Goedde faces two challengers

State Sen. John Goedde has two opponents hoping to keep him from a fifth term.

The Republican senator from Coeur d’Alene is being challenged once again by Independent Jeremy Boggess, as well as first-time candidate Democrat Ken Howard.

Boggess has never held office, but he’s a regular at community meetings.

“I talk to a lot of people,” he said. “I’m fairly confident I can express the needs and wants and get what Northern Idaho needs from Boise.”

He would like to set up bipartisan public forums where the public could express those needs and desires so he could represent their views in the Legislature.

He’s passionate about public safety and believes there should be one-strike laws for pedophiles and violent sexual offenders.

Instead of jailing nonviolent offenders, Boggess said they should be put to work, picking up garbage in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.

He believes tax money could be better spent, taxes should be put up for a public vote and that communities should be able to collect impact fees to lessen the tax burden of new developments on existing taxpayers.

“I think we’ve ignored the majority and the average taxpayer long enough,” Boggess said. “It’s time for us to take a stand.”

Ken Howard believes people are looking for solutions and he’s tired of “bipartisan bickering” that keeps that from happening.

The longtime attorney said many of the skills he developed as a lawyer can benefit the legislative process.

“I’m a mediator and an arbitrator,” Howard said. “I know how to try and get compromise in order to solve problems.”

The father of four and grandfather of 11 said one reason he’s running is because the education system “is in serious need beyond some help that’s being given to it by the senator I hope to replace.”

He’s upset that Idaho school districts were forced to sue the state in an effort to secure state funding to fix unsafe schools.

“I find it unconscionable that a school district would have to go against its own state to get the constitutional protections that should have been provided,” he said.

He’s an advocate for improving education and increasing opportunities for vocation and technical education.

Transportation and “degradation of our water supply” are other issues Howard hopes to address.

Goedde, chairman of the Senate’s Education Committee, says he’s proud of the effort he’s made “to make education more accountable.”

He wants to continue that work.

“Most recently we’re going through the process to establish guidelines on teacher evaluations to try to give some assurance that all the teachers that are teaching in Idaho are measured by some guidelines,” Goedde said, “and that those guidelines are fair and that teachers know what expectations there are on the way in.”

While funding education is always a challenge, Goedde said it’s going to be “exceptionally difficult” in the coming year due to the state’s budget woes.

He wants to be involved in establishing a “reasonable budget” for education.

He also hopes to take a look at rules regarding reimbursement to hospitals for injured workers and changes in how retirees under age 65 receive state benefits.

He’s also working to help create a more streamlined process for firing teachers at the bequest of the state teachers union. The current process can take a couple of years, Goedde said.