Butch Otter threw a hissy fit yesterday vetoing ten bills, sending a message to the Idaho Legislature, particularly the House, that he was not pleased that they failed to increase fuel taxes and other transportation fees to raise funds for road maintenance.  Today, the hissy fit grew by more than a factor of three as the governor vetoed twenty-five more budget bills when the entrenched House failed again to pass a gas tax increase, making this hot-for-April day in Boise even more stifling for legislators.

In day one hundred and counting—at thirty-five bills and counting—this legislative session is far from over.  Where it will end is anyone's guess at this point, but as Eye On Boise reports, Otter's message to the legislature is, "They need to know that I’m serious."

I think they get the point.

I think we all get the point and at $30,000 a day, sending the bill for the session over the $3 million mark, it could turn into an expensive game of chicken for taxpayers.  Meanwhile school budgets are being cut, state employees are facing pay cuts or layoffs and the poor, elderly and disabled are being told there isn't enough money to go around.

So the Republican legislature and the Republican governor keep shoveling taxpayer money into the furnace, raising the heat and the stakes in the capitol city until the other side caves.  Raise taxes or keep shoveling.  And all over what?  Road maintenance.

This is what the governor is willing to throw down over... not the poor, not the elderly, not the disabled, not you, not me, not your kids—road maintenance.  Maybe we could all chip in and buy the governor a new pair of jeans.  Obviously his have become too tight and there's nothing at all hot about that.

Priorities in Tough Times

As Idaho Governor Butch Otter occasionally stuttered and stammered through delivery of his gloomy economic news in his State of the State/Budget message yesterday, including a most uncomfortable, lengthy pause taken while relocating his place after losing it in the speech, another governor was delivering a much different speech in a neighboring state facing similar circumstances.

Randy Stapilus at Ridenbaugh Press writes of the speeches by Otter and Oregon’s Governor Ted Kulongoski, "you could hardly imagine they were delivered at nearly the same hour on the same day, each facing similar economic and social pressures."  Indeed having heard Otter's speech and having read excerpts of Kulongoski's, the differences were those of a surgeon's scalpel and woodsman's ax; the most glaring differences were in the priority each placed on education.

Gov. Kulongoski:

If we’re going to turn unemployment checks into paychecks, the state must invest in our human infrastructure. My top priority for this upcoming biennium remains education – because only by creating the best trained, best skilled, best educated workforce in America will we be able to create the employment opportunities that are this state’s future. I’ve been saying for months that the way to turn despair into hope, and uncertainty into prosperity, is to build a protective wall around funding for education.

Gov. Otter:

It would have been unfair and unwise to ask public schools to share in the burden of budget holdbacks in the middle of an academic year.  There simply was too little time and too many obligations already made on the local level for school officials to make the adjustments that would have been needed to reduce their spending so significantly.  But there is time, and unfortunately there is the need for public schools to be included in the difficult realities of our economy as we plan for Fiscal 2010.  The budget recommendation you received today includes a General Fund allocation for public schools that is about 5-and-one-third percent less than this year’s appropriation.  However, the $1 billion, 425 million I’m proposing for K-through-12 education next year still represents almost half our total General Fund budget.  And the fact is that my proposed public schools budget is reduced FAR less than I’m recommending for other state agencies.

Education seen as opportunity versus education seen as a necessary burden.  It will be interesting to see how legislators prioritize Idaho's diminished tax revenues this session.

You can find many reactions to Gov. Otter's speech around the web.  Here are just a few:

• Jill Kuraitis at NewWest - Let Human Needs Guide Budget-Makers
• Randy Stapilus at Ridenbaugh Press - Slice and cut
• Betsy Russell at Eye on Boise - Dems fault Otter’s priorities
• Sen. Nicole LeFavour at Notes From The Floor - Asking More Than Grit

Update:  The unequivocal notion has a roundup of links here.

Otter Can't Be Trusted

The public can't believe a word of what Idaho Governor Butch Otter says.  How do we know that?  He tells us in a press release on his official website. 

This past spring I told folks running what turned out to be a successful campaign to create a community college district in southwestern Idaho that I would support them or oppose them – whichever they thought would do their effort the most good.

