Legislative District 4 Reed Vs. Riggs: Doctor Tries To Oust Democratic Incumbent
Six candidates in District 4 are battling for voters in their three-county district.
In the Senate race, doctor and entrepreneur Jack Riggs has run an aggressive campaign to push 12-year Democrat incumbent Mary Lou Reed out of office.
Reed has been the lone Democrat in District 4 since Republicans Tom Dorr and Don Pischner wrested their House seats from longtime Democrat incumbents in 1994.
Challenging Dorr and Pischner are Larry Watson and Don Heikkila, who often are heard repeating this election’s party line that diversity is desperately needed in the Legislature.
Now, they say, the lunch-bucket Democrats in Shoshone County and elsewhere are under-represented, and meaningful debate is lacking on important issues.
In his $18,000-plus campaign against Reed, Riggs accuses Reed of doing a crummy job of representing her constituents - many of whom lost their jobs with the decline of resource-based industries.
Riggs was prompted to run, he said, when Reed criticized the work of the welfare reform task force, to which Riggs was appointed by Gov. Phil Batt.
Riggs called Reed’s objections knee-jerk. Reed ultimately voted for many of the 44 recommendations that the task force proposed.
Because of her environmentalist views, Riggs charges, the Silver Valley is not getting the kind of jobs and economic boost that it needs.
While Riggs accuses Reed of environmental extremism, she replies that he’s just trying to undermine her base of support in the Silver Valley.
Healthy forests and environmental restoration will do more to economically revive the Silver Valley than leaving it alone, Reed argues. Revitalization also will depend on education, which is one reason why she is a staunch supporter of public education.
One of her favorite programs is Reading Recovery, which provides extra help for young children with reading problems.
Dorr vs. Watson
Dorr’s campaign has centered around the need to lower taxes. He’s the only Republican candidate in District 4 to support the One Percent Initiative without hesitation.
While other candidates say its passage could result in a tax shift, Dorr vows to fight against moves to shift taxes, saying the state must make budget cuts to make up any lost revenue.
While Dorr tends to take a black or white stance on issues, Watson wavers closer to the middle. He speaks respectfully of the wide range of gray between black and white, and is difficult to pin down on the issues.
For instance, Dorr is clearly for school choice and a voucher system to help parents finance a private or home-school education for their children.
Watson, however, doesn’t necessarily oppose a school voucher for those parents, as long as any such system does not undermine the public schools.
Heikkila vs. Pischner
Both Heikkila and Pischner pitch themselves as moderate candidates with the ability to represent a diverse population.
Heikkila, a rancher from Harrison, says, “I know what it’s like to make a living. I have five miles of fence to fix.”
When it comes to regulating business and agriculture, Heikkila said he would support voluntary programs before anything else.
Both Riggs and Pischner argue for a quick cleanup of the Superfund site and an end to bickering over the need to clean the Coeur d’Alene Basin outside of the Superfund area.
“The best thing to happen in Kellogg is for the EPA to finish the job and go home,” Pischner said.
Pischner, Riggs and Dorr all call for less government interference, more local control and free enterprise.
, DataTimes MEMO: See individual profiles for Senate candidates by name of candidate