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Posts published in “Day: December 28, 2009”

Licensing in the red

December 28, 2009

Of interest: A spreadsheet the Idaho site Fort Boise has put together showing that a number of the state occupational and business licensing agencies (which have been bunched together under the Bureau of Occupational Licenses) appear to be running a deficit.

This could be somewhat illusory, at least in some cases, because of when fees are requested and when paid (a point Fort Boise notes). Still . . . another area in tough financial times, and one you might not have thought of.

ID: A decade gone by

December 28, 2009

One in a series of posts about changes, or lack thereof, over the last decade around Northwest politics.

You can say of Washington and Oregon that there were major changes in politics over the oughts. In Idaho, not so much - or at least, they're harder to spot.

Let's start with the score sheet from 10 years ago, as the dreaded new millennium hit:

Office Republicans Democrats
U.S. Senate Craig, Crapo 0
U.S. House Chenoweth, Simpson 0
Governor Kempthorne 0
Lt. Gov. Otter 0
Statewide ofcs 5 2
St Senate 31 4
St House 58 12
Co Commissioners 99 33

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Now here's where we are today, 10 years later:

Office Republicans Democrats
U.S. Senate Crapo, Risch 0
U.S. House Simpson Minnick
Governor Otter 0
Lt. Gov. Little 0
Statewide ofcs 7 0
St Senate 28 7
St House 52 18
Co Commissioners 104 27

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Very close to a wash. Democrats picked up one of the congressional seats, no small thing, and gained a little ground in the legislature (three seats in the Senate and six in the House). But Republicans gained two statewide offices the Democrats had a decade ago, and added to their under-recognized courthouse strength. And those start-of and end-of decade numbers were not aberrations; they closely reflected the state of Idaho politics for each cycle through the decade. (more…)