OTTER GAMBLES WITH LEGISLATORS' PATIENCE

Lewiston Tribune

There goes Idaho Gov. Butch Otter again, leading with his virtual chin while inviting an uppercut from those left out of his decision making.

This time around, Otter and his State Racing Commission moved to authorize gambling on what is called virtual horse racing. It's called that because the racing is not real; it is animated and takes place on a computer. But there is nothing virtual about the gambling; it's as real as what happens at the crap tables in Las Vegas.

The governor says he issued a "special finding" authorizing the commission to approve the gambling by temporary administrative rule change because all four of Idaho's horse racing groups supported the idea and "saw its potential for helping the horse racing industry in Idaho." Did he never stop to ask himself what state legislators, many of whom would still outlaw the state lottery and tribal casinos if they could, would think of the move?

Sure, horse race betting has a long tradition in Idaho, and was permitted as a purported aid to agriculture well in advance of the lottery or those casinos. But the racing that goes on at Les Bois Park in Garden City at least involves real horses in real races, even if they are simulcast from other venues.

As some critics in the Legislature and elsewhere pointed out, the connection between virtual horse racing and real horse racing is mighty flimsy. It's not unlike the connection between shooting an elk in a video game and shooting an elk in the Idaho backcountry.

Members of legislative subcommittees of the House and Senate State Affairs committees voted 5-1 to object, and to ask that the change be sent through the Legislature as a change in law. Otter relented, and asked the commission to withdraw its change.

He should also know he is testing legislators' patience. Not long ago he irked some of the Legislature's most powerful figures, and members of his own party, by changing rules affecting state employees who become disabled or who take time off for doctor visits.

Before that, he presented legislators with his own plan to finance road repair through a huge increase in auto registration fees and responded angrily when they balked at it. That led House Transportation Committee Chairwoman JoAn Wood to issue a response of her own:

"You poke me in the eye, I'll poke you back."

HOW WILL IDAHO FARE IN OBAMA'S AMERICA?

The Times-News, Twin Falls

Nothing will ever quite be the same after Tuesday's historic election. Barack Obama, the first black president, is a transformative figure - even in mostly white south-central Idaho. Whether for good or ill, his election has fundamentally changed our national conversation and altered the equation by which Americans live with each other.

But the Magic Valley's - and Idaho's - most immediate concern is being heard in Obama's deeply Democratic Washington.

Republican Larry Craig will take his 18 years of Senate seniority into retirement next month, leaving Sen. Mike Crapo - another Republican - the senior member of Idaho's congressional delegation. But even Tuesday's turnover left Crapo only 54th in the Senate pecking order.

Second District Congressman Mike Simpson is in better shape. A member of the all-important House Appropriations Committee, Tuesday's election results left Simpson the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee. And he's now the No. 3 Republican on the Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee.

Newly elected Sen. Jim Risch, also a Republican, will be a junior member of a minority. And 1st District Congressman-elect Walt Minnick, the first Democrat elected to Congress from Idaho in 16 years, will be a member of a very large freshman class.

So Idaho's delegation, even more than before, will have to learn to pick its battles and work with Democrats on Capitol Hill. Simpson and Crapo have already proven they can do that; we'll see if the sometimes prickly Risch can be as successful at doing so.

A STIMULUS WITH A LASTING EFFECT

The Oregonian, Portland

Amid the gathering economic gloom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeks to revive and expand the $61 billion stimulus bill that was passed in September by the House but failed to clear the Senate. In contrast to the first economic stimulus bill rushed through Congress earlier this year, the proposed House package is designed to have a lasting positive effect partly by funding infrastructure projects that would put people to work.

That makes this the right moment for Oregon and Washington to prepare their cases for the most pressing infrastructure needs in the Pacific Northwest. Can the stimulus bill help pay for the proposed new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River? How about high-speed rail, to link with the massive new project approved Tuesday by California voters, or perhaps north to Vancouver, B.C.? For that matter, how about a renovation of the creaky railroad network we already have, but whose poor condition causes constant delays?

"We're trying to think big," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who is in a position to help shape the next stimulus package because of his role on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

How big? Well, a national high-speed railway network - a gleam in DeFazio's eye - might cost $350 billion or so. That's the kind of number that was considered staggering before Congress rushed through a $750 billion bank rescue package.

There may be no better moment for high-speed rail. Officials in nine Midwestern states are pushing a plan to create high-speed rail corridors that would link some major cities, such as Minneapolis and Chicago. Similar moves are afoot in the Northeast and, of course, California voters just approved a $19.4 billion bullet-train project that would eventually connect San Diego to Sacramento. Amtrak's ridership and revenue numbers have risen steadily, reaching record highs last year, goosed by the high costs of driving and flying.

The first stimulus checks put a little money in the pockets of taxpayers, who promptly spent it, to no lasting benefit. But infrastructure projects are gifts that keep on giving - they employ thousands of people and leave an enduring legacy. Rail projects, in particular, would help lessen dependence on imported fuel, striking a blow for the nation's energy independence.

Of course, all of this adds to America's monstrous debt load, which can be measured by the high-speed digital clock on DeFazio's Web site. (At this moment, it says "Your share of the national debt is $31,167.") But this isn't a moment for government to change its mind about the interventionist course it embarked upon beginning last winter.

When Richard Nixon said in 1971, "We are all Keynesians now," he didn't know the half of it.