Butch Otter Flailing at Winmills

When it comes to human rights, Idaho Governor “Butch” Otter’s moral compass is nonexistent.  He will do or say whatever is politically expedient at the time. Case in point, his stance towards gay rights. For Otter, there is no morality beyond what is good for business- i.e. profit.

Last Tuesday Otter made his annual appearance at the Idaho Press Club and, when asked about recent protests at the Idaho Legislature advocating the addition of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to Idaho’s Human Rights Act, and concerns from Human Rights advocates about a bill working its way through the legislature that would give people who refused to hire or serve members of the LTGB community, Otter said that he hadn’t heard any complaints from business, as if that somehow answered the question. As long as his wealthy donors don’t complain, Otter is fine with any sort of discrimination. Otter would undoubtedly be fine with slavery as long as it didn’t hurt business.

Gov. Butch Otter said Tuesday he’s seen no evidence that the Legislature’s opposition to extending civil rights protections to gays, called “Add the Words” by supporters, is damaging business recruitment. Nor has he heard business complaints about House Bill 427, which would add legal protections for people who refuse to hire or serve gays based on their religious beliefs.

“I can’t point to one company that I’ve visited with that said, ‘If you don’t do this,’ or even suggested that was a problem,” Otter told the Idaho Press Club. “I don’t know that companies look to the political. They don’t say, ‘Geez, you’re a really red state, that’s why I’m coming here.’

Otter is facing primary opposition from tea party challenger, Russ Fulcher, so pandering to the farthest right wing of the Idaho Republican party has just begun.

Otter’s political stance has always been that he is a born and bred Idahoan who knows and represents “Idaho values”. Recently, at a function in Craigmont, Idaho, Otter tried to make political points by claiming that U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill is out of touch with Idaho values.

Dan Popkey, of the Idaho Statesman, wrote an excellent article destroying Otter’s alligations by substantiating that Judge Winmill’s Record Speaks for Itself.

I have known Butch Otter since high school and I can promise you that his “values”, as well as accomplishments, are in sharp contrast with those of Judge Winmill.

A Fitting End of the Year in Idaho Politics

Idaho Governor Clement “Butch” Otter ends 2009 with a demonstration of the type of leadership he has displayed throughout his time in office. In a bit of pathetic, hypocritical grandstanding, Otter threatens to sue the United States if health care passes.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter on Wednesday threatened to sue the United States should health care reform become law as currently drafted in bills that passed the House and Senate.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Otter said the bill passed last week by the Senate is unconstitutional, expensive and inequitable to states that didn’t get special breaks. Otter said Congress is moving to sacrifice “fiscal responsibility, sound judgment and constitutionality for political expediency.”

This is the same Butch Otter that wanted to  cut  state retirees from the state Blue Shield plan that they had paid into for many years, and put them into Medicare to save the state money.  However, to the delusional Governor, suing the Federal government seems to be a good use of taxpayer money.

So it goes….   Best wishes to all…. Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

The Tea Party Gullibles

This from the Idaho Statesman:

Tea Party Boise appears to be keeping its promise to sustain its efforts on behalf of conservative policies in 2010. The January events include an inaugural annual meeting and a Statehouse rally with other Tea Party groups. Tea Party Boise also is surveying its members for direction on the group’s future.

“The fight begins now, so stay tuned, stay involved with us,” says an unsigned e-mail to Tea Party Boise members last week.

The survey asks members whether the group should remain nonpartisan, encourage conservatives to run for office, publish evaluations of candidate records, and collaborate with the national Tea Party movement. It also asks about policy issues, including term limits and earmarks, and whether members would support “nullification” legislation seeking to empower Idaho to oppose any federal law that violates the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, that nullification idea is a sure winner. Too bad John C. Calhoun isn’t around to help you draft that legislation.

The Boise rally drew 2,500 protesters to Capitol Park, Boise police said. The group used the rally to build membership. Tea Party Boise publishes an electronic newsletter and operates a Web site.

