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candidate questionaire: ID senate



Idaho Senate dist. 5:
Tim Lohrmann (Reform),
Gary Schroeder
(Republican)

A Moscow Vision 2020 committee composed these questions and collected
the following answers from the candidates.


                    Questions developed by Moscow Vision 2020

1. What are the most significant issues facing the Legislature in both
the short and long term?
2. Should Idaho legalize the agricultural production of hemp?
3. Should some of the present state budget surplus be used for property
tax relief?
4. In a legislature heavily dominated by the Republican Party, is the
party affiliation of our local legislators important for the best
representation for voters of this region?
5. How do we control the rising costs of prisons in Idaho?
6. Do you believe that the decision to spend $500,000 to create the
Idaho Office of Rare and Endangered Species was money
well spent?
7. How would you use electronic communication through websites and email
to keep in effective contact with your
constituents?


Responses by Tim Lohrmann (Reform): 5th district, Idaho State Senate

1. What are the most significant issues facing the Legislature in both
the short and long term?

RESPONSE: I believe the most crucially significant issue is the way the
Legislators themselves conduct what should be the
business of the people of Idaho. I'm referring to the perception and
often the reality that special interests and their lobbyist
representatives control the legislative agenda.

The first step in eliminating this influence would be to get rid of PAC
money in elections. United Vision for Idaho has an
interesting illustration of this influence on their excellent
website--www.uvidaho.org--it's on the Money in Politics link, it goes
like this: "Your legislator is working hard on all kinds of issues:
insurance policy, building codes, weight limits for trucks on our
highways, etc. They are finding their time is limited and everyone wants
their ear, including yourself. You leave a phone message
requesting a minute of your legislator's time to support a bill helping
your local school. As your message lands on your
legislator's desk, so does one from a lobbyist representing a company
that gave $500 to his or her campaign. Your legislator,
who is already fund raising for the 2000 race, stops by his or her desk
on the way to a committee meeting. He or she only has
five minutes to return phone calls, guess who gets called first?"

I think we all know the answer to this question in most cases. It's just
human nature that legislators who are thinking of
re-election and are dependent on money for it will give big contributors
first priority.

So reducing the influence of money in politics is the fundamental issue.
Until that is done the people will be unable to have their
voices heard on any of the other pressing issues. I commend United
Vision for Idaho for their excellent work in documenting
the influence of money in the Leg. and I would recommend to anyone
concerned about this issue to also see their excellent new
report entitled "Buying Idaho 2000." It's also on their website at the
above address.

2. Should Idaho legalize the agricultural production of hemp?

RESPONSE: Absolutely. The possibility of a new and useful cash crop for
Idaho farmers is exciting. The prohibition of hemp
as an agricultural product seems to be a hangover from the thinking that
hemp is somehow linked to drugs. But since it should
now be clear to all that this is not the case, I don't see any
justification for this crop to be prohibited. I support the legalization
of
hemp production and the current efforts to do so.

3. Should some of the present state budget surplus be used for property
tax relief?

RESPONSE: No. Considering the current needs in this state, I don't
believe this relief is justified. Just a few examples from an
exhaustive list of these needs are: the existence of substandard public
school buildings in the 5th Leg. District and around the
state; the need for expanded drug treatment facilities to address the
demand side of the drug problem; and the need for
expanded legal services for the indigent.

4. In a Legislature heavily dominated by the Republican Party, is the
party affiliation of our local legislators important for the
best representation for voters in this region?

RESPONSE: YES. As the state of Idaho drifts further towards One Party
State status, the need for more political choices is
more important than ever.

This is one of the reasons that I've decided to run as a third party
candidate. The Democratic Party is unable or unwilling to
present candidates to debate issues in all too many districts. New
parties and independents have to be willing to take up this
slack if the voters are to have any choice at all.

Nationally, many see little difference in the two parties and resent
their monopoly on political debate. This is evidenced by the
fact that most voters choose to stay home and by polls showing that an
overwhelming number of voters are dissatisfied with
their range of political choices. Even granting that some voters are
just plain lazy, that still leaves many who see little or nothing
to vote for in November.

While having a Republican in Idaho might be important for those who see
a legislator as merely a procurer of pork-barrel
projects, it's clearly important to many that fundamental issues---such
as the way the Legislature conducts its business--- be
addressed as well. Again,the current one-party system seems unable or
unwilling to seek change in these areas. So I believe
new political parties and coalitions calling for fundamental change must
be heard in Idaho.

And I believe the voters of the 5th District agree with me.

