Gov. Butch Otter said he was prompted to write his recent guest opinion slamming press coverage of his budget proposals because "I would like to see some compassion, maybe that's the word I'm looking for," he said. "This is a tough, tough position to be in, and it's not fun, and I've got to pick and I've got to choose. And when you make those choices you've got to live with them. They're not fun." Otter said if his term as governor hadn't coincided with such a precipitous economic downturn, he'd be looking at things like boosting transportation spending, possibly lowering the sales tax while boosting the gas tax, moving more quickly to take taxes off groceries, and building up a hundred-million-dollar scholarship fund for Idaho students.  

Asked if he'd read the op-ed piece before it went out - or whether that was left to his communications director, Mark Warbis, Otter said, "Oh no, I read it before. I'll guarantee you that. We Otterized that over and over again. In fact he was much more brutal than I was." Otter also thanked the Idaho Statesman for printing the piece. "Anyway, I got it off my chest and I thank you for printing it," he said.