[Vision2020] A Do-Nothing Session

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 26, 2007) Lewiston Tribune -

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A do-nothing session

Having served in the Idaho Legislature for a combined total of 30 years, we
feel obliged to challenge an opinion column by the House majority
leadership, which said that the "2007 session has to rank among the best in
Idaho's history" [Turnabout, April 17].

This past year, the Republicans, hamstrung by their own ideology, seriously
failed to address many of the issues they were elected to resolve. They left
the Statehouse at the end of March with very little to show for their
efforts.

The most obvious example is reducing the sales tax on food. Last August, the
Republican governor and GOP legislative leaders decided to raise the sales
tax 20 percent in order to cut some property taxes. But who benefited from
this tax shift? Mostly big businesses and out-of-state landowners.

Who paid for this tax shift: middle class, small business and working
families.

After public outcry, Republicans promised to provide at least some grocery
tax relief. The Democratic caucus tried to directly remove the sales tax
from food, providing a savings for everyone at the cash register. When
Republicans refused to allow this idea to move forward, Democrats
reluctantly gave support to legislation that would have provided an annual
tax credit instead.

In the end, Republicans could not agree on what form the credit would take.
The bottom line? Nothing passed.

Another issue they left unfairly resolved was the disparity between wages of
state-funded workers. State employees, college and university faculty
received a 5 percent pay increase; but public school teachers received only
a 3 percent raise. The Republicans want to boast about their "robust"
education budget. What they forgot to mention is that many of these
increases for teachers were long overdue, and they still don't break even
when health care costs are included. 

These are only two of many issues left undone, such as creating child day
care center standards, allowing public schools to be used for
pre-kindergarten education, public transit and community colleges. Taken
together, these and other unresolved issues add up to the reasons why many
moderates and pundits have chosen to label 2007 the "do-nothing" legislative
session - both a clear and obvious conclusion.

Democrats will be working hard to ensure that next year's session will be
more productive for the people of Idaho.

Sen. Clint Stennett
Rep. Wendy Jaquet
Ketchum

Stennett and Jaquet are the Democratic leaders in the Idaho Senate and the
House of Representatives.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men." 

- Thomas Paine (English Writer, 1737-1809)

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