Cheers & Jeers
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Ysursa |
Post Register editorial board members are Roger Plothow, publisher; J. Robb Brady, publisher emeritus; Marty Trillhaase, Opinions Page editor; and Monte LaOrange, executive editor Placeholders need not apply CHEERS to Gov. Butch Otter. For a fellow caught in the middle of a circus, he's demonstrating sound judgment. The circus, of course, is the expected -- but not altogether certain -- resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. If that happens Sept. 30 as Craig outlined two weeks ago, it will be up to Otter to appoint someone to serve the remaining 15 months in the term. Other than throw out a list of potential appointees, Otter hasn't said much. But he's made one crucial call. He won't be naming any placeholders -- someone to sit at Craig's desk until a new senator is elected in 2008. Otter wants the next senator to get credit for 15 months in office before beginning a full, six-year term after the 2008 election. That presumes the next GOP senator will be re-elected -- not a bad bet in ruby red Idaho, where a Democrat hasn't won a Senate contest since 1974. Otter has to take that into consideration. Idaho is a state dependent on federal cash -- and congressional seniority to secure it.
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Craig |
CHEERS to Congressman Mike Simpson. Not many House members would walk away from the chance to inherit a seat in the U.S. Senate. Simpson's choice to step aside is not entirely selfless. He seems more suited to the House. Were he to accept the slot being vacated -- apparently -- by the disgraced Larry Craig, Simpson would be leaving a safe House seat for a job that will require him to spend more time raising money and securing support statewide. But the Senate -- with its higher profile and six-year respite from re-election campaigns -- might have been his for the asking. Simpson put his gubernatorial ambitions on hold, clearing the path for Otter in 2006. That's worth one huge political IOU. Given his steady rise in the House, one suspects Simpson would have done well in the upper chamber. What swayed him was the same logic he followed in opting not to seek the Senate a year from now had Craig opted to retire. He'd lose his coveted spot on the House Appropriations Committee -- just when Craig's departure strips Idaho of representation on the Senate Appropriations panel as well. However good a deal the Senate might have been for Simpson, it would have come at a huge price for Idaho. JEERS to Sen. Larry Craig. Supposedly, he's two weeks away from leaving the Senate in disgrace, and what is he doing? Issuing platitudes about the war in Iraq. "I was pleased to hear the forthright testimony before Senate committees today by Gen. (David) Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker regarding the status of U.S. and coalition efforts in Iraq," Craig said Tuesday. Don't be fooled. Craig wasn't in Washington, where his arrest and conviction in a Minneapolis airport sex sting operation has made him a political pariah. So what is Craig doing? Does he really think Idahoans care one whit about his opinion of Petraeus or Crocker or foreign policy in general? What they want from their senior senator is a forthright explanation of what happened in Minneapolis this summer.
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Simpson |
Issuing a business-as-usual news release only adds more confusion. Is Craig stepping down as he said he would, or does he expect to pull off a last-minute court victory and then use that as a pretense to remain in office? Larry, here comes the hook. Get off the stage. CHEERS to James and Lyn Pletscher of Idaho Falls. After learning about the Eastern Idaho State Fair Board's decision to end a free admission day for disabled people, the couple wrote out a $100 check to Development Workshop. Part of that money will reimburse the staffers who put up $20 to $30 of their own money last week to help clients pay the discounted fair entrance fee. CHEERS to Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa for exposing what it would cost ordinary Idahoans to close the state's GOP primary election to everybody except registered Republicans. That would force independents to declare a party affiliation -- or bypass what has become the real election in this era of one-party government. Nez Perce County Clerk Patty O. Weeks estimated the cost of sending registrations to 700,000 voters and then recording those registrations at $815,150. If 40 percent of the registrations came back to the county clerks' offices incomplete, correcting those applications would take the cost over the $1 million mark. And think of the extra time this will require of county clerks offices across the state.
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Otter |
A lawsuit filed by 72 Republican activists in July seeks to keep non-Republicans from voting in Republican primaries. Named as the lead defendant in the suit, Ysursa has asked the courts to dismiss the case. But here's the question: If the Republican activists get their way and make the GOP primary a private matter, why should the public pay for it? CHEERS to Jon Beals of the Idaho Fish and Game Department's nongame division for helping to advance the nationwide Teaming With Wildlife coalition. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which inaugurated the campaign several years ago, is asking Congress to approve at least $85 million to preserve wildlife species and their habitats. It would help keep wildlife from becoming endangered -- and by avoiding an official Endangered Species Act designation, it would spare taxpayers a lot of bills and paperwork. As Congress returns from recess, the legislation is still up in the air. The Senate has yet to vote on its version of the bill. Millions of citizens across the nation are involved in this campaign. Congress should listen, approve at least $85 million now and provide steadily increasing amounts of support in future years. It's long since time for Congress to act. CHEERS to researchers at Britain's MET office, which deals with weather and climate issues, for shaking up the global warming naysayers. MET is predicting that at least half of the years after 2009 will be warmer than 1998, the warmest year on record. The prediction is the result of a computer model that takes into account such natural phenomena as the El Nio pattern in the Pacific Ocean and other fluctuations in ocean circulation and heat content. J. Robb Brady and Marty Trillhaase
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