As I See It--
by Mark Steele
Publisher
Caribou County Sun
Thursday, June 2, 2010
Well, we just may have a true race for the governor’s seat this fall after all. The first indicator is that Rex Rammell garnered nearly 30 percent of the vote against incumbent Republican Gov. Butch Otter statewide. That’s incredible on its face, considering Rammell is unorthodox and a little on the far out side, most people would say.
I doubt if it was a vote to support Rammell, but more of one against Otter. Enter the second part of the equation for November. An independent, who was drafted to run as an “independent” Democrat, will face Otter come fall. Keith Allred, the challenger, counters of a lot of what some voters do not like Butch. Allred is very intelligent, amazingly neutral, nonthreatening, and wants the state run by and for the people. He has a sense of, and education in, history and what that should mean for current government. He is a professional mediator and works for bringing a consensus of ideas together. And it doesn’t hurt that he was educated at Stanford and was also a professor at Harvard before coming back to his roots in Idaho.
Allred can match Otter gallop for gallop. He is a fifth-generation Idahoan who was ranch raised in Twin Falls and is more than a drug store cowboy. His demeanor is quiet and sure. Butch lacks or struggles with much of the above.
What Gov. Otter has done is alienate many Idaho voters. Educators, students, agency and state personnel, county officials who have had to pick up the bill for the state shortchanging programs that end up stopping at the county level, and the list goes on.
Idahoans are seeing the governor’s office—and that is not necessarily Butch himself—as being king over all state agencies and programs and commissions. From the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to Fish and Game issues, people grumble behind the scenes that it all has to be cleared and blessed by the governor’s office. In a sense, and to a degree, once a decision is made there needs to be consensus. But not before and during the discussion on Idaho’s important issues.
Lack of leadership is what I hear stated about the current regime in Boise. Along with that is a growing feeling that big business has way too much power in the state and the governor caters to them at the expense of the general public. I tend to agree. And that is where Keith Allred will shine. I don’t think you can buy him for any amount of money. He has pledged to bring consensus to the top issues of the state. His development of the nonpartisan The Common Interest group of 1,600 Idahoans of broad background and political thought was the basis for guiding legislation and issues Allred took to the legislature. He was and is well respected in political circles of both parties in Boise.
But Allred is not well known in much of the state. Big business is already fearful of him because he is willing to toss out special sales tax exemptions that are very limited in scope and benefit a very narrow few (read that big business). They will contribute heavily to Otter’s camp in an effort to keep business as usual in Boise, and they are already attacking Allred.
So do I like Allred? Yes. And I will probably support him in his bid for the governor’s seat. He is honest in the discussion we have had, and noted if Phil Batt was still governor, he would not even be considering a run for office, and probably not even if Kempthorne was still there.
We will see. In Idaho a democrat who is from the southern part of the state has a couple of strikes against him in a bid for this state’s governorship. But Allred may just hit a homerun at the bottom of the ninth with the bases [loaded] in November, foul balls, brush backs, and all.