5. How do we control the rising costs of prisons in Idaho?

RESPONSE: The first way to attack this problem is to allow for
alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders. The
prisons are full of such prisoners. Nationally, the numbers tell us that
over half of those incarcerated fall into this category. It's
clear that most people convicted of drug offenses need treatment, not
prison. It's not helpful to the state to incarcerate such
persons in the same facilities as violent and more serious offenders.

This is true not only because of the influence hardened criminals may
have on them, but also because those who truly need to
be incarcerated may be released early due to overcrowding. Also,
incarceration in such cases only produces a greater burden
on the state budget and greater societal disruption when families of
such offenders are left without support.

So, first of all, I would advocate treatment for non-violent drug
offenders--at their own expense whenever possible---as part of
alternative sentencing. I believe that this would address the long range
problem of prison overcrowding and the demand for
illegal drugs as well.

6. Do you believe that the decision to spend $500,000 to create the
Idaho Office of Rare and Endangered Species was money
well spent?

RESPONSE: Yes. If the people of Idaho truly want more decentralized
management of environmental matters then the
decisionmaking on those matters must be informed. The protection of our
rare and endangered species and the habitat they
depend on should be top priority. When Idaho citizens discuss
"protecting our heritage" we must in all cases include protection
of wild places and the animals that depend on them for survival. So I
would welcome the information from the Office of Rare
and Endangered Species.

7. How would you use electronic communication through websites and email
to keep in effective contact with your
constituents?

RESPONSE: I would definitely be open to email correspondence with voters
and others. I also believe it's a great idea to
establish an interactive website for constituents to visit---one through
which they could not only catch up on what is going on in
Boise, but also communicate directly with my office there. But in
establishing such a communication system, I would be careful
not to overlook those who prefer more traditional snail mail or
telephone calls. I would definitely communicate through such
mediums as Vision 2020, but would be careful to limit such
communications to reporting on issues---not campaigning.



Gary Schroeder (Republican): 5th district, Idaho State Senate

1) What are the most significant issues facing the Legislature in both
the short and long term?

The three most important issues are as follows:

a) Children and schools. When considering legislation, I tip the balance
in favor of our children whether the issue is CHIPS
(Child Health Insurance Program), inoculations, day care centers,
schools or other issues.

Important children issues include pre-natal care for mothers, pre-school
opportunities for toddlers, professional staff at day
care centers and, of course, safe and effective schools for our
children. We need to provide higher salaries for both beginning
and continuing teachers in the future.

b) Higher Education in Idaho, specifically the University of Idaho.
State funding for higher education in Idaho has eroded from
20.8% of the budget in FY 1975 to 11.9% in FY 2001. During the last
decade, student fees have risen almost 10% per year
as our colleges and universities scramble to fund their programs. We
need to reverse this trend.

At the same time, the Legislature has to make funds available to address
salary equity so that we can retain our best people and
attract others. I am committed to continuing to work to retain the
University of Idaho's status as the premier institution of
research and education in the State of Idaho.

c) Our economy and the environment. We need to continue to utilize our
resources in a responsible way so that mining,
agriculture, and forestry provide both jobs and products for our
citizens. At the same time, this must be done in a fashion that
allows us to have places for wildlife and wild places for people.

2) Should Idaho legalize the agricultural production of hemp?

Legislation has been proposed which would provide that Idaho's farmers
could produce hemp at such time as the Federal
Government allows that production. At the League of Women Voters
candidate forum during the 2000 Primary season, both
our Latah County Prosecuting Attorney and our Latah County Sheriff noted
that they would have no problem with this legalized
production of hemp. I will defer to their judgment on this issue.

3) Should some of the present state budget surplus be used for property
tax relief?

Idaho is the only state in the nation that provides no state funding for
school facilities and requires 2/3 of those voters voting in
school bond elections to vote in favor of the bond. This means that all
school facilities are paid for by local property taxes,
except for a small amount that comes from the state lottery. The result
of these policies is that many Idaho children are going to
school in unsafe and certainly outdated schools and classrooms.

Bob Huntley has stated in his brief to the court in the ISSEO lawsuit
that with respect to personal income, there is a ratio of
2.6:1 between the rich counties and the poor counties in Idaho. That is,
the residents in the wealthiest counties earn 2.6 times as
much as the residents of the poorest counties. He further states that
with respect to assessed valuation of property, there is an
8.6:1 ratio. This means that wealthiest counties have 8.6 times as much
taxable value per person as the poorer counties. This
means that to provide an equally thorough education, with respect to
facilities, that the residents of the poorest counties must
tax themselves more than 8 times as much to achieve the same result.

