Idaho State Representative District 1A Choose 1
Idaho House of Representatives members serve a 2-year term and are responsible for translating the public will into public policy for the state, levying taxes, appropriating public funds, and overseeing the administration of state agencies. These responsibilities are carried out through the legislative process — laws passed by elected representatives of the people, legislators.
Biographical Information
1. What do you hope to accomplish if elected?
Candidate has not yet responded.
2. What experience has prepared you for this office?
Candidate has not yet responded.
3. What do you see as the most significant challenges Idaho faces that you might be able to address in this position?
Candidate has not yet responded.
4. Would you support legislation to remove criminal liability for physicians and pregnant women experiencing life threatening pregnancy complications and allow for medical and family decisions regarding continuation of that pregnancy. Please explain your response.
Candidate has not yet responded.
5. What else would you like to tell the voters?
Candidate has not yet responded.
Biographical Information
Campaign Phone
208-515-2068
Website
http://kmatthee4idaho@gmail.com
Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/KMattheeforID/
1. What do you hope to accomplish if elected?
Lower the cost of living. Many Idaho families struggle to cover basic expenses like housing, food and utilities. Let’s scrap the grocery tax, and switch to a progressive tax system so low- and middle-income families are not paying a disproportionate share of their income in taxes. And let’s fund child care so parents can keep working - a critical component to relieving the state’s historic labor shortage. Last session, the Legislature turned away millions in federal child care grants.
Improve access to health care for all by updating medicaid income cutoffs for pregnant women and children not updated in decades.
Fix or replace aging school facilities. The governor’s bill allocates funds based on attendance, shortchaning rural districts.
2. What experience has prepared you for this office?
I have a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and worked for years for newspapers, public radio and magazine. Journalism taught me to strive for balance, to listen as objectively as possible to people on both sides of an issue. So, I would come into the Legislature with a strong bi-partisian perspective, ready to understand how things work and how things get done. I would seek out allies on both sides of the aisle and work with the appropriate committee chairs to make progress on my top issues. I feel it’s important to try and overcome the us vs. them mentality, the in-fighting, if we are to truly represent the majority of our constituents and accomplish anything important.
3. What do you see as the most significant challenges Idaho faces that you might be able to address in this position?
I feel that it is extremely important - now more than ever - to safeguard our public schools and help them to thrive. Many have read the articles on the poor conditions of many of our school facilities throughout Idaho. The governor's $1.5 billion spending package is a step in the right direction, but is spread out over 10 years and will distribute funds based on attendance. So urban schools with higher attendance will benefit more than rural disticts that desperately need funds. As has been said, the package is too little, too late. The Legislature has to step up and fully honor its constitutional oblication to adequately fund public schools. And vouchers will only siphon off badly needed funds to private and/or religious shools.
4. Would you support legislation to remove criminal liability for physicians and pregnant women experiencing life threatening pregnancy complications and allow for medical and family decisions regarding continuation of that pregnancy. Please explain your response.
Yes. A recent study showed that we have lost 22 percent of our ob-gyns in Idaho, and I'm sure it's more than that now. Our hospital's maternity award has closed, as have two others in the state. And other doctors do not want to come here due to the political climate and threat of fines and prison time. In short, we are experiencing a health care crisis here Idaho, and not just for women. We need to once again empower doctors to decide when an abortion is medically necessary to save a woman's life, to save her health and future fertility, and to save her the anquish of carrying a dead fetus to term.
5. What else would you like to tell the voters?
As a legislator, I will make informed decisions based on input from all constituents, no matter what political party they belong to. I will weigh all possible effects of a bill, before casting my vote. And as a Democrat, I am not required, as Republicans are, to sign a loyalty oath which demands adherence to a limited and rigid platform. I am not beholden to the supermajority or the views of an extreme and vocal minority. I will vote my conscience.
Biographical Information
1. What do you hope to accomplish if elected?
Candidate has not yet responded.
2. What experience has prepared you for this office?
Candidate has not yet responded.
3. What do you see as the most significant challenges Idaho faces that you might be able to address in this position?
Candidate has not yet responded.
4. Would you support legislation to remove criminal liability for physicians and pregnant women experiencing life threatening pregnancy complications and allow for medical and family decisions regarding continuation of that pregnancy. Please explain your response.
Candidate has not yet responded.
5. What else would you like to tell the voters?
Candidate has not yet responded.
Biographical Information
1. What do you hope to accomplish if elected?
Candidate has not yet responded.
2. What experience has prepared you for this office?
Candidate has not yet responded.
3. What do you see as the most significant challenges Idaho faces that you might be able to address in this position?
Candidate has not yet responded.
4. Would you support legislation to remove criminal liability for physicians and pregnant women experiencing life threatening pregnancy complications and allow for medical and family decisions regarding continuation of that pregnancy. Please explain your response.
Candidate has not yet responded.
5. What else would you like to tell the voters?
Candidate has not yet responded.