Idaho guv race pits rancher against Harvard teacher

BOISE — In Boise's downtown, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter stared down a bank of TV cameras and tore down Washington, D.C. Wolves were the target of his ire this time, but it could easily have been health care reform or wilderness or the U.S. Forest Service.

Otter had just ended state wolf management under the Endangered Species Act, after U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ruled out a public hunt. Enough is enough, said the Republican, who sees states — particularly in the Rocky Mountain West — as the fingers in the dike holding back a flood of federal abuse.

"They've not kept one of their promises," Otter said. "It's just time for us to draw the line and say, 'It's over with.'"

For Democrat Keith Allred, his rival's wolf decision Monday shows why Idaho needs a new leader: Otter shuns working collaboratively, or consults only narrow special interests, before tackling problems that demand cooperation, Allred said.

In 2009, Otter pushed millions in gas tax and registration fee hikes, something Allred calls misguided as the economy stumbled and Idaho residents lost their jobs. Otter supported Exxon Mobil Corp.'s bid to ship oil equipment through north central Idaho to Canada's tar sands, without consulting residents now fighting the big loads.

And Otter's administration didn't do enough to inform dentists last month they were being booted from a state Medicaid program, Allred said. On Tuesday, dentists were allowed back in.

"In each of these cases, the decisions turned out to be terrible ones, because Butch Otter didn't know what he was talking about," said Allred, who taught public policy at Harvard University before returning to Idaho in 2003.

With Otter, voters Nov. 2 have a lean 68-year-old former U.S. representative who would make Idaho a bulwark in the states' rights fight. This year, he was the first governor to require his state to sue over President Obama's mandate for all residents to eventually buy health insurance.

Karl Stressman, head of the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association in Colorado Springs, met Idaho's governor six years ago on a California trail ride. They've become friends and team-roping partners, including at Pocatello and Caldwell rodeos this year.

Otter, a former football player at the College of Idaho, doesn't like to lose, Stressman said.

"The guy has got grit," Stressman said. "You just get that feeling when you are around him."