Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Governor Otter: Raises for State Employees is the Number 1 Issue in Idaho!!!

The Spokesman-Review’s Betsy Russell reported in her blog on February 4, 2008 (Eye on Boise :: spokesmanreview.com), Idaho’s Republican Governor considers 5% raises for state employees to be his “No. 1 priority.” In fact, Governor Otter’s budget director said that 5% raises for state employees has been his number 1 priority since August, which was 5 months ago. Here’s the entry from Betsy’s blog:


Otter insisting on three things
Quizzed at his confirmation hearing by the Senate State Affairs Committee this morning, Gov. Otter’s budget director, Wayne Hammon, said the governor recognizes that state revenues may fall with a recession, but he’s “insisting” on keeping three items he called for funding in his budget: 5 percent average merit raises for state employees, along with benefit changes; funding for expanding a state scholarship program; and $20 million for aquifer modeling. The 5 percent for raises, Hammon said, "has been since August his No. 1 priority." Posted by
Betsy 4 Feb 8:06 AM


All I can say to this is “wow! WOW!” Is it any wonder why the Republican Party is reeling? Back in the day, the Republican Party stood for fiscal conservatism and smaller government. Now, the leader of the entire party considers 5% raises for state employees to be the most important issue facing the state. Unreal. Obama is looking better and better to me every day, in every way.

No comments: