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ArticlesForumLinks
| UV Eye Opener, Week of Mar. 24 - 28, 2008
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| posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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Last
Monday, it looked like the legislature might complete its work by
Friday if the majority leaders in both the House and Senate put petty
differences aside, worked across party lines and worked with governor
to resolve the final issues. But that was too much to ask. Senate and
House majority leaders had a lot more turf battles to fight.
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| UV Eye Opener, Week of Mar. 17 - 21, 2008
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| posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008
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The Senate hightailed it out
of town on Thursday. Ostensibly, they were frustrated with the House
for holding up legislation they wanted. Some said they did not want to
be in town when the final list of who is challenging them for election
came out on Friday.
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| UV Eye Opener, Week of Mar. 10 - 14, 2008
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| posted on Monday, March 17, 2008
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Rapid growth has consequences: congestion, pollution and – as we saw tragically again this week – traffic deaths. In the Treasure Valley, community organizations, local governments and many civic leaders have worked long and hard to come up with solutions. In the 1970s, when resort communities asked for the option to invest in community assets using sources other than property taxes, the legislature granted them local option taxing authority.
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| UV Eye Opener, Week of Mar. 2 - 7, 2008
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| posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008
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Last week, Republican legislators cut short a public hearing on the public's business and boarded a private plane owned by a wealthy corporate executive to attend a fundraiser on the other side of the state. He made sure they made it back to Boise in time to vote for the bill he was lobbying for. When a reporter pressed legislators to explain what they were thinking, they all gave different answers.
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| UV Eye Opener, Weeks of Feb. 18 - 29, 2008
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| posted on Saturday, March 01, 2008
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On Thursday, if you
walked by the House Revenue & Taxation Committee you would have
seen a pack of legislators fawning over their latest corporate friend:
a French corporation called Areva, Inc. A majority of lawmakers on the
committee said a giddy “Oui! Oui!” to two bills that give away a big
chunk of Idaho’s tax base to entice the company to build a facility in
Idaho.
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| UV Eye Opener, Week of Feb. 11 - 15, 2008
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| posted on Monday, February 18, 2008
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This week, before legislators could start setting Idaho’s budget, they
had to decide whether and how to adjust state employees’ compensation.
Even in years of economic expansion, the legislature has told the
thousands of people who work for us that Idaho does not have enough
resources to invest in them on par with their peers in the private
sector. “Someday, there’ll be roses,” they kept promising.
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| UV Eye Opener, Week of Feb. 4 - 8, 2008
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| posted on Monday, February 18, 2008
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Two
huge events overshadowed virtually every political story in Idaho this
past week: the massive public response to Sen. Barack Obama’s visit to
Boise on Saturday morning (over 14,000 people were in the arena and
over a thousand listened outside) and the unprecedented turn out for
the Democratic caucuses on Tuesday evening (over 21,000 people,
breaking the record by more than four times). The fact that Idaho was
hit by three more snow storms during that time did not dampen the sense
that Idaho political history was being made. Yes, the legislature still
met this week but according to several Democratic legislators their
Republican colleagues were a bit jealous they couldn’t participate in
the fun.
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| Eloquent debate against English only bill
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| posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007
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Spokesman Review reporter Betsy Russell, one of the finest journalists in the statehouse, captured the tone of the debate on a narrow-minded bill to make English the "official language" of Idaho. We at UVI listended to the debate on line and were struck by the words of wisdom spoken by Sen. Edgar Malepaei of Pocatello in opposition to the bill.
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Jim Hansen
Posts:21
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| 22 Feb 2006 8:59:04 PM |
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The Idaho State Constitution enshrined discrimination against LDS and Chinese citizens. In subsequent years, federal courts threw them out and Idahoans were embarrassed by them.
The Idaho legislature wants to do it again by banning marriage that some churchs recognize but others do not. Will Idaho voters go along?
Marty Trillhaase wrote a great editorial, which we have included on our articles page which discusses the legacy left when discrimination is written into the constitution.
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Shelisa Miller
Posts:1
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| 26 Feb 2006 8:57:54 PM |
Alert
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| Yesterday I attended a meet and greet for upcoming and current legislatures. Wendy Jacquet announced at this meeting that the democratic party would no longer activley fight against the marriage amendment. She said it was a no win situation, and that the priority of the party this year would to be to get the butts in the seats. Fearing the backlash she said this amendment will pass. When I asked her what we will do when it is already in the constitution to stay she replied that it would be up to future legislatures to remove it. While I respect Representatvie Wendy Jaquet I am disgusted by the idea that a party who calims to be for human rights, wont fight for them. I can tell you that when we ask young people why they dont bother to vote, this the reason. |
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Erin Leonardson
Posts:7
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| 27 Feb 2006 10:16:56 PM |
Alert
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| I can see Rep. Jacquet's dilemma, and I am sympathetic to the Idaho Democratic Party's problems, but it doesn't seem rational to expect that they will be able to, "get butts in the seats" when they are a party who has chosen to forsake a significant population and ignore the basic rights of their constituents. I fail to see how this will aid the Democratic Party. Furthermore, it seems that the Democrat's decision not to fight the Amendment is an acceptance of the Republicans' use of a moral argument as a wedge. I agree with Shalisa in her comment that this is not the kind of party behavior that gets youth, or anyone for that matter, fired up about political participation. |
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Jen Grush-Dale
Posts:2
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| 20 Mar 2006 6:51:12 PM |
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I can't agree with Erin more! Talk about the easy way out. I do
understand that this has been a constant battle. And now they have won
because the only political party that stood in opposition just isn't
fighting any more. This is what the conservatives have been
waiting for - the people who believe in human rights to get worn out
and give up.
If the goal of the party is to "get the butts in the seats" then they
are doing themselves a serious disservice to let this issue go like
this. Yes, this Amendment is a wedge issue. That doesn't mean that the
Democrats can't and shouldn't use it to get their supporters out. In
fact, it's just the opposite!
What kind of example does this send to the younger generation? That
when the going gets tough, bail out. It also sends the message that
they are correct in their apathy - politicians and government aren't
going to stand up for them, so why should they get involved?
I am disgusted. I just have to hope (and actively support!!!) the part
of the faith-based community working hard against this amendment. Let's
put our energies there.
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