Gov. Butch Otter, sporting a belt buckle bigger than his IQ.
Idaho's Republican governor, Butch Otter, is just not ready to join the 21st century and accept full equality for every citizen in his state,
vowing in a debate Thursday night to keep up a losing battle.
"I'm not ready to surrender to a few folks in black robes," Otter said during a gubernatorial debate. "I'm not ready to surrender the will of the people in the state of Idaho, as they expressed in 2006 in an overwhelming majority."
The Supreme Court ruled this month that same-sex marriage could proceed in Idaho, a response to an appeal to a federal court decision striking down the state's ban. Otter has since spent $10,000 on outside attorneys to keep appealing. His fight on the matter has cost the state about $90,000 in total.
During Thursday's debate, Otter said his job is to defend "the entire Constitution," and that states should decide marriage laws, not the federal government.
Apparently Otter is operating under his own version of the Constitution, one without the Supremacy Clause. Or he's betting that the Republican base he's trying to shore up to secure his third term in office next Tuesday will like his tough talk and come back to him. Because right now Otter is bleeding some Republican support to his tea party challenger and Libertarian candidate John Bujak. Embarrassingly enough for Otter, even Bujak
is making more sense on marriage, telling Otter in the debate "That ship has sailed, you might as well be arguing about interracial marriage at this point."
Democrat A.J. Balukoff has been running on what's known in this economically depressed state as "Otter fatigue," and has made surprising inroads, thanks in large part to Bujak's presence in the race and an ongoing civil war within the state's GOP. A PPP poll a few weeks ago found Balukoff running just three points behind. He also blasted Otter last night for wasting the state's time and money on the losing marriage battle, telling him "Discrimination is discrimination, and it's also wrong."