North Idaho Legislators
DISTRICT 1 (Boundary County and part of Bonner County)
SENATE
SHAWN KEOUGH
Party: Republican
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Sandpoint) 263-1839 or toll-free 1-800-4KEOUGH
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471 or 332-1340
E-mail: skeough@senate.state.id.us
Committees: Agriculture, Education, Transportation (vice-chairman)
Profile: An energetic champion of northern interests, Keough is making funding for crumbling school buildings her top priority this year. “There has got to be a way that the state can help those districts that can’t help themselves,” she said. She’ll also push for programs to bring jobs to rural areas. Operates her own toll-free phone line for constituents in outlying areas. Timber information specialist for the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.
HOUSE
JOHN CAMPBELL
Party: Republican
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Sandpoint) 263-4774
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Environmental Affairs, Resources and Conservation, State Affairs
Profile: A semi-retired manufacturer of fishing lures, Campbell seldom speaks out on or proposes legislation. He shocked other lawmakers his first term when he unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would have killed another member’s bill, but claimed it just added a definition. This year, Campbell is planning legislation on boating safety, saying under current law an “overgrown 6-year-old” can pilot a big boat. “We’ve had a lot of tragedies,” he said. He’s also concerned about Fish & Game and sovereignty issues. Lifetime Bonner County resident.
JIM STOICHEFF
Party: Democrat
Term: 14th
Phone numbers: (Sandpoint) 263-2375
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: State Affairs; Resources and Conservation; Local Government
Profile: A retired teacher, coach and principal, Stoicheff is a plain-talking conservative who doesn’t hesitate to buck his own party, big-money interests or the conventional wisdom. He has a full plate of legislation planned this year, including a bill to cut automatic deposits to a state savings account from 1 percent of the budget to 1 percent of any surplus, a giant reduction. Also plans to push for a minimum wage for farmworkers and relief for tipped employees, like waitresses, who can be paid less than minimum wage. Never accepts campaign contributions.
DISTRICT 2 (Parts of Bonner and Kootenai Counties)
SENATE
CLYDE BOATRIGHT
Party: Republican
Term: Third
Phone numbers: (Rathdrum) 687-0591
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Finance, Transportation
Profile: A farmer and former real estate agent, Boatright previously headed a troubled local bus system. Has switched votes on some high-profile issues, and last year was one of the most-lobbied senators. In his new role on the Finance Committee, where he’ll help set the state budget, Boatright plans to push for first-ever state funding for Head Start, allowing more of eligible children to get into the popular program. Also wants to “take care of North Idaho College” and watch funding for road projects. Favors changing name of Health & Welfare Department to delete “welfare.”
HOUSE
HILDE KELLOGG
Party: Republican
Term: Eighth
Phone numbers: (Post Falls) 773-5412
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Revenue and Taxation (vice chairman); Business; Transportation and Defense
Profile: Kellogg is a respected longtime legislator and former committee chairman who is best-known for quietly pushing through the legislation that allowed dog-race betting in the 1980s and tax-increment financing for a Post Falls real estate project in 1994. A retired businesswoman, she headed a committee over the summer that drafted modest changes to the state’s sales tax distribution system to finally stop penalizing fast-growing areas like Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene. Kellogg is confident that after years of work, these changes will fly.
WAYNE MEYER
Party: Republican
Term: Third
Phone numbers: (Rathdrum) 687-0420
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Business, Education (vice-chairman); Environmental Affairs
Profile: A grass-seed farmer, Meyer originally ran on promises to oppose restrictions on field burning. Now vice-chairman of the education committee, he has successfully sponsored legislation to allow high school students to take college classes and get dual credit. Meyer wants to tap tobacco settlement money to help fund school buildings, and also plans to re-introduce his bid for a $1 tire tax to pay for noxious weed control. Says the 22 years he spent as a high school basketball referee were “good training for becoming a state legislator.”
DISTRICT 3 (Downtown Coeur d’Alene and Hayden in Kootenai County)
SENATE
GORDON CROW
Party: Republican
Term: Third
Phone numbers: (Hayden) 762-0105 or 752-5511
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Commerce and Human Resources (chairman); Health and Welfare
Profile: A former mining industry spokesman, Crow has championed welfare reform and pushed for improvements in the quality of child care. He expects his new committee chairmanship to be “quite a challenge,” with raises for state employees the first item on the agenda; he gave up his spot on the Resources Committee to become a chairman. Supports a constitutional amendment to lower the two-thirds supermajority now required for school construction bonds. Crow just started a new job as head of the Silver Valley Economic Development Corp.
HOUSE
JIM CLARK
Party: Republican
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Hayden Lake) 772-5992 or 722-5992
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Judiciary; Rules and Administration; Local Government; Revenue and Taxation
Profile: A business consultant who also sometimes teaches at Eastern Washington University, Clark considers himself a numbers geek and is interested mainly in tax and budget issues - not in anything else. He surprised many last year when he successfully pushed through major legislation that forces the state to save for bad years when it has good years. But this year is likely to be a borderline year, and resistance is growing to setting aside the millions Clark’s legislation requires. He supports state matching funds for school bonds and opposes lowering the supermajority.
