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Food banks.<br><br>Sunil<br><br><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:30:46 -0700<br>From: donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com; thansen@moscow.com<br>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Otter Plan Steers Money to Roads, Not Schools<br><br><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; -x-system-font: none;" valign="top"><div>I wanted to ask the Governor where we were going to go on these new roads if we have no jobs or schools?</div>
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<div>Best Regards,</div>
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<div>Donovan<br><br>--- On <b>Fri, 3/13/09, Tom Hansen <i><thansen@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;">From: Tom Hansen <thansen@moscow.com><br>Subject: [Vision2020] Otter Plan Steers Money to Roads, Not Schools<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>Date: Friday, March 13, 2009, 6:33 AM<br><br><pre>"Otter called for the school cuts along with keeping in reserve about half <br>the stimulus money Idaho will receive for schools, plus the state’s $114 <br>million education reserve fund, as a hedge against further economic <br>downturns.<br><br> . .<br><br>House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, offered this analogy: 'If <br>you have a sick family member and money in the bank, to say, 'Well, don’t<br><br>take care of the sick family member, let’s save the money in case they get <br>sicker' – that just doesn’t make sense to us.'"<br> <br>Courtesy of today's (March 13, 2009)<br><br>--------------------------------------------------<br> <br>Otter plan steers money to roads, not schools<br><br>BOISE – Gov. Butch Otter’s plan to boost road spending three different <br>ways but cut education sent Idaho lawmakers reeling Thursday, with some <br>saying the governor’s right and others calling for “middle ground.”<br><br>“I applaud the governor in his desire to protect the infrastructure of the <br>state – that’s important. But the infrastructure of the state is not just <br>roads – it’s corrections, it’s state police, it’s education,” said<br>state <br>Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert. “We can’t afford to let <br>that infrastructure slide. We only get a chance once to educate a child in <br>the first grade or to teach ’em to read. If we fail in that <br>infrastructure, it’ll be much more painful … than in roads.”<br><br>Otter detailed his plans for spending more than $1.2 billion in federal <br>economic stimulus money Thursday and sent his budget chief, Wayne Hammon, <br>to present the plan to lawmakers.<br><br>Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, told Hammon, “You want to increase taxes <br>for roads, spend stimulus for roads, borrow for roads and cut education. … <br>I’m truly trying to understand … (why the governor would want) to have <br>education suffer that much.”<br><br>Hammon responded, “Nobody likes cutting budgets. The governor believes <br>that fixing our infrastructure is an immediate need, that we must do <br>something.”<br><br>Schools are being protected from cuts in the current year, Hammon said; <br>they’ll experience cuts next year like all other state agencies.<br><br>In a news conference Thursday, Otter defended his plan, which calls for <br>going beyond the unprecedented $62 million in cuts to public schools next <br>year outlined by state Superintendent Tom Luna, to also trim another $47 <br>million by including schools in a statewide, 5 percent cut in personnel <br>funding.<br><br>“You’ve got to remember, 87 percent of school costs are personnel,” the <br>governor said. “It’s just, you’ve got to go where the money is.”<br><br>Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, said the governor’s right. “They are a <br>part of the economy. They need to understand that everybody needs to share <br>in that burden,” she said, adding that her local school officials have <br>informed her they’re ready to do their part.<br><br>State Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, said the governor’s going in “the <br>right direction.” He said, “I’m really concerned about the economy –<br>every <br>morning all I hear is bad news. Education is 50 percent of our budget and <br>I don’t see any way to get out of this without doing that.”<br><br>Otter called for the school cuts along with keeping in reserve about half <br>the stimulus money Idaho will receive for schools, plus the state’s $114 <br>million education reserve fund, as a hedge against further economic <br>downturns.<br><br>Legislative Democrats objected to the magnitude of education cuts compared <br>to the reserves the state would hold.<br><br>House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, offered this analogy: “If <br>you have a sick family member and money in the bank, to say, ‘Well, don’t <br>take care of the sick family member, let’s save the money in case they get <br>sicker’ – that just doesn’t make sense to us.”<br><br>Cameron, who chairs the Legislature’s joint budget committee, said, “My <br>preference isn’t to hit education that hard, but the committee will have <br>to decide where it goes.” He predicted, “We’ll find middle ground.”<br><br>Otter also flatly rejected a proposal from members of the House GOP <br>leadership to use a big chunk of the economic stimulus money for corporate <br>tax cuts.<br><br>“Listen, they’ve got a lot of different ideas over there,” Otter said.<br>“I <br>didn’t see it putting jobs on the street, I didn’t see it putting people <br>to work.” He said if he were in business now and he got a tax break, “I’m<br><br>gonna put it in my pocket.” That doesn’t create jobs, he said, and the <br>role of the stimulus is to “stimulate the economy right now.”<br><br>--------------------------------------------------<br><br>Seeya round town, Moscow.<br><br>Tom Hansen<br>Moscow, Idaho<br> <br>Join us at The First Annual Intolerista Wingding, April 17th, featuring <br>Roy Zimmerman and Jeanne McHale. For details go to . . .<br><br>http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding<br> <br>Seeya<br>there.<br><br>---------------------------------------------<br>This message was sent by First Step Internet.<br> http://www.fsr.com/<br><br><br></pre><pre>=======================================================<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> http://www.fsr.net <br> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>=======================================================</pre></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table><br></body>
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