vision2020
candidate questionaire: ID house, district 5B
Idaho House district 5B
Shirley Ringo (D),
Gary Young (R)
A Moscow Vision 2020 committee composed these questions and collected
the following answers from the candidates.
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 ** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
1. What are the most significant issues facing the Legislature in both
the short and long term?
A. EDUCATION (Short term - each year in the life of a child is
critical.)
School facilities - there needs to be state monies to assist the
communities with providing a safe and productive learning
environment.
Increase compensation for educators - It is well recognized that the
most important component involved in providing quality
education is the classroom teacher. Idahoans expect to have great
teachers, and appropriately so. Our package of
compensation must be competitive so that we can attract and retain the
best.
Reduce class size and provide more classroom support - the results of
the reading initiative show that there will be a need for
more teachers and aides to accomplish the goal of having children be
reading at grade level by the end of the third grade. With
the promise of having exiting standards in place within the next six
years, some students will require more individual support.
Expand vocational education at the secondary level, and develop skill
centers - There are good employment opportunities for
individuals without a college degree, and capable students whose
interests are compatible with these opportunities.
Higher education - we must reverse the trend of allotting smaller
portions of the state budget to higher education.
Vocational education - Our six professional-technical schools offer good
programs leading to good employment. However,
capacity does not keep up with demand. We need to continue to invest in
expansion of these schools.
B. CHILD CARE
If we fail to invest in children in early years, we suffer losses that
may never be fully recovered.
Require licensing for childcare providers - Idaho's standards for
providers of child care, particularly for those caring for 12 or
fewer children must be raised. Some consumers resist this idea, because
they fear increased costs. We must be prepared to
give assistance in this area where needed.
Expand Head Start Programs and provide state funding.
C. COMMUNITY GROWTH - this needs immediate attention, but also a long
term plan.
We must investigate all possible ways to diversify economic opportunity
in our communities.
We must continue to plan growth so that people have life style choices,
but we retain open spaces and protect Idaho's physical
character.
D. CORRECTIONS
It is imperative that we have immediate discussions concerning revisions
in our system of corrections. It is ineffective, and is
consuming entirely too much or our resources.
E. TRANSPORTATION
Too many precious lives have been lost on our highways. We need to
continue to press for improvements in the safety of our
roads.
Idaho needs a comprehensive plan for public transportation.
2. Should Idaho legalize the agricultural production of hemp?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
Absolutely. This presents an ideal opportunity for farmers to diversify.
There is a significant market for this product. We should
be seeking ways to give energy to the agricultural community, and this
is a great one.
3. Should some of the present state budget surplus be used for property
tax relief?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
I would emphasize that the first priority should involve investments
important to the people of Idaho. To name a few: k-12,
technical and higher education, early childhood and parenting programs,
buildings, Medicaid needs.
If we provide some state support for public school buildings, as I
believe we should, there will be some property tax relief as a
result.
Beyond that, tax relief should be carefully considered to be provided
where most needed and remove inequities. Among the
ideas that should be considered:
Double the grocery tax credit, which hasn't been increased since the
sales tax was adopted in 1965, extend "circuit breaker"
property tax relief by reducing the age to qualify to 62, and/or raise
the income threshold to qualify, adjust the $50,000
homeowner exemption for inflation.
I would also consider a plan to reward farmers to choose to farm their
land rather than attempting to subdivide and sell. Such a
plan should use state funds, rather than requiring other property owners
to make up the difference with higher property taxes.
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?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
Absolutely. This is, of course difficult to address because of our
respect for Senator Schroeder and Representative Trail, but
consider the following.
This has to be a long term, system-oriented consideration. Idaho^Òs
Republican Party is dominated by its right wing.
Particularly, in the 2000 session, those very conservative Republicans
elected in 1998 gained confidence and pushed an agenda
that is not only embarrassing to many of the residents of District 5,
but takes us backwards in terms of improving Idaho's image.
To be sure, Senator Schroeder and Representative Trail opposed this
agenda. (Indeed, many of their own party consider these
fine moderate Republicans to be left wing radicals.) However, the system
is not working effectively as it is. With the heavy
majority of Republicans, the makeup of the House and Senate Committees
can be designed so that certain progressive bills
never make it to the floor for debate. Decisions are made in party
caucuses where the discussion is not accessible to the media
and the public. In certain instances, during these caucuses, even the
moderate Republicans are instructed that they had better
fall in line for particular votes.
I don't believe that voters of this region necessarily want to send a
message that we are happy with the system as it is. To move
towards correcting the lack of balance in the Legislature, I would
suggest that we listen carefully to the message of the
candidates, and move to restore balance whenever there is a candidate
from the minority party who represents the views
important to us.
5. How do we control the rising costs of prisons in Idaho?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
This is a huge issue for us, because it affords the opportunity to
redirect tax-payers' money to more productive programs.
First, we need to recognize the gains that result from investing in our
young children and youth. By expanding early childhood
programs, improving public schools, vocational programs, etc. we nurture
productive citizens who are less likely to be involved
in criminal behavior.
There is a huge bulge in our criminal population of people who are users
of drugs. I think we should look for alternatives in the
way that we sentence some of these individuals.
