Community college vote lesson in bipartisanship

BOISE – It took some of the top Democratic and Republican political operatives in the state, working side by side and in concert with business and education interests, to win two-thirds supermajority approval last week for the state’s first new community college district since the 1960s.

“We got beyond partisan politics and we all worked together for a good cause,” said Tara Wolfson, field coordinator for the “Community College Yes” campaign. The campaign successfully formed a district to create Western Idaho College in Nampa. Wolfson added, “I never thought that I’d work with Jason Lehosit.”

Lehosit, the campaign manager, is a former state Republican Party executive director who worked on campaigns for Republicans Larry Craig, Dirk Kempthorne and Butch Otter. Wolfson, a key staffer for the Idaho Education Association’s unsuccessful education funding initiative, headed up field operations with Shawneen Grange, a Democratic stalwart known for her work for the state Democratic Party and for running Boise Mayor Dave Bieter’s campaign. Mike Reynoldson, Micron Technology lobbyist and former campaign manager for Craig, was “one of our top volunteers,” Lehosit said.

The bipartisan push confounded conventional wisdom that a property tax increase for a community college couldn’t pass in today’s anti-property tax atmosphere – particularly in conservative Canyon County. The new district includes both Ada and Canyon counties. Ada County voters approved it by 71 percent, Canyon by 62 percent. Together that came to 68 percent and pushed the vote over the 66 and two-thirds mark.

“I thought it would be difficult,” said Boise State University political scientist emeritus Jim Weatherby. “It may be just an anomaly – you would hope not. You would hope that there would be other areas in which there could be bipartisan movement.”

He added, “It’s interesting that it comes on the heels of a legislative session that had few successful bipartisan efforts, where there was a lot of talk about how the center had collapsed, particularly in the House.”

The top proponent of the new community college was Gov. Butch Otter, who donated money and led high-profile efforts. Most mayors in the region backed the move, and one of the automated phone calls used in the campaign for the measure came from Marilyn Howard, former Democratic state superintendent of schools. “When you need 67 percent of the vote, you need everybody,” Lehosit said. “So Democrats won it, Republicans won it, men won it, women won it, old people won it, young people won it. Businesses in the Treasure Valley really stepped up to the plate.”

The campaign focused much effort on absentee ballots, which came in 85 percent in favor of the new community college. “On our Web site, over 3,000 people printed out absentee ballot requests,” Lehosit said.

Even Coeur d’Alene Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, played a role. Goedde published a guest opinion in the Idaho Press-Tribune in Canyon County touting the benefits North Idaho has received from North Idaho College, which operates on the same model the new college will adopt. Idaho has just two community colleges, NIC and the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

“In 2005, the economic impact of the institution itself was over $300 million,” Goedde wrote. “For a small investment in property taxes, the community is realizing a huge return.”

Goedde said he was pleased to see the new district approved. “By giving community college ownership interest to a third of Idaho’s population, I believe NIC and CSI will have an easier time selling the importance of their respective institutions,” he said. “The successful passage is a win-win for everyone.”

The new community college in the Treasure Valley is expected to cost area property taxpayers about $11 per $100,000 in taxable value, but exact amounts won’t be known until a board is appointed and a budget established. The new district qualifies for a $5 million start-up fund that Otter persuaded lawmakers to set aside this year.

Boise is the largest metropolitan area in the nation without a community college. Those functions were filled in the past by Boise State University, but that institution now has grown to the point it’s turning away students and can’t promise the access and affordability for which community colleges are known.

Lehosit said the three-month campaign cost just more than $400,000 and ended with some debt, but drew more than 350 donors. He credited a large group of influential community members of all political stripes who came together. “It really took everybody to get this done,” he said.