JEERS ... to Idaho Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter. Over the years, there's been reason to question the governor's judgment and his work ethic, but never his character.

Until now.

Otter presides over a state that is scheduled to execute Paul Ezra Rhoades this morning. It will be the first time Idaho has put anyone to death since 1994.

As governor, Otter has the discretion to stop the death machinery. He alone can grant a 30-day reprieve and instruct the parole board to review the case. Vesting that life-or-death power with one individual is the last stop gap toward preventing any flawed execution from taking place.

Except if he scoots.

Since Sunday, Otter has been working on his suntan at Maui's Fairmont Kea Lani Resort, replete with a beach, three swimming pools, a 140-foot water slide, 24-hour fitness spa, four restaurants and access to championship golf courses.

As the Spokesman-Review's Betsy Russell reported Wednesday, Otter joined the California Independent Voter Project's "Business and Leader Exchange." He planned to return to Boise in time for the execution.

Before he skipped, Otter betrayed such a lack of knowledge about the Rhoades case that he told a public radio reporter two juries imposed the death sentence. That's the law now, but at the time of Rhoades' case, former 7th District Judges Larry Boyle and Jim Herndon made those decisions.

Whenever an Idaho governor leaves the state, gubernatorial authority is vested with the lieutenant governor - as Otter so famously proved in 1987 when, as then-Gov. Cecil Andrus' second banana, he vetoed a 21-year-old drinking age bill while Andrus was away.

All of which means Otter dumped this life-or-death matter in the lap of Lt. Gov. Brad Little.

For his part, Little won't override Otter's stand. He won't even read the letters and emails about the execution that people of good faith have written to the governor's office.

Who deserts his post and takes a junket to Hawaii in the midst of something so grave?

What sort of governor is this man?

What sort of man is this governor?

CHEERS ... to Washington state Sen. Ed Murray and Rep. Jamie Pedersen, both D-Seattle. They're pursuing a bill to recognize gay marriage.

In Washington, same-sex couples have the benefits of domestic partnerships, the product of incremental advances Murray and Pedersen promoted beginning in 2007. These culminated in the 2009 everything-but- marriage law. Voters later upheld the measure by 53 percent.

Left in place, however, is a system that discriminates against same-sex couples. Among them are couples whose marriages have been recognized in six states - Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont - as well as the District of Columbia. When they move to the Evergreen State, their unions are categorized as domestic partnerships.

Public attitudes are shifting dramatically in favor of gay rights. The University of Washington Center for Survey Research found 55 percent would uphold a same-sex marriage law.

In a legislative session scrambling to fill a $2 billion budget hole, some question the timing of what could be a divisive issue.

But as Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, told the Seattle Times: "I believe that it's always the right time to bring up issues of fairness and equality."

CHEERS ... to Boise State University President Bob Kustra. Give his institution points. It has a crystal-clear policy. If protecting a student against potential harm means violating her privacy, so be it. BSU will call the cops.

At Boise State, the standard of practice is for Boise police "to be involved with and privy to any calls to campus security or reports of concern to physical safety."

That's in stark contrast to campus policies the Tribune's Joel Mills inventoried Wednesday.

For instance, the University of Idaho did not alert Moscow police about the key detail in graduate student Katy Benoit's report- that her professor and former sexual partner Ernesto Bustamante threatened her at gunpoint three time. Benoit had asked the UI not to forward her case to the police.

Bustamante later shot Benoit to death before taking his own life.

At Washington State University, Mills was handed some confusing jargon about not responding to hypothetical situations coupled with a half-dozen policy references.

BSU is an urban institution, where the bulk of the students live off campus. It does not have a tradition of exercising the in loco parentis (in place of a parent) obligations one would expect to find at residential campuses, such as those operating on the Palouse.

JEERS ... to the Washington Food Industry Association. The lobby for Washington's smaller grocery stores already wants the state's 10-day-old liquor privatization law loosened up.

Last week, voters passed Initiative 1183, which takes the state out of the liquor retail and distribution business. A year earlier, they had turned down the idea.

The difference came down to a pair of promises: The change would add at least $80 million a year to state and local government coffers. And no store with less than 10,000 square feet would sell liquor, thereby cutting out about two-thirds of Washington's retailers.

That didn't stop Protect Our Communities from fabricating a claim that hundreds of convenience stores would sell liquor to underage consumers. Joining that coalition was the Washington Food Industry Association.

Now, the association wants lawmakers to change the law. Rather than restricting liquor sales to 10,000-square-foot operations, it wants the threshold lowered to 7,000 square feet.

They may have a legitimate point - although nobody has said how many stores would be affected.

When I-1183 was being drafted last spring would have been the time for the grocers' lobby to raise the issue. Now they're asking lawmakers to go against the expressed wishes of the voters. - M.T.