Let's reelect these folks! Not.

The Statesman reports that our political leaders are hoping the feds will mandate fixes for the valley's air quality problems.

So no legislation is in the hopper for 2008, and many political leaders privately say they are waiting for the federal government to order them to do what it believes needs to be done.

I wish the reporter would have named names so we can know who these "leaders" are. In fact, I take issue with the reporter - Rocky Barker - even using that term. He should have just described them as politicians, not leaders.

Is it leadership to just duck and cover and allow the feds to impose changes? Of course not. This just seems craven to me, and contrary to the political philosophy espoused by Idahoans and most legislators. To the extent that Republican legislators are the "political leaders" Barker cites but doesn't name, this is especially egregious, given Republican distaste for federal government interference in state matters.

I started to write a post about how complacent voters keep returning these "leaders" to the legislature despite such contrary inaction, but realized that I don't know if Barker was referring to legislators. Also, if voters don't know who is doing this, they can't vote the offenders out of office. I suppose that if Barker named names, the next time he called the hand-sitting "leaders" they wouldn't talk to him and he would be less effective in learning of such cowardice. Still, it would be nice to know so we could vote accordingly.