So they strike a deal to limit the size of the underground wings from two floors to one. The key point – no one knows how much this will cost and whether it will save any money. Greg Hahn writes in the Statesman:
Idaho officials don't yet know how much a scaled-back Statehouse expansion will cost or even whether it will save money in the long run.The R legislative leadership just went along with the R Gov, essentially just for the sake of getting along. Fiscal sanity be damned, it’s more important that Rs all just get along (and thus, of course, promote the sense of unified leadership) and make the Gov look good than it is to spend taxpayer money wisely. Clearly, Idaho R loyalty is to their party, not to the Idaho taxpayer. They get away with it because Idaho voters seem to like one-party rule.
I don't get it. Seems like a disconnect between what Idaho voters say they value, fiscal conservatism, and the people they elect.
1 comment:
I'm a 'Roosevelt Republican' (Teddy) very disgusted with the wingnuts running the Idaho GOP.
If the Dems want to have an impact, other than their pitiful efforts to date, I suggest the following:
Look at the US Supreme Court ruling made in the Tom DeLay Texas redistricting case (June 28, 2006). It says that a state can do a mid-decade redistricting, state or federal, if it can be shown a significant demographic change has occurred. Like Texas, that fits Idaho.
Idaho Democrats have a good man in Robert Huntley, the ex-state supreme court justice who fought this evil (no other way to put it) legislature's attempt for 15 years over the school district's suit, that the plaintiffs won in December 2005. That's the real reason we had a special "help education/property tax" session this past August.
If you want real serious change in the Idaho Legislature, let's get Huntley & Co working on this redistricting thing.
Courtesy of Tom DeLay....what delicious karma!
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