Treasured Valley

Posts Tagged ‘Politics Brief’

Washington fires back at Otter, Idaho’s big business minions, immigration and more candidates…

Media:

• Washington fires back: Bring it on, Otter! Washington Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire did not like Otter’s overtures to businesses in her state and Oregon, spelled out in an opinion piece Otter sent out Monday. “I’m not an expert on Idaho,” Gregoire said, but as Seattle Times reporter Jim Brunner wrote Tuesday, she was able to rattle off a few observations
• Lawmakers approve more privacy for feed lots. Cattle feed lot operators are hoping lawmakers will restrict public access to manure management reports, comparing their waste handling strategies to trade secrets worthy of protection from competitors.
• Idaho Senate backs Health Care Freedom. Idaho’s Republican-dominated Senate told the federal government to back off, approving a bill in which Idaho promises to sue if Congress passes health-care reforms that require the state’s residents to buy insurance.
• Idaho Legislators Take On Immigration. This week Idaho’s legislature takes on immigration with two separate bills. Both seek to make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to find work and as Boise State Radio’s Adam Cotterell reports, both would place new requirements on businesses.
• Kevin Richert: Idaho campaigns: Star mayor jumps into GOP legislative primary.
• NewWest Boise: Sage Grouse Misses ESA Listing By A Feather.
• Eye On Boise: Budgets: ‘Goes quickly when it’s bare-bones’.
• Funding cuts halt the increase in spending for substance abuse treatment in Idaho. The budget for substance abuse treatment faces another $866,000 ordered for fiscal 2010 and will carry over to fiscal 2011.
• Election 2010: More Idaho candidates file for office. Candidates must file by March 19. Here are filings from Monday afternoon and Tuesday. A complete list will appear in print March 20.
• Idaho’s universities to lose $32 million next year. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee agreed on a budget Tuesday that proposes spending roughly $377.7 million on the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Boise State University and Lewis-Clark State College.
• IPTV will see smaller budget cut. The television station that broadcasts the Idaho Legislature, “Sesame Street” and other shows across the state appears likely to escape budget cuts of the magnitude Gov. Butch Otter demanded when the 2010 session started.
• State OKs Legacy Charter. The state plans to allow another charter school in Nampa, despite objections from the school district.
• To Blog, Trouble is, I still consider myself first and foremost a humorist. That may not seem believable to some people–that I think I’m funny–but it’s true. I break myself up. Sometimes, I make myself laugh so damn hard, I think I’m going to choke.
• Legislature Gears Up. Despite deaths, bike bills still tough sell at statehouse. “In the last year, there were six traffic deaths. Driggs, Twin Falls and Boise all faced incidents of motor vehicle and cyclist death incidents.

Blogs:

• The Johnson Post: Teddy…a Socialist?
• The Political Game: Ruchti Not Seeking Re-election.
• Notes From The Floor: Freeing Us From Healthcare.
• 43rd State Blues: Who’s running for Dist. 19 Senate?
• Boise Guardian: Boise Joins Growthophobe Movement, GUARDIAN Offers “Back Story”.
• Idaho Conservative Blogger: Most ICB Readers Feel Positive About The Idaho 1st CD Race.
• Idaho Reporter: AARP condemns Idaho Health Freedom Act passage.
• Idaho Freedom Foundation: Ron Paul Tickets.
• morialekafa: Suckered Again?

Filing day was yesterday, E-Verify is dead, early graduation and more power for HOAs…

Media:

• Idaho gov. gets fresh with Oregon’s businesses. Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter is getting fresh with Oregon businesses in what the Republican chief executive is calling a “love letter to Idaho’s neighbors.”
• Lawmakers vote down immigration proposal. Lawmakers voted down a bill Monday that would have required employers to screen workers using a federal background check system amid concerns it would add another burden to business owners.
• State Affairs Unceremoniously Kills E-Verify Bill. Senate State Affairs voted 7-2 to kill Senate Bill 1303, after a motion to send it to the floor of the Senate to address Sen. Mike Jorgenson’s proposed amendments failed. That means it stays in committee and Chairman Curt McKenzie told citydesk that it will not receive another marathon hearing.
• Kevin Richert: Otter: Idaho is open to business, including Oregon businesses.
• Ridenbaugh Press: ID: And they’re off.
• Idaho Candidate Filing Commences. The filing period for the May primary has opened, with candidates for all state offices and legislative seats up for reelection. The Secretary of State’s Office posted filings as of noon, and there are quite a few early birds that signed up today.
• Who’s filed to run in Idaho? Here are the names of U.S. and State candidates that have officially filed to appear on the May 25, 2010, primary ballot.
• Pasley-Stuart files for LeFavour’s seat. State Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, an eight-year lawmaker, has filed for the state Senate seat in the North End’s District 19, a move that caught incumbent Sen. Nicole LeFavour, a fellow Democrat, off guard.
• Eye On Boise: More candidate filing news…
• Times-News editorial: Skip on ahead: Early graduation bill makes sense. For years, public schools have been trying to entice high school students to stay. Soon, there may be a financial incentive to leave. The state Senate will vote on House-passed legislation this week that would award scholarships to high school students who enroll in college early. Eight other states are participating in a program that would permit high school sophomores to pass a series of tests and graduate early.
• Sayler retires as Idaho filing period starts. The filing period for 2010 Idaho candidates for elected office opened Monday and already there are some changes pending in the state’s political landscape.
• Lawmaker’s plan would put school spending online. A state lawmaker’s plan to make public education spending more transparent would require Idaho school districts to upload their checkbooks online.
• Idaho Legislature passes bill that helps homeowners associations get leeway on liens. The Legislature has passed a bill making it easier for homeowner or condominium associations to file and record liens against property owners. The bill now awaits Gov. Butch Otter’s signature.
• Bilbao announces re-election bid. Rep. Carlos Bilbao has announced that he will seek re-election to his District 11 seat in the Idaho House of Representatives.

Blogs:

• Notes From The Floor: Going Home.
• Idaho Reporter: Senate panel endorses prison legislation.
• Idaho Freedom Foundation: Taxpayers foot $30K bill for marketing urban renewal legislation.
• morialekafa: Genocides.

Idaho House: for local control except for when they aren’t and filing day is here…

Media:

• House backs bill to derail Boise streetcar. The Idaho House aimed to derail Boise’s streetcar with a measure to require the city council to first get permission from the property owners who would be paying for the project.
• Eye On Boise: Filing period opens…
• Kevin Richert: Christmas in spring — political filing season. For political junkies, today begins the 10 filing days of Christmas.
• Recent Legislation. Discussing Immigration at the Statehouse, Sunday; the public was invited to learn more about the new bill. State Senator Michael Jorgenson says he was excited by the number of supporters.
• Idaho gun bill aims for jobs. A local lawmaker says gun and ammunition manufacturers are eyeing expansion to Idaho if the Legislature will pass a measure through that would exempt firearms made and sold in the Gem State from national gun laws.
• Committee Accepts Biker Sanctions, will Tweak Driver Sanctions. On Thursday, the Senate Transportation Committee easily passed two measures aimed at limiting cyclist behavior, but will tweak the two bills that seek to establish controls on motorists in their interactions with bikes on the road.
• Idaho Press-Tribune editorial: Local control best amid cuts. The legislative budget-writing committee’s decision to cut public school funding by $128 million for the upcoming fiscal year is a bitter pill to swallow, and it’s hard to see how the state’s classrooms will weather through without some ill effects.

Blogs:

• The MountainGoat Report: Do They Endorse Violence?
• idaho18: No Alternatives?
• Fort Boise: Dark night of the nation’s soul.
• Boise Guardian: All Public Records Should Remain PUBLIC.
• Clayton Cramer: On Decriminalizing Marijuana.
• Idaho Conservative Blogger: LeFavour calls her committee “Heartless”.
• Idaho Reporter: Initial February tax revenue down $15 million.
• Idaho Freedom Foundation: Lawmakers reluctant to embrace innovation.
• Nemesis Today: K-2 !! Are You Sufficiently Frightened, Yet??
• The Johnson Post: The Real Activists Judges.