The December newsletter says 2010 will be “The Year of the People” and criticizes a number of Obama administration initiatives, including health care reform, economic stimulus, cap-and-trade and trials in civilian courts for accused terrorists. It calls global climate change “the biggest hoax in history.”

Actually, the “Tea Bag” movement is the biggest hoax in history.  The so-called “grassroots”, populist uprising is as “astro turf” as you can get.  According to TPMMuckraker, most of the money contributed by the gullible public who gave to the Tea Party PAC went to the GOP public relations firm that created it.

The political action committee behind the Tea Party Express (TPE) — which already has been slammed as inauthentic and corporate-controlled by rival factions in the Tea Party movement — directed almost two thirds of its spending during a recent reporting period back to the Republican consulting firm that created the PAC in the first place.

Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) spent around $1.33 million from July through November, according to FEC filings examined by TPMmuckraker. Of that sum, a total of $857,122 went to Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates, or people associated with it.

Teacher Layoffs

This can’t be good.  The Los Angeles school district is targeting 2,290 teachers for layoff.  Given Governor Otter’s plan to cut $75 million for the state budget, it is clear that Idaho teachers face similar prospects.

Why is this happening? Well, as Paul Krugman pointed out in a recent column,  state governors  are responding to our economic crisis like 50 Herbert Hoovers

But even as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers — state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future.

Although many governors, like Butch Otter, are ideological libertarians  for whom government is always the problem not the solution,  the truth is state governments  have little choice when faced with an economic crisis. Again, according to Krugman,

The answer, of course, is that state and local government revenues are plunging along with the economy — and unlike the federal government, lower-level governments can’t borrow their way through the crisis. Partly that’s because these governments, unlike the feds, are subject to balanced-budget rules. But even if they weren’t, running temporary deficits would be difficult. Investors, driven by fear, are refusing to buy anything except federal debt, and those states that can borrow at all are being forced to pay punitive interest rates.

Yes, Keynesian economic policy is not an option for Governor Otter. He must balance the budget even though to do so is likely to exacerbate the problem. Hear that sound?  It’s the social safety net being shredded.

Dirk Kempthorne – Why is this man smiling?

While the Bush Administration slouches its way towards an ignominious end, most of the criminals have skittered under the rug like cockroches avoiding the harsh light of day. One exception is Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorn who, like the last man standing, has been forced into the spotlight numerous times this month.

At home, the former Idaho Governor has been roundly criticized for refusing to turn over his gubernatorial papers to the state historical society. The Idaho Statesman was blunt in an editorial memo to the former governor, “Cough ’em up.”

And, there is also the small issue of the debt Kempthorne still owns from his last run for governor in 2002.

Six years after his last election, supporters of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne are still raising money to pay off debts from his final bid for Idaho governor. Kempthorne’s gubernatorial campaign committee will hold a “debt retirement reception” in Idaho next week to pay off obligations from his 2002 campaign.

This “debt retirement reception” is a bit dicey because of the possibility of violating the Hatch Act (the law that restricts political activity and interference by Federal employees).

Kempthorne himself won’t attend the cocktails-and-h’ors d’ouevres event, said Graham Paterson, a fundraising consultant who has been raising money to pay off the remaining debt from the old campaign. It is “better we maintain an arm’s length relationship between the secretary and the campaign,” Paterson said. “His name doesn’t appear on the invitation.”

The invitation does include the last name Kempthorne eight times, including in such phrases as “Kempthorne for Governor Debt Retirement” and “Make Checks Payable to: Kempthorne for Governor – Debt Retirement.”

The last few weeks have provided further concerns for Kempthorne. After over a year of stonewalling, Kempthorne was finally forced by the courts to rule on whether or not the polar bear was an endangered species. The courts cited May 15th as the deadline for a decision and on May 14th Kempthorne declared the polar bear endangered. His statement, however, was classic Bush Administration deception.

Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses. These declines, he told a news conference, mean the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

Kempthorne also said, though, that it would be “inappropriate” to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.

In other words, the Environmental Protection Act forced him to declare the polar bear endangered as a result of global warming, but the Bush Administration would take no action to protect the polar bear from extinction. The Administration has already sold out the polar bear by selling the oil drilling rights to prime polar bear habitat, so Kempthorne allowed himself to become the latest face of Bush hypocracy.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was among those who felt Kempthorne was essentially forced to issue the listing, but at least acted so “that opportunities to continue to explore and drill in Alaska will not be impacted.”

In February, the Interior Department sold oil and gas rights across some 29.7 million acres of the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast — including prime polar bear habitat — for a record $2.66 billion.

The latest shoe to drop for Kempthorne occurred yesterday during a Congressional hearing.

A congressional investigator asserted Wednesday that at least four Interior Department officials may have inappropriately interfered in decisions on protection of endangered species.

The four officials – including three Bush administration appointees – may have put political pressure on lower-ranking employees who were deciding endangered species cases, said a top investigator for the Government Accountability Office.

The allegation came during a House hearing on purported interference by Julie MacDonald, a high-ranking Interior official who resigned last year after the department’s inspector general found that she pressured government scientists to alter their findings about endangered species and leaked information about species decisions to industry officials.

One of the officials accused of political interference and putting pressure on government scientists to alter their findings about endangered species was Brian Waidmann, Kempthorne’s chief of staff. According to the Associated Press:

The allegation against Waidmann marked the first time that allegations of political interference had reached the office of Kempthorne, a former Idaho governor and senator who became Interior secretary in 2006. Waidmann and Bowman, who both still work at Interior, did not return telephone messages.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, called Nazzaro’s testimony and the 66-page GAO report troubling.

“A disconcerting picture has emerged of officials working at the highest levels of the Interior Department continuing to tamper with the endangered species program, trumping science with politics,” Rahall said. “The practice is pervasive and I am convinced that the only remedy is a house-cleaning, post-November.”

Tweedle Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest

Republican candidates for Congress appeared at a forum in Caldwell sponsored by the Idaho-Press Tribune Wednesday. Although each of the five candidates (Skip Brandt, Keith Johnson, Bill Sali, Norm Semanko, Shela Sorensen and Robert Vasquez) tried to separate him/herself from the pack, there was little to distinguish one from the other when it comes to blind ignorance about the issues.

For example, all five spoke with a common voice concerning global warming. Human-caused pollution has nothing to do with it.

“The science is anything but certain on this,” Semanko said.

“The science is mixed,” claimed Johnson. “A single volcano could change things.”

Sali said “The jury’s still out on this.”

Brandt said, “mother nature will just cycle.”

Sorensen said we should be “cognzant of our environment,” but Kyoto was not fair to the United States.

Vasquez said perhaps summer is global warming and winter is global cooling. “I’m worried,” he said, tongue in cheek.

How about heath care? What solutions do the Republican candidates have for a broken system where nearly 46 million Americans lack health insurance, and millions more struggle to pay premiums that are growing five times faster than wages?

Sali said, “The government should get out of the business of health care.”

Johnson said, “Government should emphasize personal choice and responsibility in people’s health.”

Brandt said, “Individuals should be responsible for their own health.”

Vasquez said he had been a longtime user of the heath care system and there are problems. “Yes, we need to review that,” he said.

Did any of the candidates have a solution besides “individual responsibility?” Well, Semanko, who had obviously not read this current research, advocated tort reform. Sorensen, a nurse practitioner, prefers “health savings accounts.”

The only issue where the five seemed to disagree was immigration. But the disagreement was really over whether Vasquez “owns” the issue just because he was among the first to fight “illegal” immigration. When it comes to workable solutions to difficult problems, the Republican party is bankrupt. The Idaho Republican five prove that point with depressing unanimity.