Idaho State Representative District 3B 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?
It is my hope to help move the legislature away from trying to turn someone's version or interpretation of scripture into law. I don't think that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind. Religious teaching applied to oneself is fine. Particular interpretations of religious teaching imposed on others through the legislature is not.
The Republican Party came to dominance in this area under the banner of resistance to government overreach. It is no small irony that Republican overreach into the private lives of our citizens, especially women, is what will be their undoing. But this can only happen if like-minded individuals unite at the polls to get us to the middle ground most of us already occupy.
2. What experience has prepared you for this office?
I have never held public office. I did serve briefly as interim Chair of the local Democratic Party and have been a precinct chair and assisted in other candidates' campaigns. I ran and owned small businesses in this County and have been a resident here for 44 years. I have watched the politics of the area shift over the years in a direction that I and others, Democrats, Republicans, independents and apolitical groups find increasingly disturbing. A racist element in our country thinks of Kootenai County now as a safe haven for brazen displays of White Supremacy. There is no place for this kind of thing in America. It undermines our relationships. It's bad for business. It represents the worst angels of our nature. We have to speak to it.
3. What do you see as the most significant challenges Idaho faces that you might be able to address in this position?
Public education funding is being undermined by a group that is interested in using State funds and/or State vouchers to subsidize private schooling. Public schools are bound by certain constitutional obligations involving uniformity, inclusivity and comprehensiveness of content. When private citizens and institutions receive public subsidies they fall under the same set of constitutional obligations. But the legislature has not demonstrated an appetite for applying these obligations evenly. People have always been free to home school or attend private institutions. But this should happen on their own dime, not on the backs of the taxpayer.
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.
While it is reasonable for rational people to hash out guidelines for terminating a pregnancy and most people agree with a general set that provides for reasonable time frames and conditions, legislators are not doctors.
Ann Landers figured this one out a long time ago. If it doesn't involve you directly, mind your own business (MYOB). These decisions are difficult enough. Using this back door scheme based on punishing the provider ends up punishing everyone involved without solving the issue.
5. What else would you like to tell the voters?
I don't have a ton of experience and have zero interest in turning this into a career. Frankly I'd rather be helping my adult children remodel their houses and playing in the sand with my grandkids. But sometimes you see something happening that is just wrong in every sense, and you feel that some things need to be said from a perspective you don't usually get in government.
Our relationships are not built by political parties. They are built over the fence when a neighbor is two eggs short of a birthday cake or a strong back short of a heavy lift. We go over and help because that's what you do. And we don't have to be told to do it.
When we see the world this way things become clearer.
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.