JEFF ALLTUS
Party: Republican
Years: Third
Phone numbers: (Hayden) 762-1141 or 762-3371
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Business, State Affairs
Profile: An insurance broker and co-founder of the conservative Christian group Citizens in Action, Alltus plans legislation to license contractors, who now require no licensing to work in Idaho; allow “covenant marriage,” in which divorce would require proven grounds; eliminate the so-called marriage tax penalty from the state income tax; change off-road vehicle laws to accommodate recreationists; regulate polygraph operators; and prevent public funds from being used on ballot issues. Though Alltus has generated controversy as an advocate for abortion restrictions, the issue isn’t among his priorities this year.
DISTRICT 4 (Parts of Shoshone, Kootenai and Benewah counties)
SENATE
JACK RIGGS
Party: Republican
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Coeur d’Alene) 765-3326 or 667-6842
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Agricultural Affairs, Education, Transportation
Profile: A physician who founded a chain of immediate-care centers, Riggs is working with Gov.-elect Dirk Kempthorne this year on plans to improve Idaho’s bottom-rung ranking for child immunizations. He also places Highway 95 improvements and efforts to ensure children learn to read by 3rd grade high on his priority list. The sometimes soft-spoken doctor’s comments on the Senate floor about dealing with patients whose blood-alcohol level was at .08 percent or above helped pass a bill during his first term lowering Idaho’s drunken-driving limit from .10 percent to .08.
HOUSE
LARRY WATSON
Party: Democrat, assistant minority leader
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Wallace) 752-4075 or 752-1202
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: lwatson@nidlink.com, or infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Business; Local Government; Revenue and Taxation; Ways and Means
Profile: A deputy county assessor and longtime ski patrolman at Lookout Pass, the mild-mannered Watson has spent the past year pushing for changes in liquor licensing to better accommodate rural Shoshone County bars and restaurants. Now a legislative committee is recommending those changes. Watson also is working on legislation to improve the state’s lemon law and to put a designation on the driver’s license of registered sex offenders. In his first year in leadership, Watson hopes to push for funding for school buildings and for state-funded health insurance for poor children.
DON PISCHNER
Party: Republican
Term: Third
Phone numbers: (Coeur d’Alene) 667-5770
(Boise) 1-800- 626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Appropriations; Transportation and Defense
Profile: An asphalt specialist and site construction consultant, Pischner is a Coeur d’Alene native. On the budget committee, he bird-dogs the Transportation Department budget, and last year almost pushed through a motion to force the department to fix one bad stretch of U.S. Highway 95 south of Coeur d’Alene. That project is now scheduled for construction in 2001. Pischner also favors some state funding for Head Start, saying, “If we have some discretionary funds, that would be a great place to put them.” Insists he was serious when he suggested moving the University of Idaho to the Silver Valley.
DISTRICT 7 (Parts of Benewah, Latah, Nez Perce, Clearwater, Lewis and Idaho counties)
SENATE
MARGUERITE McLAUGHLIN
Party: Democrat Minority Leader
Term: 11th
Phone numbers: (Orofino) 476-4136
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Finance; Commerce and Human Resources
Profile: Part-owner of a family logging and excavation business, McLaughlin is an experienced player on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, where she’s hoping to see more money this year for education, including Head Start and school buildings. “Evidently our new governor wants to be an education governor,” she said. “You have to have money.” McLaughlin also will push for giving local school districts a say in new plans to guarantee kids learn to read. Her local district just started a reading program two years ago, for example. “That has to be allowed to work.”
HOUSE
JUNE JUDD
Party: Democrat
Term: Fifth
Phone numbers: (St. Maries) 245-2818
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us or jjudd@house.state.id.us
Committees: Agricultural Affairs; Judiciary, Rules and Administration; State Affairs
Profile: A retired educator from St. Maries, Judd successfully pushed for restrictions on so-called “monster trucks” in response to an accident involving a raised truck that killed an area resident. She’s now looking into changes in teen driver licensing to ensure teens get more practice before they’re licensed. Judd also wants to make changes in tow truck laws requested by local firms. She was in line for a budget committee seat this year, but her party opted not to have two of its three members represent the same district. Freshman Rep. Bert Marley of McCammon got the spot instead.
CHARLES CUDDY
Party: Democrat
Term: Fifth
Phone numbers: (Orofino) 476-3729 or 476-4643
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Resources and Conservation; Revenue and Taxation; Transportation and Defense
Profile: A conservative Democrat, Cuddy is just as likely to champion the cause of industry as he is to take on a more traditional Democratic issue. A timber industry supporter, Cuddy joined Sen. Judi Danielson, R-Council, in pushing for a pilot project in state management of federal lands in Idaho. This year, he’d like to see tobacco settlement money earmarked to fix school buildings, with districts that already have taxed themselves to provide buildings also rewarded. He also wants more funding for child immunization, saying, “I think that’s a very good investment.”