Among the ideas I believe we should explore are:
Alternative sentencing,
Increase drug and alcohol treatment programs for young people and
adults, inside and outside of prison,
Re-examine mandatory sentencing laws,
Expand and improve rehabilitation programs, and improve education
programs within correctional facilities.
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?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
Absolutely not.
This action politicizes decisions and actions that should be made by
experts in the appropriate state agencies. A
recommendation made by an expert who has the background and depth of
understanding required can be overruled by
individuals in the Office of Rare and Endangered Species who do not have
that depth of understanding. The people in this office
serve at the pleasure of the Governor, so if they don't make the right
political decision they can be replaced.
7. How would you use electronic communication through websites and email
to keep in effective contact with your
constituents?
** Shirley Ringo (Democrat): Idaho House seat 5B
A community bulletin board such as this one allows the legislator the
opportunity to reach more people when discussing issues,
so that the exchange isn't limited to the individuals we can anticipate
to have an interest.. All of us who serve have particular
areas of expertise, but we need more help on others. Sometimes we may
not see the downside of a particular piece of
legislation, and comments from those with more experience in a
particular area help.
We can use the website to alert folks to particular pieces of
legislation being proposed, get reactions, and give them a chance to
respond.
We can follow discussions that take place throughout the year, and seek
legislative solutions for problems where possible.
People should be encouraged to contact us throughout the year, so that
we have time to propose solutions and line up the
support to help assure a successful result.
Constituents should be encouraged to follow Idaho's Legislative page on
the internet so that if there are bills being proposed
that are of particular concern, those of us serving can be alerted.
When those of us who currently serve are planning to present
legislation, we should make constituents aware of the particulars,
so that there can be comment.
It would be ideal to be able to have many of these discussion in person,
but since it is so difficult to schedule many such
opportunities, electronic communication gives the opportunity to
exchange ideas with those who are equipped to participate.
Responses by ** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
1. What are the most significant issues facing the Legislature in both
the Short and long term?
a. Tax reform and budget expenditure management (stewardship of
Resources) and managing the current budget surplus, which
could well, be a one-time event.
b. Education and public school facilities and the state's role of
providing and enhancing opportunity and accountability.
c. The infra structure of the state.
d. A legislative agenda that is friendly to business and job creation
while guarding the interests of our environment.
e. Agricultural and other natural resource issues.
2. Should Idaho legalize the agricultural production of hemp?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
All legal alternative agricultural crops should be considered. The
advisability of hemp as a commercial agricultural crop should
be determined as well as the sustainability, suitability and
profitability of the crop must be established. This is true of all legal
alternative crops.
3. Should some of the present state budget surplus be used for property
tax relief?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
a. This should be contained in the overall consideration of tax reform.
b. The budget surplus should first be incorporated into one-time
investments (such as school facilities or other infrastructure
needs). The property tax structure is based on an economy that is many
years out of date. It is time to reform our tax system to
better reflect the economic basis and ability to pay as well as
considering the principal that user pays.
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?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
Yes and No. No because the real issue is how a legislator stands and
votes on issues that are important to the local
constituents. This is irrespective whether the legislator is an "R" or a
"D". Yes because a legislator that is a member of the
majority party has advantages over a legislator of the minority party in
that the majority party can serve in areas of committee
responsibility and leadership that a minority party member cannot. Also,
a legislator of the majority persuasion will have the
ability to have influence with other majority legislators that an
independent or minority member will not have.
The Republican Party has a strong majority because the people of Idaho
have elected and re-elected Republicans. A lot of
traditional democrats have voted Republican because they believe the
Democrat leadership has done a poor job of
representing their interests. Many Democrats believe that their own
party has been chiefly responsible in eliminating business
opportunity and jobs as well as regulating them out of business.
Some Democrats will argue that more Democrats should be elected to the
State Legislature but if every Democrat that is
running this November were to be elected the Republicans would still
have a majority. Democrats currently have 52 candidates
in 105 legislative seats. It doesn't take a math teacher to realize that
52 is less than half. Idaho has 35 legislative districts.
District 5 (essentially Latah County) will elect a State Senator and two
State Representatives. The issue is who will best
represent the constituents of District 5. I believe that 3 Republicans
will get things done for Latah County.
5. How do we control the rising costs of prisons in Idaho?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
a. More focus and investment needs to be made in prevention and
rehabilitation than incarceration.
b. Prison Fellowship International has instituted programs in many other
states and foreign countries that have become models
for mentoring offenders back into societies as wholesome, taxpaying
productive citizens. These successful models should be
explored and integrated into our system.
c. Investment in education will have an impact on prison population. As
we invest in our young people to better prepare them to
function in life as well as educate the prison population to have the
ability to thrive in our society without resorting to criminal
activity.
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?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
I am undecided on this issue at this time. The effort is so new that we
will have to wait and see what results from the investment
effort.
7. How would you use electronic communication through websites and email
to keep in effective contact with your
constituents?
** Gary Young (Republican): Idaho House seat 5B
a. Provide daily summaries of issues and the substance of debate on the
issues as well as any actions taken on issues.
b. Provide reports on pertinent committee activity.
c. Maintain a campaign web site until elected then maintain a
legislative district 5B web site to facilitate reporting to constituents
and receiving feed back.
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