Muskrat's blog

The guy looks rational to me. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred is responding to some IACI slime which Kevin Richert picks apart here. I'll have much more to say about this later.

For a guy who wants to run government like a business, Otter probably should acquire some knowledge about business first. Otter spoke to Boise Young Professionals on March 24 to convince them that Idaho had something to offer them. His premise? "Because this is where's it's happening and this is where it's going to happen." His case was just about as hip as the premise:  read more »

Otter quietly filed for re-election today. He sent around a press release announcing his campaign staff, as if they haven't already been on the job smearing his likely opponent under false pretenses. As predicted by Sisyphus, Governor Otter's impotent letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid over the holidays was nothing more than a cheap ploy on health care reform to frighten his backers into giving him money.  read more »

Interesting side note on a North Idaho dispute culminating in a legislative hearing this week over cross-deputizing well qualified tribal police to arrest non-tribal members when caught breaking the law. Briefly, the dispute centers on Benewah County Sheriff's Department revoking a long standing policy of law enforcement reciprocation with the Couer d'Alene Tribe in 2007.  read more »

The legislature is having hearings on the contract dispute over the Idaho Education Network (IEN), a widely supported initiative to connect the Idaho school system in an effort to provide computer assisted education resources to schools all over the state. The program and the nature of the dispute are summarized by a peripheral player in the IEN program, but not through his status as Coeur d'Alene City Councilman, Mike Kennedy, who testified at the hearing.  read more »

Remember this puff piece in the Statesman from two years ago about Otter and his best friend Mike Gwartney? This is the story about these two roping buddies who became fast friends through politics, business and a predilection for trophy wives. Indeed Gwartney toasted Otter at his second marriage with: "It's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money".  read more »

On Monday Otter declared in his state of the state address that "we're all in this together" as he addressed an audience of mostly white middle aged men. While failing to mention any cuts in his salary, or even his administration, he proceeded to announce a systematic dismantling of the Human Rights Commission, the State Independent Living Council, the Developmental Disabilities Council, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, the Hispanic Commission, and Idaho Public Television, stating “These changes are meant to be permanent – based on a philosophy of government that recognizes our responsibility to individual Idahoans rather than to government itself”.  read more »