Each day I get up in the dark and walk through the sidewalks of some of Boise's
oldest neighborhoods. I walk across State Street into downtown, the high buildings and stoplights and to the temporary statehouse to
make it to our daily Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) meeting. Yesterday though I had a 7am human rights strategy meeting, ran downstairs to attend two committee meetings where we are done with approving agency rules and have started to hear bills. I walked quickly down state street to speak with Students at Boise High then almost ran back to the capitol to be part of a daily Health & Welfare lunch time Budget setting session. At 4pm I angled trough the legislative parking lot on foot to a reception for the Commission on Hispanic Affairs followed by racing to receptions and events for four other groups including the Idaho Sportsman's Caucus where we talked about ground water and wolves. At 11pm or so I walked back home in the dark and fell into bed.
The pace this year is much faster. It is as if I'm sprinting to stay ahead of the bad news comming in from the tax commission about how Idahoans are doing… news on what we all are earning and paying taxes on and what we are spending and the state is collecting sales tax on. We feel in part what people all over the state are feeling, hesitation, serious losses, searching, scraping, rearranging, digging in.