Okay, so Gov. Otter supported creating the community college district in the Treasure Valley, but he was willing to publicly oppose it if that would benefit the cause?  Wow, usually accusations of misleading the public come from an opponent, not from the government official himself—in a press release no less.

So which other issues has Gov. Otter actually supported but publicly opposed and which issues did he actually oppose but publicly support?  Can we really trust anything this man says?  Apparently not...according to the press release.

Otter: Cuban Money Good For Idaho

Idaho Governor Butch Otter and wife Lori are leading an entourage of 35 government and business leaders on a trade mission to Cuba this week.  According to the Associated Press, the trip "costs about $2,600 for private individuals going along, and $1,950 for state officials."  The AP report contains a full roster of those who have been invited to join the mission to the communist dictatorship which, according to Human Rights Watch:

... remains the one country in Latin America that represses nearly all forms of political dissent. President Fidel Castro, during his 47 years in power, has shown no willingness to consider even minor reforms. Instead, the Cuban government continues to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, mob harassment, police warnings, surveillance, house arrests, travel restrictions, and politically-motivated dismissals from employment. The end result is that Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law.

The U.S. authorized sales of food and medicine to Cuba in 2000 after four decades of trade sanctions and in 2004 Cuban officials estimated imports from the U.S. at $1 billion.

It's unclear what the result will be of Castro temporarily ceding power to his brother last year due to illness.  Many are hopeful that a change of power will lead to political reform but there are others who believe that repression is too deeply ingrained and are skeptical that Castro's death would bring about significant changes.

Otter feels that Cuba's dismal human rights record doesn't affect the value of their money and sees the trading partnership as good for Idaho businesses.  An Otter spokesman tells the AP, "He's (Otter) going down there to sell groceries," said Jon Hanian. "It isn't to be adventurous. It's an opportunity to make some sales." 

This won't be Otter's first trip to Cuba.  He made the trip twice as a U.S. Congressman in 2004; once with Senator Larry Craig where photos show Fidel Castro signing a baseball for Otter and according to the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation and the AP, other gifts were exchanged.

Senator Craig and Congressman Otter gave President Castro several bottles of the finest Idahoan wine. President Castro reciprocated the gesture with gifts of flowers and Cuban cigars for delegation members.

The second trip was led by then Congressman Otter and included 10 Idaho business leaders along with others from Florida.  Otter gave both the opening and closing keynote addresses at the April, 2004 US-Cuba Business Conference.

Licensed Pool Floaties?

Whoa-oh-ho there sonny.  Stop right there.  Get that canoe outta that river.  Don't you know you can't paddle an unlicensed canoe in these waters? 

That's right folks, Gov. Otter wants all Idaho watercraft to be licensed.  Current law requires only motorized watercraft and sailboats to carry a license and according to the Gov. that's unfair. 

So what sort of watercraft are we talking about?  Canoes?  Yep.  Kayaks?  Yep.  Inflatable Rafts?  Yep.  Pool floaties?  Unclear. 

Okay, kids.  Hide your pool floaties or Otter'll sic the boat police on ya but feel free to smoke 'em if you've got 'em.

Grocery Credit Vetoed

As promised Gov. Butch Otter vetoed the grocery tax credit bill setting up a potential showdown for Idaho legislators who promised constituents grocery tax relief after raising the sales tax one percent last August.  The legislature has enough votes to override the veto should they choose to duke it out with the Gov. and apparently that's the only way citizens will see any additional grocery tax relief this year.

Should be interesting to see where legislators' loyalties lie — with Gov. Otter or with their constituents.  Also should be interesting to note for future reference, whether you agree with this bill or not, that the Gov. who said he wouldn't accept anything less than a graduated credit, kept his word.

Otter's Idaho

You've gotta go read AP reporter John Miller's take on Governor Butch Otter's speech yesterday to the City Club of Boise; it's hilarious.  You can find it at the Idaho Press-Tribune. 

To give you just a little taste, the headline reads:  "Otter's Idaho: Elk semen, bear traps and steam-room interviews." 

