Keough lauded for public transportation work

BOISE — Gov. Butch Otter on Tuesday literally applauded state Sen. Shawn Keough’s efforts to try to get Idaho agencies to make more efficient use of public transportation dollars.

After Keough’s Tuesday afternoon presentation to the Interagency Working Group for public transportation, the governor — during an unannounced appearance in the Capitol’s fourth floor Senate Majority Caucus Room — started the applause.

“Good job!” Otter said.

In an interview, Keough said: “My impression of Gov. Otter (is) he’s always interested in making government work better. And, that’s what this is all about. And that’s a concept he’s always championed.”

Keough during her speech had called for reenergizing the public transportation improvement efforts of the 1990s that extended through the passage of a Senate bill Keough sponsored in 2000. That measure that’s now law, she said, was designed to better utilize “our scare public transportation dollars,” in Idaho.

“I’m hoping that by being here today, and I appreciate the invitation, that I can spur this conversation again, 14 years later, and see where the next chapter is for us,” Keough, a Sandpoint Republican, told the gathering.

Keough said that in December she had invited the GOP governor, along with agency officials — including Idaho Transportation Department Director Brian Hess — to the meeting.

“Thank you all for being here,” Keough said early in her talk. “Gov. Otter, I appreciate you taking your time as well.”

Keough said the interagency group’s work includes looking at the possibility of metropolitan transportation agencies in Idaho sharing financial resources with rural communities where public transit may be sparse or non-existent.

But an agency employee “filtering out” of the Tuesday meeting said that Idaho law in their case prohibits that pooling of resources.

“And, I said, ‘Well bring it to me and I’ll see if we can change it,’” Keough said.

“And, that’s what the interagency working group was supposed to be about. So, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get back towards what the goals were.”

Not that much has been done to improve public transportation in Idaho in the 14 years since Keough’s legislation — Senate Bill 1501 — signed by then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne became law, she said.

“Not as much as could, from my perspective,” Keough said. “There’s been a lot of work, but more could be done.”