Otter hopes to 'see it through'

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho Gov. Butch Otter wants a third term to complete work he has begun, including reforming education and luring industry to the state.

After Idaho Superintendent Tom Luna's education reform Propositions 1, 2 and 3 were rejected by voters, Otter organized a Task Force for Improving Education to continue exploring and developing ideas to improve kindergarten through 12th-grade education in Idaho.

Otter's task force took Propositions 2 and 3 and put them on a five-year, $350 million plan, he said. Proposition 2 focuses on teacher merit pay, and 3 focuses on classroom technology and online learning.

"I'd like to see that through," Otter said Monday in a meeting with The Press editorial board.

The state's plan for education reform now has the support of both political parties, business and industry and colleges, he said.

"We've gone K through career," he said.

He said Idaho has been creating a business environment that attracts industry, with recent examples like Chobani, Clif Bar and Frulact.

"We move at the speed of business," Otter said, referring to a state motto.

Following achievement of his so-called "Project 60" goal of reaching $60 billion in gross domestic product in 2014 in the state, he launched his "Accelerate Idaho" strategic plan to strengthen the state's economy and expand career opportunities.

"In our Accelerate Idaho, we've got a strike team that comes out of nine agencies in our government," he said. "If somebody walks in and says, 'I want to build this kind of plant or that kind of plant or whatever,' these nine agencies, they each figure out what they can do to move that project forward."

To some degree, he said, that is how North Idaho is seeing development in aerospace.

"That's really exciting," he said.

He wants to see a transportation program that will serve the state's long-term infrastructure needs, he said.

He said a pubic opinion survey is underway by the University of Idaho's McClure Center and Social Science Research Unit to determine the public's position on funding for Idaho's roads, bridges and highways.

"What we got to find out is, do people believe that we need more money for highways?" Otter said.

If so, it must be determined how the work will be paid for by those who drive them, he said.

He defended his support for Idaho's health insurance exchange, arguing that Republicans who oppose a state-based exchange "got it backward."

He said a vote in favor of the exchange was a vote to keep the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," out of Idaho.

With a state exchange, Idaho gets to run its own exchange, as opposed to relying on the federal government's, he said.

"Those who didn't want to start our own exchange were inviting Obamacare into Idaho," he said.

Idaho's exchange is saving people a lot of money, he added.

In the May 20 Republican primary, Otter faces state Sen. Russell M. Fulcher, and fringe candidates Harley D. Brown and Walt Bayes.