Republican Idaho House candidate Julie Ellsworth wrote a rather interesting 'Reader's View' in the 'Idaho Statesman' Tuesday. The first sentence included the line "...I am not going to adopt the "tax first" mindset on road funding." Here's the link to her entire letter.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/readersopinion/story/379539.html
Ellsworth clearly doesn't like her opponent's position on the road funding issue. In fact, the 'Statesman' endorsed Ellsworth's Republican opponent, Gail Hartnett, in part because Hartnett supports a hike in the vehicle registration fee to get our crumbling roads fixed and freeway expansion work in the Treasure Valley done.
So let's review. Ellsworth: Against raising registration fees. Hartnett: Supports raising registration fees. Doesn't get any simpler than that, now does it? After all, whose dumb idea was it to raise vehicle registration fees to pay for roads in the first place? It was Governor Butch Otter's idea.
Otter a "tax-first" Republican? It would seem Ellsworth believes so! She goes on to write "There are alternatives to raising taxes." Would Ellsworth's friend Governor Otter really have proposed raising vehicle registration fees if he felt there were legitimate alternatives to closing a $240,000,000 PER YEAR road funding deficit? Apparently Ellsworth thinks less of our Governor than many of us thought. Ellsworth even writes about moving money from the general fund into transportation, something Otter says he considered and rejected because he knows that money cannot be made up elsewhere.
Reading Ellsworth's rhetoric, you would have a hard time believing she and Otter are even members of the same party. The fact is ... they're not!
Otter is a member of the Republican Party that wants to govern this state and fix our highway problems. Raising taxes is a last resort for them too, but in a low tax state with big highway needs, they realize there is no other way.
Ellsworth is a member of the Republican Party that wants to deny that we taxpayers may need to pay some more if we want to get out of gridlock. They are the party that wants to maintain the status quo that's producing huge transportation shortfalls every year, and if the money runs out, they figure traffic in the Treasure Valley won't get THAT bad. What they forget is a $100 hike in registration fees looks cheap when you're stuck in gridlock burning $4/gallon gas.
Boise voters kicked Ellsworth out of office two years ago, so she became a lobbyist. She then successfully pushed a bill to make taxpayers pay to reimburse Cabela's for a freeway interchange they agreed to pay to have built at their store in Post Falls. Gee, thanks Julie! If Ellsworth is really concerned about Idaho taxpayers, that is an interesting way of showing it. Maybe Ellsworth is only concerned about us taxpayers when she's actually running for office.
So if you are a District 18 voter on primary election day, your choice really isn't between Julie Ellsworth and Gail Hartnett. It's a philosophical choice between Julie Ellsworth and Butch Otter. Choose wisely!
Comments