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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<H1><FONT size=3>Check out this article from today's Tribune about the
Democratic candidate for Idaho Governor. Allred is a great candidate with
a sensible plan for stabilizing Idaho's government. BL</FONT></H1>
<H1><FONT size=3>Allred will be in Moscow tonight. Here's the
specifics:</FONT></H1>
<DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial>WHAT: A Town Meeting with Keith Allred,
Democratic Candidate for Governor</FONT><FONT size=3
face=Arial> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial>WHERE: Hamilton Indoor Recreation
Center, Multipurpose Room, 1724 East F Street in
Moscow</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial>WHEN: Thursday January 28th from 6:00
pm to 8:00 pm</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial>FORMAT: 6:00 to 7:00
Treats and conversation</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"
class=MsoNormal> <FONT
size=3 face=Arial> 7:00 to
8:00 Presentation with a comment period </FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial>The Latah Democrats will provide drinks and hors
d’oeuvres.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3 face=Arial><STRONG>FOOD DRIVE: Besides
learning about Keith please bring a few cans of food we can share with the local
food banks</STRONG> </FONT></DIV></DIV>
<H1> </H1>
<H1>-----------</H1>
<H1>Allred brings campaign to Lewiston</H1>
<H2>Democratic hopeful says he has better relationship with Idaho Legislature
than Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter</H2>
<P>By Sandra L. Lee of the Tribune<BR>January 28, 2010</P>
<P>Keith Allred says he has a better relationship with the Idaho Legislature
than Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter, a system in place to sample Idahoans' beliefs
statewide, and a commitment from Democrats to let him do it his way if he's
elected.</P>
<P>Allred, founder and president of the nonpartisan and nonprofit The Common
Interest - an organization established five years ago to present factual
positions on major state issues - was at Lewiston Wednesday to talk about his
run as a Democrat for the governor's office.</P>
<P>His frustration with Otter, Allred said, is he's satisfied in the near term
with dismantling state functions, but offers no vision for the future in return.
Too much money is being left on the table given even conservative growth
estimates, and too much of it is coming out of K-12 education that can't be made
whole six months down the road if the money is there.</P>
<P>Every tax exemption should be examined individually as the first method of
increasing revenue, he said, and the second shouldn't be the level of funding
for public education but what the most cost-effective investment would be.</P>
<P>Putting the increased cost of higher education on students is the wrong way
to go, he said.</P>
<P>It also makes no sense to cut Tax Commission employees who bring in millions
more than the cost of keeping them on the job, Allred said. </P>
<P>Maintaining an increase in the grocery tax credit, at an estimated cost of
$15 million, is high on his priority list because it benefits the people hurt by
the downturn, but it would come after education.</P>
<P>Allred said his method of doing things as head of The Common Interest
wouldn't change if elected in November. He has Democratic support for his stance
that he will appoint based on ability and not party and that he will pattern
government after the principles of The Common Interest, he said.</P>
<P>That means, in essence, that on major issues, as many as 35,000 Idahoans,
about 1,000 from each legislative district, would be surveyed for their
positions and beliefs and that careful research of both pros and cons would
replace party-line positioning.</P>
<P>"The whole notion behind separation of powers," Allred said, "is only those
things that attract broad support get through and those with narrow support are
screened out. That works incredibly well."</P>
<P>Using a constituency in that way is something he pioneered while teaching at
Harvard University, Allred said, and he would like <BR>Idaho to demonstrate how
well it can work. "Frankly, that's much of my excitement at running for office,
to get back to what the founders intended."</P>
<P>Allred mentions frequently he is the fifth generation of Idaho cattle
ranchers and learned lessons about problem-solving and never saying he can't do
something from having a 1,200-acre ranch turned over to him by his grandfather
the summer of 1981 when he was a high school sophomore.</P>
<P>The cattle market had plummeted, his grandfather had to work another job and
needed Allred's help if the ranch was to be saved, he said. </P>
<P>That's been coming back to him as Idaho faces the toughest economy in modern
times, he said.</P>
<P>The people who show up at the Legislature when it's tax break time represent
major corporations when it's proven the lion's share of growth comes from small
business, he said. </P>
<P>Otter, he said, "has been in the game a long time. It's stunning how poor he
is at it."</P>
<P>Take, for example, Otter's signature transportation funding issue in the last
Legislature. Otter was asking for a 138 percent increase in car and pickup
registration fees but only 5 percent on heavy trucks, even though there was
factual evidence the trucking industry already was paying less than its share,
Allred said. </P>
<P>Otter's representatives conceded that Common Interest had its facts right,
but said the trucking industry was only willing to pay 5 percent more. "I asked
if anyone asked car and pickup owners what they were willing to pay?"</P>
<P>The next day, Allred said he found a $10 million error in the bill and that
was the end of it for the Legislature.</P>
<P>Otter tried to raise taxes and to do it while protecting special interests
and not everyday Idahoans, he said. "That was a phenomenally stupid
proposal."</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>------------------- </FONT></DIV>
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