Capitol Commentary

Public is Out of Otter’s Loop

By Jill Kuraitis, 2-20-07

Governor Butch Otter after his State of the State speech, when he couldn't help but meet the press

Idaho Governor Butch Otter vetoed his first bill last week, and most of the reporters covering the Statehouse weren’t informed.  Only the Idaho Statesman and the Associated Press were notified – with hand-delivered copies of the veto from Communications Director Mark Warbis.

The rest of us in the press room were ignored.  That’s New West, the Boise Weekly, The Lewiston Tribune, the Idaho Falls Post-Register, the Twin Falls Times-News, the Idaho State Journal, Idaho Public Television, plus local stations KIVI Channel 6, KTVB Channel 7, and KBCI Channel 2.

The veto was posted on the Governor’s website, but AP and the Statesman got a head’s-up in the same style which previous governors’ staff have done for the whole lot of us.

(Bear with me.  The story sounds inside-baseball, but it has important implications for voters.)

There are lots of reasons for the press corp to be mighty ticked off, but even more reasons for you to get mad.  You’ve been royally insulted.  Consider:

How do you, personally, find out what Governor Otter is doing?  Isn’t it from newspapers, TV news, and sites like NewWest.Net/Boise?

You don’t call his office and ask for updates; you rely on us. And when the governor makes news – a veto definitely qualifies as news – the Statehouse press has always been told.

In an email to one reporter who distributed it to all of us, communications director (and former AP reporter) Mark Warbis, who had hand-delivered the veto to the AP and the Statesman, wrote:
“As you know, it has been long established practice that the AP serves as a de facto clearinghouse for such information. I didn’t even walk through the bullpen; I simply gave a copy to John. [Miller, AP writer]. As you noted, he quickly filed a story that was available to everyone…”

Several of us, NewWest.Net/Boise included, do not have subscriptions to the Associated Press, and so the information was not available to “everyone.”

Warbis ended his email this way:  “As I’m sure Jon [Hanian, Otter’s press secretary] told you, because checking the Web site daily appears to be too onerous, we will start issuing media advisories every time the Governor vetoes a bill. However, that will require checking your email. I hope you find that acceptable.”

Nice.

Spokane-Spokesman-Review reporter Betsy Russell, said, “I’ve covered six Idaho governors and I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Russell, who is always careful to speak and write with accuracy and without hyperbole, is president of the Idaho Press Club and the de facto leader of the bullpen. 

I suggested that we all take brown bags full of noisy, oniony snacks and our laptops and cellphones and have a loud and crunchy group campout in the Governor’s lobby, waiting for news to happen, and faces brightened for a moment, imagining the possibilities….conversations with our mothers telling her we were in the Gov’s office right that minute; a spirited argument about the placement of a semicolon; fighting over the last bag of chips; the usual round of WHAT ARE YOU WRITING? I DUNNO, WHAT ARE YOU WRITING? …. But alas, no level of noise or stinky sauerkraut sandwiches would make any difference.

Since almost nothing makes people madder than powerlessness, it would seem that a Governor would try not to piss off the press too much - but it was made clear that it’s not the case here. This isn’t about secrecy – the governor’s staff had no intention of hiding the veto - it’s about good manners, procedures that work, and the unprovoked, if petty, abuse of power.  The Governor’s staff CAN act as they please, communicate or not communicate, and so they will.

Governor Otter does get decent marks for personal accessibility.  Interview requests are usually granted, he can be fairly easily stopped on his frequent walks to and from the YMCA for his noon workout, and if you just drop by, odds are about even that you can at least exchange a few words with him. (Women are at a disadvantage, however, unless we want to storm the locker room at the Y and, frankly, we don’t.)

After the “incident,” Warbis wrote an advisory to the media saying that bills signed and bills vetoed would be posted on the Governor’s website, and apologized for any “confusion this policy change might have caused.” But apparently the policy of not notifying the press when bills are signed or vetoed has not changed.

Also since then, he’s been exceedingly polite and responsive to me personally. Good news.

“You are the message,” goes the famous saying by Roger Ailes, former Republican media consultant and now programming guru at Fox News.  In other words, who you are speaks louder than what you say.  So what is the governor’s staff saying, in general, to the press?  They represent the governor.  Their message is his message.

More important, what is being said to YOU?

Is it, “We’ll tell the press – and thus the public –when we damned well feel like it.”

Or this corollary, “We’ll treat people the way we treat people, take it or leave it,” – knowing that we can’t leave it? When the Governor makes news, the press will cover it, and they know that.

Whatever it is, it’s voters who end up in the dark.

And you oughta be mad about it.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.