Health Insurance Exchange in Idaho gives you The Blues, it seems.

Idaho Conservative Blogger summed up the proposed health insurance exchange in the following fashion:

"“I’ve never seen any other lobbying action like this,” once source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me recently.  “These guys (insurance industry lobbyists) are serving up ‘free’ buffet meals nearly every day around here, and the ‘big blues,’ as in Blue Cross and Blue Shield, are roaming the halls of the capitol constantly.”  Talk around the capitol also suggests that if Otter’s insurance exchange legislation passes both the House and the Senate, and the Governor signs it into law, there will be a referendum effort even more visceral than the referendum on the education reform laws.

ICB will have a lot more to day about the insurance exchange matter in the coming days and weeks.  But my source tells me that “these guys (members of the Senate) aren’t listening to the people of Idaho, they’re too busy being schmoozed by slick lobbyists.  ICB is left to wonder if maybe this is really the truth of what’s going on…"

ICB's review of the State Senate is fascinating to me. I'm reminded of the physics of politics.

Having been a lobbyist there for a decade or so, I am very familiar with the the culture of that building. Where the House resembles a body set in motion, the State Senate reminds me of a body set at rest.

The House allows free-wheeling debate and even an occasional coup ( witness the recent removal of the Speaker of the House.) The Senate is like a sino/soviet-era voting bloc.  The Senate GOP is so often tightly tethered to it's lethargic and leaderless-leadership that the periodic rogue (like Russ Fulcher) or the man of integrity (like Chuck Winder) tends to resemble the lone protester in Tiananmen Square.

The lobbyists and the leadership have more in common than the letter "L", ICB seems to imply.

So, let's see how ICB's take on The Blues plays out.

If Butch is half the cowboy he says he is, his best play would be to let the horse loose. The federal government is so disorganized on this issue that it'll take years before we as a state face any action - and therefore have to marshal our reaction to this power play. Free range this stallion...

ICB's belief that these fellas ought to quit singin' The Blues may prove out to be the best vocal advice anyone has yet provided.

Den