House, District 1

Thu., Oct. 29, 1998

By Susan Drumheller susand@spokesman.com

A retired school teacher and former fishing guide are squaring off in the District 1 House race.

John Campbell, the Republican incumbent, is being challenged by Monica Beaudoin, the past president of the Idaho Education Association, who’s taught school in Bonner County schools for 27 years.

Campbell has served in the Legislature one term and has sponsored three successful bills; one that prevents outfitter and guide licenses from being sold, another that allows electrical cooperatives to add natural gas as part of their service, and a third that allows drivers to keep their foreign drivers license.

Beaudoin has served two terms in the Legislature, prior to Campbell’s election two years ago. Her most memorable accomplishments include helping to write guidelines for medical incinerators in Idaho, making the Drug Free zone legislation more stringent and working on behalf of battered women.

While Beaudoin’s expertise is primarily in education, and she “education opportunity for all” is one of her campaign slogans, she says she’s not a one-issue candidate.

Improving U.S. Highway 95 is high on her list of priorities, as is improving medical and child care for Idaho children.

“I don’t have this or that bill on my mind,” Beaudoin says. “I don’t think a legislator should do that. They should bring forward issues people want.”

The issues Campbell brings forward generally revolve around natural resources and access to federal lands.

One bill he sponsored, that he’d like to resurrect, would require that interstate conservation agreements - such as those between the timber industry and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - be approved by the Legislature.

He also tried to keep environmentalists off the state’s water quality advisory committees, saying that anyone who’s sued the state has no business helping set state policy.

Like Beaudoin, Campbell lists U.S. Highway 95 improvements and education high on his list of priorities. He says he’d like to reduce class sizes and find a way to support school construction.

Campbell’s financial backers are primarily from the natural resource and agricultural industries, while Beaudoin has strong support from education and labor groups.

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