Watching the health care debate, almost filing time, priorities, useless resolutions and bike laws…

Media:

• Idahoans watch, wait on health care debate. Republicans want to start all over again but the president insists on a health care decision now. And talking to people locally, we found a lot of concern, much frustration and a deep desire for change.
• Kevin Richert: It’s (almost) filing time for Idaho elections. What should you watch for?
• NewWest Boise: Idaho Awarded Broadband Stimulus Grant.
• Ridenbaugh Press: Priorities.
• Eye On Boise: House backs God, English in resolution.
• Idaho Republicans push anti-feds bills. State Republicans lobbed more legislative spitballs at Washington, D.C., earlier this week, with measures calling to sue the federal government over gun rights and control of federal land and to replace standard American currency with gold and silver.
• A Little Good News From the Legislature for ID Grandparents. Grandparents would move to the top of the list as potential foster parents if a child had to be removed from a parents’ home – under legislation being considered by Idaho lawmakers.
• House OKs bill to make hunters’ names private. Under the measure approved by the House 55-14 Thursday, the state’s Department of Fish and Game would keep private the names of people who buy hunting and trapping permits.
• Safe-roads bills get backing of Kristin Armstrong. A spate of high-profile cycling deaths has prompted legislation to protect cyclists and motorists.
• Bike Safety Package Comes with Fixie Crackdown. A package of four bills aimed at protecting cyclists is to get a first hearing today in the Senate Transportation Committee. The hallmark of the package is a “three feet to pass” law, similar to the one Boise recently enacted, along with changes to state code to allow drivers to cross a double yellow line in order to safely pass a bike.
• Two construction bills postponed until 2011. As Idaho’s legislature plows through proposed legislation, trying to avoid a repeat of the record-length session of 2009, time is becoming scarce for new bills to be introduced.

Blogs:

• Fort Boise: Massive fraud perpertrated on voters.
• Boise Guardian: Time To Send Legislature Home.
• IdaBlue: I have a dream.
• Notes From The Floor: Heartless.
• Idaho Reporter: Otter, board of examiners take emergency steps to shore up tax account.
• Idaho Speaks: ACORN Should Sue Breitbart and O’Keefe.
• morialekafa: Single Issue Voters.
• Nemesis Today: Republican Party Slime Fest.
• The Johnson Post: Larry Osgood.

School budgets set, Minnick w/ Idaho organic farmers, future of LIDs and Ada GOP…

Media:

• School budget cuts ‘devastating’. Cuts to public school budgets approved by a legislative committee will make it tougher for some of the state’s teachers to earn a living wage, the president of Idaho’s largest teacher’s union said Wednesday.
• Education Budget Passes. Nobody is Happy About It. JFAC passed a public education budget that contains the most sweeping cuts to schools in Idaho’s history. Boise State Radio’s Adam Cotterell reports.
• Eye On Boise: Luna: ‘Preserve student-teacher contact’.
• Public Schools Budget. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee at the Idaho Legislature, today hit the biggie on its agenda: setting the budget for public schools.
• Senate Committee Kills Voter Pamphlet Measure. Idaho’s Secretary of State will spend $130,000 on voter education pamphlets this fall after a measure to eliminate that expense died in a Senate committee.
• Under Secretary Harris Sherman, Congressman Walt Minnick to meet with Idaho organic farmers Friday. Idaho organic farmers will meet with newly appointed Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Harris Sherman, and Congressman Walt Minnick to discuss Farm Bill programs and other issues from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. on Friday at Canyon Bounty Farm, 13376 Orchard Ave. west of Nampa.
• Debate Over Future Of LIDs. A bill restricting LIDs clears a major hurdle in the Idaho Legislature.
• Field trips to Idaho State Capitol jeopardized by planned cuts. One effect of the 2011 public schools budget passed Wednesday by the Legislature’s budget committee could be fewer and fewer kids in “The People’s House.”
• Idaho Medicaid cuts could come Thursday. No matter where you cut Medicaid, you are bound to slice into services the state’s oldest, youngest and disabled residents rely upon.
• U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick to donate money from Rangel. Democratic U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick’s campaign will give to charity $10,000 it received in 2008 from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, campaign spokesman John Foster said.
• Measure allows Idaho schools to reopen teacher contracts. A measure declaring a financial emergency for all Idaho schools that was tacked onto Wednesday’s $1.58 billion public education spending plan prompted a protest by the Idaho teachers union.

