Governor hopefuls unveil ads

BOISE – Candidates for governor are focusing on taxes, education and public lands in their latest campaign commercials, as Idaho’s campaign season heats up.

Both Republican Butch Otter and Democrat Jerry Brady have rolled out two new campaign ads in the past two weeks. Otter has one in which he vows to oppose expanding Idaho’s sales tax to services, saying “not on my watch,” and one – which he ran in Southern Idaho during the primary but that’s just now debuted in North Idaho – on education.

Brady put out an ad targeting Otter for “trying to sell off 5 million acres of our treasured public lands to big developers,” and saying, “I’m not for sale. And Idaho shouldn’t be either.” Brady also has a new ad contrasting the Democratic proposal for property tax relief to the Republican one that passed in an August special session of the Legislature, which Otter supported.

“They are vague, general ads, but they are addressing real issues in Idaho,” said Jim Weatherby, political scientist emeritus at Boise State University. “In that sense they’re not a bad set of ads.”

Otter’s ads in the governor’s race are notable in part because they’ve taken some positions opposing his own party’s legislative leaders. “As the presumed front-runner, he has taken harder stances than one might think at this point,” Weatherby said.

An earlier ad opposed underground “wings” that lawmakers approved as part of a renovation and expansion of meeting space in the state Capitol. Otter’s new ad on taxes vows to oppose expanding Idaho’s sales tax to services, such as haircuts, legal and accounting services, auto repair, funerals and massages. But that is a concept many GOP legislators have discussed in recent years.

Idaho’s sales tax, enacted in 1965, was developed for an economy in which most transactions involved goods. Now, most involve services.

“There have been a number of legislators in recent years who have at least supported the concept of broadening the sales tax base, and recognizing that the sales tax is increasingly getting out of date,” Weatherby said. Broadening the base could allow the rate to be lowered.

However, Weatherby said, “The experience has been in most states that the base is not broadened, the rates are increased.” The vow Otter makes in his ad leaves him “free to do that,” Weatherby said.

Otter’s tax ad also promises to “ensure that the new property tax cut stays cut” and to “work to let you petition your local government to decrease your tax burden.”

Legislation proposed in the House last session to allow local voters to vote on tax decreases went nowhere. “Suggesting that there needs to be additional cuts in local government spending is far beyond where many legislators were willing to go, at least in the last session,” Weatherby said.

Otter’s education ad is so general – declaring that Otter supports teaching math and science skills, expanding community colleges and making schools “better and more accountable” – that it tells people little about his positions, Weatherby said. “He’s for them. I think every governor wants to be an education governor, particularly in a state like Idaho where education is often seen as the top priority in public opinion polls.”

Brady’s public land sale ad accurately cites Otter’s co-sponsorship of legislation in Congress to sell off public lands, including millions of acres in Idaho, to raise money to pay for Hurricane Katrina damages. After criticism from Brady and others, Otter withdrew his sponsorship and said it had been a mistake.

“Brady scored some points with that. Otter backed away from it,” Weatherby said. “The question is how effective is it today in that Otter several months ago just flatly admitted that he had made a mistake.”

Brady’s tax ad has a youngster named Sam help him with a balance scale to show the differences between the property tax reform plan Brady supported, which would have given tax relief only to homeowners by tapping into the state’s budget surplus, and the one Otter backed, which passed. That plan cut property taxes for everyone while raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent.

Brady claims that 95 percent of Idahoans see a net tax increase under that plan, while out-of-state property owners and big businesses gain. He cites an Idaho Center on Budget and Tax Policy study that reached that conclusion.

Other studies have reached different conclusions, with many suggesting that all Idahoans who own property will see a small net tax cut, while large property owners and out-of-state vacation-home owners will see greater gains. The difference lies in the assumptions used about how much people will spend in increased sales tax, which varies with an individual’s buying habits.

“It’s not as if he’s created this out of thin air,” Weatherby said. “It is a serious study that was presented to the Legislature. One may not agree with the final result, but it does fit the theme of his campaign that Otter is beholden to special interests and favors big business and out-of-state interests.”