Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s wilderness math doesn’t add up

Idaho’s fact free governor testifies about Idaho Wilderness-

Clement “Butch” Otter has always made his way catering to most backward power groups in his unequal, economically poor, but wilderness rich state.  The poorly paid teachers, educationally deprived students, overflowing prisons, and dispirited population are fine by him, but he has never liked wild backcountry, and especially designated Wilderness, and there is a lot of it in Idaho.  Some of it was protected by Act of Congress during Idaho’s brief green period, 1969-1980.  The rest has been protected by rugged topography and dedicated Idahoans and their allies who have fought long odds ever since.

Otter recently shared his ignorance about Idaho’s Wilderness with a committee in the new Tea Party U. S. House of Representatives. Rocky Barker has a good article on his testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee in today’s Idaho Statesman.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s wilderness math doesn’t add up. “In a fight against more wilderness, Otter may have vastly underestimated the economic impact of what the state already has.” By Rocky Barker. rbarker@idahostatesman.com. Idaho Statesman

11 thoughts on “Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s wilderness math doesn’t add up

  1. What I don’t like about Otters governing, is that he rarely has all his facts straight, he does things that fly in the face of wise and responsible fisheries and wildlife management, favors industry to the degree that he will try to do things in the backroom and under the table, and does not put the people of Idaho as his first priority. Sure, enough people got him re-elected, but if enough people really could take stock of his full spectrum history, rather than be apathetic to, or ignorant (as in never learning) of the real direction he is leading us towards, we might get some new blood and better (factually oriented; green/not the pseudo-science fogship kind) leadership in this state.

  2. Immer, you can relate. Folks around the country laughed when MN elected Jesse Ventura governor. Turns out he’s a rocket scientist when compared to Clem.

  3. You really have to wonder what goes through the head of a politician, especially a governor, when they make stupid statements of alleged public facts before hearing bodies when giving testimony.

    With every new discovery about Butch and his way of doing business (or not) on behalf of the residents of the state of ID, I despise him more.

    Heck, all he had to do to prep for the direct and indirect economic benetfits of Wilderness was to make a couple of calls to the state universities and the recreation and economics folks who know about that stuff. Bill McLaughlin, quoted in the article, is probably a very good one, and he would know who else to call. If Butch didn’t like the facts, I guess he could just choose not to use them. On the other hand pulling “facts” out of his a$$ before a Congressional committee is just plain embarrassing, as well as being a lie. Not like he has told any other whoppers recently.

  4. I just couldn’t pass up the following quote that was in the comments to the article for this story:

    “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.” – Abe Lincoln

  5. WM,

    Because the media today reports so many obviously untrue facts as though there were really two sides of them as issues, I think many politicians no longer find themselves bound by reality. They know they won’t be called to account. They don’t even have to prepare. Sarah Palin doesn’t, nor does Michelle Bachman.

    Rocky Barker at the Idaho Statesman, however, bless him on this, knows about this issue and he nailed Butch Otter.

    1. At the moment, I think that is certainly true of this latest version of the Sagebrush politicians and interest groups, Ralph, and getting to be more true of the left as well as, frankly, I think they are getting desperate and frustrated as it appears that facts don’t matter much to the process of winning the votes and the support of the polity. We had dinner with some folks who play in the political circles in both DC and Colorado, and we all expressed incredible frustration and puzzlement with the conservative ability to run the narrative, to define the message, and the inability of the left to fight back with facts and truth, for lack of a better term. I don’t know right now what tactics the left should adopt, but I do know the battle for the West and its essence is well joined now, and we had better figure it out before, between climate change and the entrenched gas/oil/mining/grazing industries, the West is just another overgrazed pasture land.

  6. Otters style of management is like the maniacal magician who uses a black wand to wave about a cloud of deception, intended to make people believe something is something it is not. The salmon swims through the water carrying the hope of the salmon, wolves bring down an elk to carry hope for the wolves, and bull elk bugle for a harem to carry hope for all elk. But Otter of Idaho dances in the dark and carries only hope for industry, not for the people.
    Chief Joseph once said:
    “Suppose a white man should come to me and say, “Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them.”
    “I say to him, “No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them.”
    “Then he goes to my neighbor and says, “Pay me money, and I will sell you Joseph’s horses.”
    “The white man returns to me and says, “Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them.”
    “If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.”
    And, I’m afraid, this is how the natural resources of Idaho are being given away by Otter and his team to the highest bidders of industry.

  7. Getting back to Butch Otter, it’s funny how he touts the Cd’A golf resort over Wilderness. Wilderness is suppossed to be only for the elites, according to him and the “lands of new-use” crowd, not accessible to the common man. Right, and who can afford the $100+ it costs to play a round at Hagadone’s luxery resort?

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