One of our legislative Swamp Dwellers who is attempting to run for Lt. Governor named Hagedorn has reared his ugly head and alerted us with one of his Facebook comments which was brought to our attention by a good friend of this publication. Here is a link to the comments.
You ask why this is important. Well if you look at the second paragraph about halfway down you will see mention that the local horse racing park as re-installed their horse racing betting machines which were revoked by the legislature in 2015. Good old Butch our Gov. has seen fit to challenge our legislature’s decision in this matter because he now feels that they should be permitted under Idaho’s Constitution. I wonder how much pressure was applied by the “Good Old Boys” who had a ton of their money invested in the race track to get Butch to allow the re-installation? Or maybe this is payback to his buddies before he leaves office. In any case, it smacks of cronyism of the highest order. Does King Butch think he can issue a proclamation and do whatever he wants without checking with the other branches of government? Evidently, the answer is yes he does.
If you remember, folks, good old Butch, the head swamp gator, fell asleep at the wheel and forgot to veto the legislature’s vote to remove the machines, and his friends were not too pleased with the fact that they might lose a lot of their money which they had invested in this racy enterprise. Why is it that the Media Muppets haven’t picked up on this story and been blasting his decision. Oh, I forgot they’re too busy beating up on President Trump for stopping the flow of refugees from terrorist countries.
Anyone who thinks Idaho is any different in its legislative makeup than Washington doesn’t know what is happening in our state. We have a swamp similar to the one in D.C., we just have more crony establishment republicans that make up the reptiles swimming around in the muck.
In other Swamp News, our friends at the Idaho Reporter did an interesting story on Good Old Butch’s plan to increase the number of state employees. You can find the article here:
According to them, the hiring has raised payroll costs by almost 20% to nearly $1.6 billion; wages by more than 14% to $1.1 billion; retirement by 20%, to $130.6 million: and insurance by a huge 64.7% at $235.76 million. Now think about these numbers in the context of the tax cut that just passed committee which includes a $750.00 exemption for earnings a 7.4 to 7.2 corporate and high earner reduction with a kicker on the personal exemption for equipment going from $100,000 to $250,000. This is your legislature hard at work spending your tax money and taking care of the corporations and lobbyists who finance their campaigns; BUT they would not consider getting rid of the very regressive Grocery Tax which affects low-income earners the most. As the pledges who were getting whacked on the backside said in Animal House, “Thank You Sir May I Have Another”.
What is even more interesting is the bulk of the increase in payroll cost and wages has gone to the highest paying jobs in the state. Quite a gift in the form of a pay package to say thanks for supporting him and allowing him to take the taxpayers’ money and redistribute it to all of his friends.
If you don’t like what our Gov’s been up to you can contact his office at 208-334-2100. Remember: “We Get the Government We Deserve.”