Blogs:

• The MountainGoat Report: The Vote That Kills.
• 43rd State Blues: Violent Fringe Groups Mainstreaming into the Idaho Republican Party.
• I’m With Lucas: ADA GOP IMPLODES.
• Dennis Mansfield: Tempest in a Cowboy Hat?
• Fort Boise: Mike Gwartney’s future in state government.
• Idaho Conservative Blogger: Idaho’s 2nd CD Election Shakeup?
• Idaho Reporter: Dean Cameron explains setting the schools budget in 15 minutes (video).
• morialekafa: More Guns.
• The Political Game: A Matter of Conscience.

Tempers are flaring, Ron Paul, targeting D.C., chain of command and Google…

Media:

• NewWest Boise: Tempers Grow Short in Idaho Legislature.
• Idaho Lawmakers’ Tempers Flare During Budget Cuts. Tempers flared a day before Idaho budget writers were due to set the biggest state spending plan: Public education.
• Popkey: Ron Paul backers work to capture Idaho GOP. Challis McAffee, fresh from his guilty plea to assault after pulling a .357 Magnum on a man, is going hunting tonight. His target: Republicans in Name Only.
• Idaho lawmakers target D.C. Idaho Republicans lobbed more legislative spitballs at Washington D.C. on Tuesday with measures calling to sue the federal government over gun rights and control of federal land and to replace standard American currency with gold and silver.
• Kevin Richert: Will Ada, Canyon officials disagree (again) about emissions testing?
• Ridenbaugh Press: Chain of command.
• Eye On Boise: Bill would allow more charter schools.
• State Bennies. With increasing health-care costs for state workers, layoffs and impoverished budgets, how can these state-funded agencies afford to keep trained employees? At a recent event hosted by the Idaho Press Club, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter stood for questions from a bevy of Idaho reporters
• Voter ID bill could slow local elections. A bill that would require voters to show identification could slow the election process in Canyon County or force the county to hire more poll workers.
• Senate backs bill to join talks on Internet sales tax. The Idaho Senate voted unanimously to allow the State Tax Commission to participate in talks with 23 other states who are trying to simplify sales and use taxes to make it easier to collect tax revenue from Internet transactions.
• Sequel Time, Al. We can’t blame every epidemic of conservative ignorance on the Internet. We must give some measure of credit to the right’s natural propensity to always be on the slippery up-slope of the Bell curve

Blogs:

• The MountainGoat Report: He Googled It!
• Notes From The Floor: Standing up for the Chickens and the Cows.
• Idaho Conservative Blogger: Finally I get Obama Care and Republican participation.
• Idaho Reporter: Harwood’s gun fight stalls for now.
• morialekafa: Within Reason?

Phil Bandy, Idaho 1st CD update, #fb and the legislature, Allred, Otter and Gwartney…

Media:

• Eagle mayor Bandy resigns amid controversy. Monday Eagle mayor Phil Bandy announced his plan to resign his post on March 11. City Council president Mike Huffaker will serve as acting mayor until the city council can decide on a permanent replacement.
• Idaho First Congressional District Election Update. Well, it’s getting into the election season, so you can expect more political posting here at TSSBP. I’m not a big fan of bloggers spending a lot of time discussing races in which they can’t vote, so I’ll be sticking mostly to the Congressional race here in Idaho’s 1st District.
• Boise Weekly: Facebook and the Legislature.
• Kevin Richert: Allred rips Otter, Gwartney and ‘botched deal’ on Idaho broadband contract.
• NewWest Boise: Idaho Steelheading: We’re All Bozos on This Bus.
• Eye On Boise: Education ‘mastery’ bill clears Senate committee.
• Idaho Lawmakers & Educators Make Deal Over Cuts To Education. Providing quality schooling for the children of Idaho proves more and more difficult with less money to go around, even with a partial solution in place.
• Feds give Idaho bigger-than-average share of public health dollars. Idaho ranks 13th out of 50 states in the amount of per-capita federal funding received.
• Idaho senator walks fine line on animal-related legislation. One of Sen. Tim Corder’s bills would make cockfighting a felony. He hopes another measure will help thwart animal-rights groups’ efforts to outlaw cramped cages for chickens.
• Public school budgets face 7.5 percent cut in 2011. Idaho schools will likely make do with 7.5 percent less in total funding next year, according to a plan that includes reducing salaries for first-year teachers.

Blogs:

• 43rd State Blues: Running Government Like an Autocrat.
• Boise Guardian: Eagle Mayor Quits Amidst Controversy.
• Dennis Mansfield: Compassion for the Governor and for the High School kids?
• IdaBlue: Inconsistency in Wingnuttistan.
• Idaho Reporter: Senate Ed. panel approves early graduation pilot project.
• Nemesis Today: Massive Voter Fraud in Idaho Thwarted!

Idaho’s “Highway Hypocrites”, ‘conscience’ bill, biting off one’s nose and more on Vaughn Ward…

Media:

• Idaho’s delegation said no to the stimulus — but not to projects paid for with it. Democrats dubbed them “highway hypocrites,” the mostly GOP lawmakers who voted against the $862 billion stimulus bill last year even as they still sought money from it for projects in their home states. Follow news on Idaho’s economy Tracking the Economic Stimulus Plan
• Kevin Richert: Simpson: Health care summit was ‘just for show’.
• NewWest Boise: ‘Conscience’ Bill Passes Senate.
• Senate OKs ‘conscience’ bill. After long and emotional debate, Idaho senators voted 21-13 Friday to allow pharmacists, nurses and other health-care workers to not provide assistance for abortions, stem-cell therapy, emergency contraception or end-of-life care.
• Ridenbaugh Press: Biting off one’s nose.
• Eye On Boise: Otter: Ban early-retirement bonuses.
• Top aide to Idaho governor: cost cutter or kingdom builder? An Idaho CEO says one of Otter’s top leaders threatened and strong-armed him. Lawmakers aren’t too happy, either.
• Eagle Republican Vaughn Ward casts congressional race as epic battle. Eagle Republican Vaughn Ward has an opponent – two, if you count Idaho’s May 25 primary and the Nov. 2 general election.
• Dan Popkey: Idaho’s governor admits he’d like some compassion. A question from a friend outside the pack of media jackals prompted a remarkably unguarded response from Gov. Butch Otter last week.
• JFAC softens blow to Hispanic agency. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has come out against a recommendation by Gov. Butch Otter to cut the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs budget by about 25 percent per year.
• $2,000 tax credit for new hires advances in House. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted unanimously to advance a measure that would offer Idaho companies a $2,000 tax credit for new hires who make more than $35,000 per year and receive health insurance.

Blogs:

• The Political Game: Tar & Feathers of the Tea Party.
• Boise Guardian: No Emission Tests For Canyon Traffic.
• Fort Boise: Your incredibly shrinking fringe benefits.
• Notes From The Floor: Idahoans See Alternatives to Deep School Cuts.
• The MountainGoat Report: Caught In the Idaho GOP ‘Wonderland’.
• Clayton Cramer: Tax Policy & Collection Never Changes.
• Dennis Mansfield: Congressional Mailers and Presidential Bloodlines: Minnick, Ward and Lincoln.
• Idaho Reporter: State agencies receive committee approval to close doors.
• Idaho Freedom Foundation: Several unknowns involved in texting ban.
• I’m With Lucas: Last Call: Precinct Strategy.
• interstices: Good analysis on long-term trends of domestic manufacturing…
• Nemesis Today: My Generation Will Have to Die Off, First.