Agreement on Capitol Expansion

The Idaho Statesman is reporting that Gov. Otter and legislators have reached an agreement on the Capitol expansion project.  The agreement is reported to be a compromise that allows the addition of the wings to go forward but reduces the project from two floors to one.  The governor's office spokesman tells the Statesman that there will be significant cost savings with this compromise but details are yet to be worked out.

I'm not sure how this will be received by Otter supporters — the legislature gets their wings, although smaller, Otter gets...what exactly.  His reasoning for nixing the project included utilizing the two other nearby state-owned buildings, the Borah Post Office and the old courthouse, for additional legislative space instead of the underground expansion.  It appears that with the compromise Otter forces the legislature into refurbishing and utilizing at least some of that space in addition to a smaller version of the underground expansion.

The big question is at what cost.  That's yet to be determined but in an AP report in the Idaho Press-Tribune we read [emphasis added]

Lawmakers didn’t say how much money the state might save by scaling back the project, if any.

By themselves, the two-story wings are estimated at about $45 million, with renovation on the existing 100-year-old Capitol building due to run about $85 million.  [...]

Last year, there had been a $24 million estimate for one-story wings totaling 66,000 square feet. Lawmakers briefly considered it, but eventually chose the two-story plan on the argument the larger space would be more economical and would be prudent in planning for government growth over the next century.

Also the Idaho Statesman reported on Jan. 24 that

... the House voted nearly unanimously to provide $1.8 million to prepare the old Ada County Courthouse and the Borah Post Office building for temporary housing during the estimated 30 months of renovation.

But it's not clear if any additional funds would be required to transform the two buildings into permanent legislative space.  In addition to that cost if any, there will certainly also be penalties for changing the terms of the expansion contract and since the bonds were already sold, the interest on those bonds will accrue until paid off.  Both will nibble into any savings realized from going ahead with the smaller project which, using last year's estimates (certainly less than what they'll be now) would be $21 million.  In his campaign Otter promised to use any savings for building schools but it is unclear how much of that will be left.

Another of Otter's concerns was that with the expansion, the legislature may be on a slippery slope to becoming full-time.  Do the smaller wings mean, in Otter's view, the slope is just less steep?  He also raised concerns about "felling stately trees" around the Capitol which, even with the smaller plan, will still be necessary.

With this compromise it appears that the legislature gets to claim a small victory, Otter gets to claim a moral victory and, depending on the actual numbers, it may be the taxpayers who ultimately lose.  We'll have to see how those numbers play out.

Update 01.27.07:  The Idaho Statesman has more information on the terms of the deal here.  Under the deal which will still require legislative approval:

• The wings planned for the east and west sides of the Capitol will shrink by about 50,000 square feet, from two stories to one.

• The wings will be dedicated primarily to hearing rooms for legislative committees.

• Any money saved will be put toward renovation of the old Ada County Courthouse and Borah Post Office, both owned by the state and close to the Capitol, for office space.

• The first floor of the Capitol will be turned from executive to legislative control, meaning all constitutional officers now housed there except the treasurer will move elsewhere, likely to the post office or courthouse.

Otter's Wolf Plan Takes a Page from Bush

Governor Butch Otter wants to be the first in Idaho to bag a wolf and said so at a Statehouse rally yesterday.  He thinks they are decimating elk and deer herds and said so in his State of the State/Budget address on Monday.  Problem is, and here's where he borrows from Bush, he's not listening to the scientists.

Idaho Mountain Express reports that evidence does not support the assertions made by the governor and others.

"At this point there is very little evidence that the presence of wolves has caused a decline in elk numbers anywhere, especially in Central Idaho," said Jim Peek, a retired professor of wildlife biology and a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation board of directors.

Peek, who also helped write Idaho's wolf management plan, said elk populations fluctuate naturally and that the impacts of 1996's particularly harsh winter, which killed hordes of elk, are still being felt.

Some hunters and sportsmen have used anecdotal evidence to support their claims that elk and other wildlife are being decimated by the reintroduced wolves and are puzzled by their lack of success in recent years.  From the Idaho Statesman:

[Larry] Goldie and most of the hunters at the rally, which was sponsored by the statewide Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, say their hunting success has dropped since wolves were brought in from Canada in 1995 and 1996.