Clearly, wealth is not distributed equally throughout the state. This
ability, or inability, to pay translates into reality when bonds
are presented to taxpayers. The result is that the quality of school
facilities in the state is unequal. State support would help
address this inequity. We should remember that every dollar of state
support for school facilities translates into one dollar less
of property taxes. State support for school facilities will help solve
our facility problem and address the cry by some for
property tax relief.

4) In a legislature heavily dominated by the Republican Party, is the
party affiliation of our local legislators important for the best
representation for voters in this region?

Please note the following:

a) Every legislator in Boise is there because the people in their
district elected them, for whatever reason.

b) An undertone of elections in some Idaho districts has always been
that the solution to all our problems is to have more
Democrats elected to the Idaho legislature. This simplicity ignores the
reality that both Democrat and Republican legislators
represent a wide political spectrum. Republican legislators range from
the far right social conservative folks to those with
moderate and even libertarian views. Of course, we are all familiar with
the schism in the Democrat party between the "wine
and cheese" environmental crowd, as former Governor Andrus calls them,
and the "lunch bucket" pro-labor folks. Lastly, it is
interesting to note that more than one Republican legislator during the
last session had previously run as a Democrat or has
worked for various Democratic candidates.

c) Each party will take examples from the more extreme members of the
other party and try to characterize the entire
opposition party with these examples. This is, of course, both unfair
and inaccurate.

d) In our system of government, we belong to parties but we represent
the interests of the people that elected us. This means
that individual members of each party often vote differently because
they vote the will of their constituents.

e) We should, of course, send the best people to Boise. The question
should therefore be who can be most effective for the
folks of a particular legislative district. The reality is that the
Republican party is currently the majority party and all Committee
Chairmen and Vice Chairmen are from the majority party. As Chairman of
the Senate Education I am often in a position to
determine the outcome of legislation that I would otherwise not be able
to do. For example, the House once passed a bill that
would have effectively eliminated counselors in public schools. As
Chairman, I was able to hold this bill and kill it.

f) Another example of the importance of being in a leadership position
is a situation that arose during the last session. This
involved legislation which dealt with schools that had been receiving
state funding as separate schools and authorities
discovered that they were not located far enough apart to quality for
the funding. These districts, which included White Pine
School District in Latah County, would have received less funding in the
future and in some cases would have been forced to
repay past funds.

g) Legislation was drawn up to provide exemptions for these schools but
White Pine District was left out. The apparent reason
was because it was felt that the "poster child" status given to that
district because of its unsafe high school and the consequent
lawsuit, would have caused the bill to fail had White Pine been
included. As Chairman, I was essentially able to direct that any
bill that failed to include the White Pine District would go into my
desk drawer. White Pine was subsequently included and the
bill passed.

5) How do we control the rising costs of prisons in Idaho?

During the 1980's, the political wisdom was that being "tough on crime"
was a good way to be elected to political office. Our
nation and states embarked on a prison construction program with the
consequent result, reportedly, that we in America now
imprison more of our people, on a per capita basis, than any other
nation in the world. As you know, the Department of
Corrections wants to increase our prison capacity by 50% in the next two
years.

We have a good number of people in our prisons and jails that I hope we
keep locked up for a good long time, because I don't
want them living next door to you or me. Most of our inmates, however,
will be released at some future date. Of these, about
70% will end up back in prison because we have failed within our prison
system to address their general lack of education and
their dependency upon alcohol, drugs, or other substances. The crimes
for which they will be re-sentenced will all have victims.
This is the tragic part of our current policy.

We generally have policy makers who are still clinging to the political
reality that being "tough on crime" is a good way to get
elected. Their request for more prison space is an admission that their
philosophy has failed by any standard other than one that
measures success by the number of folks you have locked up. The problem
is that the dollars that are used to support this
philosophy of a past generation are being paid for with money that could
otherwise be used for school facilities or our colleges
and universities.

6) Do you believe the decision to spend $500,000 to create the Idaho
Office of Rare and Endangered Species was money well
spent?

Obviously, the ESA (Endangered Species Act) continues to be prostituted
by those seeking its utilization to further their
political and fund-raising objectives. In this sense, perhaps the state
should have an office dealing with the political realities of
ESA as they exist. The biological input required by ESA should draw on
the expertise we have within the Department of Fish
& Game and other state agencies.

7) How would you use electronic communication through websites and
e-mail to keep in effective contact with your
constituents.

The Idaho Legislature has a website (
http://www2.state.id.us/legislat/legislat.html ) that constituents can
peruse at their leisure.
More importantly, constituents communicate with me daily at
gary@hideandfur.com. I do follow Vision 2020 and contribute
during the legislative session.




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