District 5
State Senate
The senator in District 5 represents residents of Post Falls and rural Kootenai County.
The Legislature convenes annually in January.
Term: Two years.
Annual salary: $15,646 a year, plus housing expenses during the session and $1,700 for office expenses.
The race
The two candidates running for the open Idaho Senate seat in Post Falls have little in common except the desire to get elected.
Republican Jim Hammond, 56, touts his experience as Post Falls mayor and city administrator and has aligned himself closely with two Republican House members from the same area.
Democrat Chuck Thomas, 55 and also of Post Falls, doesn’t characterize himself as a politician. The retired Coeur d’Alene firefighter said he wants to work for the working person.
The winner will replace Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, who is retiring.
Thomas said his priorities are to repeal the right-to-work law, which bans unions from requiring that employees join or pay dues as a condition of employment; raise the minimum wage; and take the sales tax off groceries to help working people.
This platform is outlined in a twangy campaign song, “Idaho Way,” written by Thomas. He has played local gigs wearing a cowboy hat for years.
“The Republicans are against the worker, retired people and against the kids,” Thomas said.
He blames most of Idaho’s economic problems on the right-to-work law, which he said drove away unions and has made it nearly impossible for residents to make a good living.
It’s been decades since Hammond, a Missoula native, sang in school plays and the choir. He says he doesn’t need a catchy tune to tell voters what he stands for: giving property tax relief to homeowners, education and creating a statewide community college system.
He doesn’t see a problem with the right-to-work law, which was passed nearly 20 years ago. He said people should have the option of not joining unions.
Hammond said he has an advantage over his opponent because as a Post Falls mayor and city administrator he has testified on numerous bills and is familiar with the legislative system. A former elementary school principal, Hammond quit his job as city administrator in September to concentrate on the campaign. He supported the special legislative session in August called by Republican Gov. Jim Risch that raised the sales tax 1 percent and decided school operations and maintenance costs would no longer be paid with property tax revenue.
Hammond supports a plan to increase the grocery credit, an alternative to the Democrats’ idea to eliminate sales tax on groceries. Republicans argue it’s premature to remove the sales tax completely from groceries. Thomas and the Democrats argue people can’t afford to wait and that expanding the grocery credit will do little to help families.
Republican Jim Hammond, 56, Post Falls: “We all feel strongly that you should never fear losing your home, and you shouldn’t have to lower your standard of living to pay your taxes.”
Democrat Chuck Thomas, 55, Post Falls: “I’m not a politician. I’m a retired worker who wants to go to work for the worker.”
State House
The two House members in District 5 represent residents of Post Falls and rural Kootenai County. The Legislature convenes annually in January.
Term: Two years.
Annual salary: $15,646 a year, plus housing expenses during the session and $1,700 for office expenses.
The races
Seat A
David Larsen is making his second attempt to win a local seat in the state House of Representatives. And again he’s going up against Bob Nonini, who was elected in 2004.
Larsen, a Coeur d’Alene Democrat, is a retired high school math teacher who now teaches part time at North Idaho College. Nonini, a Republican, owns an insurance and finance company.
The two don’t agree on much.
Nonini, also of Coeur d’Alene, described himself as a leader with aspirations to be elected House speaker. For now, he said he’ll likely become vice chairman of the House Education Committee if re-elected.
Larsen said he believes Nonini is ineffective and blindly follows his party’s leadership, comparing him to a circus elephant. Nonini says a Democrat would be ineffective because the party has no clout in Boise. Eighty percent of legislators are Republican.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a ‘yes’ guy,” added Nonini, who replaced longtime Rep. Hilde Kellogg two years ago. “I’m opinionated, and it sometimes gets me in trouble.”
Larsen said the Legislature needs more balance in power, and he criticized Republican legislators for the special session in August that shifted to the sales tax a portion of the property tax that is used to help pay for education. He said that residents have been calling for property tax relief for years and that Republicans waited to address it recently for political purposes.
“Just when they are in re-election danger, they finally find the light,” said Larsen, who also dislikes the resulting 1-cent sales tax increase.
Nonini said his first term was a success for property owners and because of legislation that aims to create an aquifer protection district in North Idaho and improve U.S. Highway 95. He said he’s working with other Republican lawmakers in District 5 to give residents ease the tax burden even more.
“We’re far from done,” Nonini said. “But we made the first great stride.”
The race also includes Constitution Party candidate Rose Johnson, of Hauser, who is running a write-in campaign. Johnson, 47, also ran in 2004.
Democrat David Larsen, 66, Coeur d’Alene: “We need a two-party system to have balance. There are good Republican ideas and there are good Democrat ideas. We’re better off if we meld the two ideas together.”
Republican Bob Nonini, 52, Coeur d’Alene: “I’m the only candidate born and raised here in North Idaho. I’ve lived here my whole life and have seen the transition.”
Seat B
Post Falls Democrat Lyndon Harriman’s message hasn’t changed in years: More education funding, better health care and increased wages for Idaho workers.
This year, as Harriman takes his third shot at the Idaho House, he thinks those issues are finally at the forefront and voters are ready to put some balance in the Legislature.
“Policy is made behind closed doors, and there is no expression for the need of the people,” said Harriman, 53, who is challenging Republican Rep. Frank Henderson, Post Falls, for a District 5 seat.
Henderson beat Harriman in 2004 after ousting Rep. Charles Eberle in the Republican primary. Harriman also ran in 2002 against Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene.
Henderson touts his experience as a Post Falls mayor, Kootenai County commissioner and longtime businessman. His jobs have included owning a newspaper and working for a pharmaceutical company. He said he works well with the other lawmakers in District 5, especially Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Post Falls.
At 83, Henderson says he has the stamina to do the job. He works out daily and will be married in December.
Henderson said the Legislature’s August special session, which resulted in the removal of school maintenance and operations costs from the property tax rolls and replacing the money with a 1-cent sales tax increase, was only a start. For homeowners to see real, permanent tax relief, he supports averaging property values over five years and freezing property taxes for residents who have owned their homes for longer than 15 years. Henderson is pondering a measure to give veterans who were disabled on duty a property tax exemption based on the extent of their disability.
Harriman, a Canfield Middle School teacher, opposed the Republican-orchestrated special session and resulting sales tax increase. He supported the Democrats’ alternative, which would have given property tax relief just to homeowners, not businesses, removing the need to raise the sales tax.
He said the decision that school operations and maintenance costs would no longer be paid with property tax revenue will make already inadequate school-funding mechanism even shakier. The higher sales tax only hurts the poorest people, he said.
“People will end up paying more money,” Harriman said. “There’s no way around it.”
Democrat Lyndon Harriman, 53, Post Falls: “Public education should be free and available to everybody. It needs a higher level of funding.”
Republican Frank Henderson, 83, Post Falls: “I simply have the experienced background that provides a very comprehensive resource for a huge number of issues.”