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 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 again this year. “We can’t leave it up to a judge, and more important, we can’t allow our public school children to be physically at risk,” she said. She’ll also push for programs to bring jobs to rural areas; support Rep. Hilde Kellogg’s proposed change in how sales taxes proceeds are distributed; and work for property tax reform for long-time residents hit by soaring assessments. 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 is working on a plan for a four-year, one-cent sales tax increase to fund school buildings. With declines in resource extraction industries, rural areas need the boost, he said. “Their situation is really getting desperate.” The lifetime Bonner County resident made waves last year when he tried to make it a crime to prescribe Ritalin to children. He fears that youngsters given the behavior-modifying drug will later become drug addicts. A new version of his bill is in the works this year, requiring specific disclosures to accompany Ritalin prescriptions. Campbell also is working on some Fish & Game issues, and would like to tax environmental groups.
JERRY STOICHEFF
Party: Democrat
Term: First
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: Appointed by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne shortly before the session to serve out the term of her late husband, longtime Rep. Jim Stoicheff, Mrs. Stoicheff is a retired elementary school teacher. During this year’s session, she would like to propose legislation to allow voters to opt out of term limits for their local officials, voting by county; favors improvements to Idaho’s north-south highway; wants to watch to make sure the public employee retirement system is safeguarded and not raided simply because investments are going well now; and has concerns about the timber industry’s proposal to lower its property taxes. “The devil is in the details,” she said, noting that counties could have to cut their budgets or increase other taxpayers’ property taxes.
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 become a much-lobbied senator known for sometimes changing his votes, but hung on last year to win increased funding for Head Start in the budget committee. Boatright is working on legislation this year to protect hunting hounds from being picked up by the pound; to prohibit frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers; and to end “sting”-type inspections where underage people try to purchase tobacco, which Boatright labels “trickery.” On repealing term limits, which Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has opposed, says he hopes Kempthorne will “soften his stance a little bit so we’ll be able to address it.”
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 two years ago that drafted modest changes to the state’s outdated sales tax distribution system to finally stop penalizing fast-growing areas like Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene - only to see the measure die in the House by one vote. Kellogg will bring it back this year. “It’s just simply an issue of fairness,” she said. “We were supposed to look at it in five years - it’s been almost 35.”
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 favors abolishing term limits. “Why should we throw a good legislator out just because he’s been there for eight years?” he asked. Wants relief from rising health insurance premiums and supports letting Idahoans vote on whether to lower the two-thirds supermajority now required to pass school bonds.
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) 332-1331 or 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: gcrow@senate.state.id.us or sencrow@dmi.net
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 gave up his spot on the Resources Committee a year ago to become chairman of Commerce; this year, Crow will conduct hearings there on how to stem skyrocketing health insurance premiums. Crow also will support fixes for Highway 95 and school buildings, on which he said “I think we’re running out of excuses.” Wants to protect North Idaho Indian tribes’ existing gaming compacts with the state; they could be impacted by a proposed compact with southern Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes that calls for a court ruling on legality of gaming machines.
HOUSE
JIM CLARK
Party: Republican
Term: Second
Phone numbers: (Hayden Lake) 772-5992
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: jimclark@dmi.net or 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 has most recently been a high school substitute teacher. A DUI arrest this fall blemished his record, but he later landed a key legislative appointment: to the powerful Joint FinanceAppropriations Committee, which sets the state budget. Clark is working on bills to require voters to approve spending tax increases that local governments have passed up but still have authority to take in the future; and to require state surpluses to be split between the permanent building fund and the budget stabilization fund, a state savings account that Clark helped create.
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 (vice chairman), State Affairs
Profile: An insurance broker and co-founder of the conservative Christian group Citizens in Action, Alltus ran into controversy this year when he violated Fish & Game laws by shooting two elk and using his son’s tag for one, and then falsified a reporting form. Not long afterward, the advocate of tougher divorce laws separated from his wife. Alltus is working on bills this year to remove felony records for those convicted of driving without a license; and to limit liability for beaches that post lifeguards, so fears of lawsuits don’t discourage the practice. He said he’ll oppose any attempts to repeal term limits. He’ll also back parental consent requirements for teenagers’ abortions; lowering the supermajority for school bonds; and updating the distribution of state sales tax proceeds.
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 has made improving U.S. Highway 95 his top priority for the past two sessions. He may propose new legislation along that line this year. Wants to help school districts that can’t pass bonds for badly needed buildings, and favors spending tobacco settlement money on tobacco-related illness and prevention. Backs seatmate Sen. Darrel Deide’s proposal to make it easier to fire new teachers who aren’t working out, while also offering new teachers more mentoring and support. Wants health insurance system reformed. Backs parental consent law for minors’ abortions, saying it would match other medical procedures.
HOUSE
MARY LOU SHEPHERD
Party: Democrat
Term: First
Phone numbers: (Prichard ) 682-4771
(Boise) 1-800-626-0471
E-mail: jvshep@aol.com or infocntr@lso.state.id.us
Committees: Local Government; Revenue and Taxation
Profile: A retired restaurant/tavern owner from tiny Prichard, Shepherd was appointed to fill out the term of Rep. Larry Watson, a Wallace Democrat who was appointed to the state Tax Commission. Her top issue this year is getting the state involved in school construction and maintenance. Shepherd also is working on a bill to require the sites of meth labs to be certified as OK to occupy before people move back in - particularly people with children. Favors expanding the homeowner’s exemption from property tax and improving Highway 95.
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 two years ago 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’s now scheduled for construction in 2001. Pischner is pushing legislation this year to grant a state income tax credit to those who pay property taxes to support a local community college.
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 plans to work this year to keep “strings” off funding for local school districts. She’s also working on a proposal for low-interest loans to help troubled school districts fix buildings. “There’s enough money to do something like that,” she said. McLaughlin wants improvements in children’s health insurance and mental health services for kids, and wants state workers’ pay to keep up with the market. She’ll also push for an end to the steep fee increases state university students have faced each year for the past decade.
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. Having failed last year to win changes in teen driver licensing to ensure teens get more practice before they’re licensed, Judd this year has turned her sights to legislation supporting a World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. She’s leaning against a timber industry proposal that would cut taxes on private timber land, causing other taxpayers’ bills to rise. Worries about Highway 95 south of Coeur d’Alene: “That is terrible through there, and the traffic is increasing all the time.”
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 who identifies with rural interests, Cuddy is proposing legislation this year to shift most of Idaho’s school funding to the sales tax, adding a penny to the 5-cent tax. That would shift more than $150 million off the property tax, and Cuddy says it might make economically hard-hit farmers and ranchers more likely to support school construction bonds. He also wants to protect public employee retirement benefits; expand antitrust laws to allow the Attorney General to go after oil companies over high gas prices and take a hard look at timber industry proposals to cut their property taxes, thereby raising their neighbors’.