"We used to see several elk a day and hear a lot of elk bugling," Goldie said. "Last year, I did not see a single elk or hear a single elk bugle."

These hunters fail to realize that elk, who once again have a predator in their midst, are relearning the lessons of predator and prey and may be behaving naturally by seeking more concealment and stealth in response.  Instead of welcoming the challenge of hunting a more wary prey, they choose to blame the wolf.

There should be a natural order to things.  Having wolves who prey on wildlife, and even occasionally livestock, restores that natural order.   They cause the prey to adapt and become more wary.  Hunters, sportsmen and ranchers should learn these lessons and adapt too. 

Now that Idaho's wolf population is strong, the natural order of things should be restored to them also.  Wolves, with no other natural predator in Idaho but man, would overpopulate without that natural relationship.  However, any wolf hunt should be strictly managed using recommendations and data collected by scientists, not by anecdotal evidence from hunters, sportsmen or even governors.

Update 01.12.07:  For some facts on the wolf in Idaho, see this new site:  Idaho Wolves:  Myths and Facts. 

Celebrate With Butch ... for $37

Governor-elect Butch Otter is making inauguration party plans that include Grammy nominated Josh Turner, country artist of "Long Black Train" and "Would You Go With Me" fame.  You can celebrate with Butch at Turner's inauguration day concert at the Morrison Center on January 5th for $37.

It's a little surprising that Butch wasn't able to come up with a corporate donation or two to pay for the concert.  After all, we've been told before that's how things work in this state.  Former state Rep. Debbie Field said so to the Idaho Statesman prior to Dirk Kempthorne's 1999 inauguration.

Two days of inaugural festivities for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne will cost $70,000 to $75,000, but the money won't come out of your pocket.

"It's not taxpayer-funded,'' said Debbie Field, co-chairwoman of the inaugural celebration. "Idaho businesses are paying for it.''

More than 50 individuals and corporations, including Micron Technology Inc., Boise Cascade Corp., Albertson's Inc., and Morrison-Knudsen Corp., are chipping in.

"People have been concerned about the costs, but the neat story is how many things in the state happen through donations,'' Field said.  [emphasis added]

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about Butch's party plans as the day approaches and thinking how "neat" it is that so many things in this state happen through donations.

Party on, Butch.

EnergySolutions Buys a Governor? Updated:12.17.06

What does it cost to buy a governor these days?  EnergySolutions and their management are hoping it's not more than the $63,800 they spent on Idaho Republican Governor-elect C.L. Butch Otter's 2006 campaign.  Let's take a look at EnergySolutions and what they might hope to gain for their money.

EnergySolutions is a Salt Lake City, Utah based company that was formed in 2006 by merging BNG America, Duratek, Envirocare of Utah, and the D&D division of Scientech. They specialize

... in nuclear services, including high consequence nuclear operations, such as high level waste management, spent fuel handling and transportation; complex D&D projects of nuclear reactors and highly radioactive nuclear facilities; high-end technical challenges such as fuel sludge treatment and high level waste treatment; and major decommissioning of both government and commercial nuclear facilities.

President and CEO, Steve Creamer, purchased Envirocare of Utah in 2004 and according to The Salt Lake Tribune, knows his way around a statehouse.

Active politically in advancing his interests, Creamer is a familiar figure at the Utah Statehouse.   State election records show he contributed more than $80,000 to candidates in the 2004 gubernatorial election, including $45,000 to [state Board of Regents Chairman Nolan] Karras, $20,000 to Gov. Olene Walker and $15,000 to Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr.

The Tribune also reports that he is well-known throughout Utah for some of his costly mistakes.

Creamer & Noble engineered the Quail Creek earthen dam near St. George which burst Jan. 1, 1989. No one was injured, but the disaster cost the state more than $11 million.

Around that time, Creamer was enduring questions about his involvement with a proposed 83-mile highway through the Book Cliffs from the town of Ouray in Uintah County to Interstate 70 near Cisco in Grand County.

Creamer & Noble was instrumental in getting the Legislature to give counties mineral royalties collected by the federal government, which Grand County planned to draw on when they paid the firm for its road engineering. The Grand County Council eventually killed the highway proposal, but not before the fight helped destroy the very structure of the county's government.

