While Idaho prepared for its first execution in 17 years, Gov. Butch Otter spent much of the week in Maui at a conference.
Bankrolled by the California Independent Voter Project, attendees at the Maui “Business and Leader Exchange” discussed presidential politics, reported Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. The conference was held at the Fairmont Kea Lani Resort, “a beachfront spread with three swimming pools, a 140-foot water slide and an array of luxury amenities.”
Back on the mainland, Otter released this statement Friday:
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, the mother of Paul Ezra Rhoades and everyone who has been impacted by these crimes. Mr. Rhoades took full and unfettered advantage of his right to due process of law for more than 20 years. That process has run its course and Mr. Rhoades has been held accountable for his actions. The state of Idaho has done its best to fulfill this most solemn responsibility with respect, professionalism and most of all dignity for everyone involved.”
Nice of Otter to check in.
Get Twitter updates on my blog and column and Statesman editorials. Become a follower. You can also get updates on Facebook's Idaho Statesman Opinion Page.
Delicious
Digg
Yahoo
Uncalled for
KR, your bias remarks are uncalled for.
Nice to check in? What else would you like the Governor to do? Do you want him to rearrange his plans for this MEDIA event?
Maybe some day YOU will 'check in' with the people of Idaho.
***
The Governor could be in Hawaii on VACATION for all I care. It has NOTHING to do with the legal process of what happened south of town.
"Nice of Otter to check in."
Your lack of professionalism is matched only by your insufferable bias. Grow up.
Suggesting that the governor does not care for lack of presence
is rude and negates the sympathy you claim toward those listed parties.
Kevin, regardless of you opinion on the matter, you have not carried yourself like a gentleman. That was as meanspirited as any of us are called.
I vote with tetpilot and pimp2, the motion carries and perhaps more relaxation and reflection are required of you. This job is getting on your nerves.
On the other hand,
Idaho's first execution in 20 years or so brings forth this vision....the lawyer calls for the last minute reprieve; Butch lounging by the pool, a band of white salve across his nose, sipping another free Mai Tai complete with pink umbrella. "Hey Butch, how 'bout a last minute reprieve?"
This execution
Was the first to occur under Otter's watch. Ultimately, he is the last person with the power to stop the execution. I think the magnitude of the event should supersede a conference in Hawaii.
Kevin Richert
editorial page editor
The fact that I am replying to you provides your answer.
The governor has vastly superior communications capabilites in comparison to 1994. Hawaii's telephone service by itself is a qualified channel for the required actions but we added the internet backbone at about the same time along with many systems and ideas to increase the abaility to communicate better and faster.
SMS
Cellular
better satellites
Idaho had business to do at that event and Butch was doing his job.
When he left the decisions to DOC and the judges involved he didn't need to be there to plead his case. He is not the judicial branch, he is the executive. In most of the cases you and others would cite he has no authority. That is left to DOC, the judicial system and the lawyer challenging the sentence.
Governor Otter did not create the laws concerning capital punishment. As the highest ranking menber of the executive branch in his state he can choose to do any number of things to act. That he didn't states that he felt the actions were correct as the law specified and a tacit implication that he would allow it.
The next point has to do with his hierarchy.
When the governor leaves the state for a visit does the next officer in charge have various powers to maintain the order of the state? Brad Little has signed bills before and I do have confidence in him to consult with his boss over such an important matter.
Finally, a death sentence was handed down by a judge after a jury convicted him of a capital crime. It was reviewed many times over 20 plus years. The appeals ran out and the sentence was carried out. The victims weren't looking for vengeance, a vendetta or necessarily closure. Closure is a meaningless word.
They wanted the sentence to finish. It had to end and it wouldn't make anything feel better necessarily. If you waited that long however it was justice, finally justice.
If justice does not finish it's promise it lies to itself.
business?
Since you have stated the "governor" had business in Hawai'i, maybe you could enlighten us and tell us what it was that was so important to Idaho citizens? Apparently the view is better from Oregon.
Why is it so important?
Is because he's a republican? Does the governor of any state have to be everywhere instantly?
What does he actually have to do? So far the only answer I have seen relates to being unhappy with stuff in general.
Every issue for 4 years, every molecule of it. Scratch and bite and scream.
When looking for the answer as to whom it was that made you feel miserable about x, y and z, cite the mirror you take your medicine at.
Nobody, not you nor I nor anyone caused all your problems. You who just dropped your rollon and everyone else around here helped anybody you can blame for anything. We all have to fix it. Political paranoia, financial paranoia, football paranoia, freaks shooting RPGs on a weekend, Coleman lanterns, billionaires and crappy shacks. Where it all comes or goes I wouldn't know. I see a lot of people protesting without a real plan of attack.
We AREN'T trying to overthrow the government like the Arab Spring movment. I suspect the limits on Occupy Boise people must bite when they watch other protesters charging back in. They're only killing off the clout they had, mind you.
It doesn't matter where I live. I'm about one mile from the border I-84 bridge and I can see Idaho for that matter. It doesn't matter if I'm in your sandbox, state or I crossed the line of death.
We are executing somebody soon as well. Check the Statesman.
Your argument is ill-formed but you can correct this with proper research.
What are you talking about?
Your statement. "Idaho had business to do at that event and Butch was doing his job." What business? Simple question, eh?
Whether or I give an answer I feel I will get nitpicked over it.
The man is dead and now Oregon's Governor Dr. John Kitzhaber has announced today that while he allowed two executions where the prisoner asked for it during his last period in office this time he has chosen to place a moratorium on all executions in Oregon for the duration of his term.
Unless there are other persons in Idaho who are in the imminent line to be next then executions in Oregon and Idaho should not be an issue for at least 3 more years.
I haven't looked at Washington's situation. I'm not going to for the most part.
We have a full slate to vote for in 11 months. Good luck and vote.
----------
Everybody wants to hue the knurled
Sooo..
Then your glib comment about checking in and the fact that he has no power to stop the execution supports your assertion that he still should still have been here? What did I miss?
Magnitude is a mental construction
From now on we shall measure all news events on the Richert scale, but don't be disappointed if things that excite you don't register with your readers. Magnitude is all in your head, Kevin.
Aloha Butch
Lets see he stayed at a hotel owned by a Saudi Prince (you know the same country where its illegal to have Christian churches and supplied 17 of the terrorist on 9/11) paid for by a political action group who since they are a non-profit all their contributors are kept secret. Hmmm... if it smells like influence peddling it usuaully is.
California Independent Voter Project
Interesting that the group sponsoring Butch's vacation has passed the open primary initiative in California, which states that all candidates run in the same primary regardless of party affiliation and everybody votes regardless of affiliation. The top two vote getters run against each other in the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Does this mean that the governor does not support his party in closing the Idaho republican primary, or was he just in it for the free whiskey? Was this really more important to the citizens of Idaho than the other little thing that was going on?