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Mike Bullard: "North Idaho is hard hit by the recession, made worse by Boise’s politics."

Mike with U.S. Congressman Walt Minnick

How Mike will Work for Better Times in Idaho

• Cuts in Education are not just caused by the recession but by a long pattern of low priority for children and young people. Before the recession we were already a dismal 48th in the nation in per pupil public education expense and 43rd in higher education. Not an enticement to bring families to North Idaho. Now schools have been slashed by 125 million more. That means “on the ground” in Coeur d’Alene: 30 less teachers, 8 less administrators, 30 less support staff. These people will not buy houses or cars or services and will likely leave the State to find work. The effects of that ripple through the entire county. Deferred building maintenance and putting off buying needed school buses compromises student safety, takes money out of the economy now and creates a physical debt which must be paid in future years.

• North Idaho is hard hit by the recession, made worse by Boise’s politics. In 2006, in Kootenai County, 12,000 people were applying for 8,000 job openings. Now an incredible 19,000 are applying for only 2000 listed jobs. Up close that means one neighbor in ten who is able and wants to work cannot find a job, to keep or buy a house or car, eat in a restaurant or take a vacation. There are ways to improve the economy without borrowing or raising taxes, but for whatever unknown reasons, Boise leadership continues to make the recession worse by not considering the sources already available. See Idaho Statesman article on the I-JOBS bill.

• Idaho has illegally incurred debt by failing to pay tens of millions of dollars in bills fairly owed to Idaho businesses. The governor and Boise politicians brag about a “balanced budget,” but by putting off Medicaid payments due to nursing homes they have broken faith with our most vulnerable elderly and forced businesses to make illegal loans under the ruse of telling people not to send the bill until next year. Since the Federal government would have matched those Medicaid funds 80/20, failing to pay our bills when due is not just immoral, it’s plain bad business.

• Not only is the budget not balanced; it is not even a budget. This year line items are not specified, the governor has been given unprecedented power over spending, and there is no idea how to make up this year’s shortfall next year. How does one call that a “balanced budget?”

• One party makes all the rules. Our North Idaho Republicans may be the finest individuals you’d ever want to meet, and Republican business sense is a critical to government. Yet when any one party dominates everything, that allows central party leaders to make the real decisions behind closed doors, before legislation ever gets to elected officials public discussion.

• Boise politicians are out of touch. Posturing to pretend to be “more conservative than thou,” the Boise establishment has pointed “over there” to national politics so we don’t look too closely as they give themselves and the governor a raise, saying everything is fine.

Six ways to increase revenue without raising taxes or borrowing:

Collect taxes equally from everyone. Unpaid Idaho taxes, according to the Idaho tax commission are more than all of this year’s school cuts, estimates ranging from 175 to 200 million. Unpaid taxes create an unfair burden for those who do pay, yet Boise has not made a priority of the collection.

Review “sweetheart” exemptions. Some things should be exempt from sales tax, but many exemptions are long-standing, “sweetheart” deals that Boise has refused to review. Adjusting exemptions only 10% would bring 175 million dollars in additional income.

Bring more federal funds to Idaho. We can do a better better job with matching funds, stimulus funds, and other available sources would help Idaho get its fair share.

Cut statehouse budgets in proportion to other cuts. When teachers, road workers, health and welfare workers, face cuts and layoffs, it is only fair that budgets, salaries and benefits of legislators, governor, and even judges, should be cut in the same proportion.

Don’t spend one penny of Idaho money for political issues outside of Idaho until all obligations toward the people of Idaho have been fully met. Many Republicans believe there are constitutional reasons for suing the Federal Government. It is also true that such suits help Idaho Republicans, and attorneys, find their own places on a national stage. Some will argue whether this is even an appropriate use of tax money at all. Whatever the reasons or goals of such suits, it is clear that there are other moneys out there for such suits, and tax money paid by Idahoans should go first for specific needs and services of our own economy and our citizens.

Delay election consolidation until the economy improves. Election consolidation may save money in the long run, but it is not an immediate bread and butter necessity. It is an example of something that is relatively small (about 4 million dollars) but could be delayed in a time of other severe cuts.

Make public education a priority. Coeur d’Alene schools’ phrase, “Good schools are good business,” tells it all. Yes, low taxes by themselves may attract investors to exploit Idaho’s resources, but if we want to bring in many real workers with families, people who buy homes and cars and boats, then we also have to have schools where they will want to send their children and higher education opportunities so their young adults can stay in the area. Besides that, throughout history, information has always been linked to freedom. An educated populace is the only real protection against tyranny, and knowledge and training is the most dependable road to personal success.

Keep our Commitments to our cherished seniors. The poor man who is on life supports may not seem important, but he is like the canary in the mine, the mark that measures our soul as a society. His care is not only a moral issue, it also is a very real economic issue. Just as schools attract intelligent residents, so does how we treat our elders. People want to live where they know that they and their parents and grandparents are valued. Nursing homes, medical care, hospital care, doctors, nurses, nursing school at NIC, together make up the biggest part of employers in Kootenai County. Also, Idaho is missing out on matching grants that could help our seniors and bring money into our economy. Taking care of our vulnerable elderly is not only morally right, it is plain good business..

Use good management to balance current use and future value of the land, water and wildlife that make Idaho unique. Any good model of business requires managing resources of any kind both for current use and for future generations. Idaho’s outdoors brings in much of our business. Many conservation issues involve deciding to pay now, or pay far, far more later. Air and water issues illustrate that point. Boise has chosen that we be one of only four States which do not do our own regulating of air and water quality, and has chosen to let the EPA govern us, exposing us to unnecessarily high standards.. A free society is not one in which there is no regulation. Rather, freedom means taking responsibility to discipline and regulate oneself others are not affected by us. In this case, failure to discipline, and regulate ourselves as a State will particularly cost Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls dearly in water quality lawsuits by Washington State

New technologies in clean and cost-efficient local energy production are especially suited to Idaho’s widely-spread small communities. Idaho has the resources to be on the forefront of localized use of new technologies which are suddenly more economical. Being conservative about the use of our natural resources, saving the world that supports us, is good long range business management.

Good government takes more than one party. When any State is run by only one party, there is no one to question the sacred cows (or sacred elephants or, God forbid, sacred donkeys either). Mike Bullard is an old time, Kennedy Democrat, the kind your grandfather knew, listening to the heart of the people, speaking up for education, seniors, and the working people. He is ready and willing to work cooperatively with Republicans and Independents alike to benefit Coeur d’Alene citizens.