Then came Syncrete. Creamer & Noble officials were consulting engineers to Hodson Chemical, which developed the experimental concrete overlay the state used in 1989 to resurface a 4-mile stretch of Interstate 15.

After the material started breaking into chunks and hurtling into motorists' windshields, the federal Office of Inspector General and the Utah Attorney General's Office conducted a criminal investigation into the project, which cost taxpayers nearly $3 million.

So what does EnergySolutions want in Idaho?  Currently there aren't any definitive answers, but looking at the company's history we can draw some conclusions.

Duratek, one of the merged companies, is reportedly one of 40 firms that has submitted a bid to the Department of Energy to develop nuclear waste recycling technology.  EnergySolutions denies that Utah would be the site for this recycling facility.

"I can promise you, categorically, it's not anywhere in Utah," said Tim Barney, vice president of governmental relations at the company.

But they are keeping mum about where such a site would be located.

BNG America, another of the merged companies, was a British government radioactive waste cleanup company that is reported to have managed projects at the Idaho National Laboratory, among others.

So, EnergySolutions through Duratek has submitted a bid to conduct nuclear waste reprocessing research which will not be sited in Utah, they also have through BNG America previous ties to projects at INL , and they have contributed over $63,000 to the newly elected Idaho Governor's campaign.  It wouldn't be a stretch to conclude that they hope to develop technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods and conduct this research at INL or perhaps some other yet-to-be-determined Idaho site.

What would that mean for Idaho?  For some background on radioactive waste see this page from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Specifically on reprocessing the NRC says:

Reprocessing separates residual uranium and unfissioned plutonium from the fission products. The uranium and plutonium can be used again as fuel. Most of the high-level waste (other than spent fuel) generated over the last 35 years has come from reprocessing of fuel from government-owned plutonium production reactors and from naval, research and test reactors. A small amount of liquid high-level waste was generated from the reprocessing of commercial power reactor fuel in the 1960's and early 1970's. There is no commercial reprocessing of nuclear power fuel in the United States at present; almost all existing commercial high-level waste is in the form of unreprocessed spent fuel.

Snake River Alliance has this to say about reprocessing:

It increases the availability of weapons usable material and encourages proliferation, is the most polluting step in the nuclear process, is outrageously expensive, and will not remove the need for waste disposal outside the human biosphere. It is being pushed by the Bush Administration and is gaining support in Congress.  [...]

[The] Bush Administration is pushing to revive reprocessing. ... The Administration and some members of Congress have seized on claims that reprocessing is “recycling.” The piles of plutonium in every country that’s ever undertaken reprocessing gives the lie to those claims.

According to the NRC and Snake River Alliance, there is still waste remaining from previous reprocessing being stored at INL.  Does Idaho want to bring additional high-level radioactive waste into the state for reprocessing research?  If that is EnergySolutions' plan, residents should tell the soon-to-be governor how they feel about that plan.

Update 12.17.06:  In a Nov. 29, 2006 release, the DOE announced that eleven sites have been chosen to receive up to $16 million in grants for siting studies for spent fuel reprocessing and will award those grants early next year after negotiations are complete.  On the list and sponsored by EnergySolutions are Atomic City, ID; Barnwell, SC and Roswell, NM.  Also on the list and sponsored by Regional Development Alliance is Idaho National Laboratory, ID.

Information generated from the detailed siting studies of non-DOE sites is expected to address a variety of site-related matters, including site and nearby land uses; demographics; aquatic and riparian ecological communities; terrestrial plant and animal habitat; threatened or endangered species; historical, archaeological and cultural resources; geology and seismology; weather and climate; and regulatory and permitting requirements.  Information requirements for the DOE sites are more limited due to the availability of previous studies.

At the conclusion of the siting studies, the DOE will make decisions whether to move forward with the facilities and where to locate them.

Along with EnergySolutions' contributions in Idaho, they contributed at least $25,000 to the 2006 campaign of Gov. Bill Richardson (D) of New Mexico.  As of yet, no contributions to Gov. Mark Sanford (R) of South Carolina were found.