How hard has Idaho's shaky economy hit state government?

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Well, the governor's office says times are so lean it doesn't even have enough phones for every desk in its office. State budget director Wayne Hammon told budget writers that it’s a good thing they have five vacancies or they wouldn't have enough phones." Hammon presented Gov.  "Butch" Otter's $1.85 million executive office budget proposal Friday morning to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. He says interns no longer get paid, which limits the pool of applicants to just youngsters from southwestern Idaho, not the breadth of Idaho, as had once been the case. Times are tough, but morale is good, Hammon says - despite the striking of training and continuing education, national meeting attendance, even Otter's official subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

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