Stephen Howlett

| October 2, 2020 1:00 AM

I entered politics as a precinct captain talking about Idaho local and state issues. Then in the 2016 election cycle a pretender was running as a candidate for the Idaho Legislature District 1 Seat B. The inspiration was more of a reaction to finding out that my opponent was misrepresenting himself as a Democrat; when he was an ultra-right conservative who wanted to make a sham out our democratic process. I ran as a write-in-candidate and won the primary. I will represent those who feel they are under-represented by our current elected representatives.
In my 50 years living in Idaho I’ve spoken with every type of Idahoan. They all want the best values for their tax dollars; but not at the expense of education, infrastructure improvements, public land use, or safety to our families.
1. I see that updating K-12 funding leads to improvement in citizens as they enter the modern work force. Solution: The disparity between rural and urban students needs has to be solved. Through the removal of operational levies and by a joint resolutions creating an educational funding formula commission; that equalizes the average per student allotments.
Address overdue infrastructure repairs to our highways, bridges and state buildings. Solution: Use the monies that have been allocated in the year they were allocated.
Holding government and elected officials accountable. Solution: The balance of powers is divided evenly between the executive, judicial, and the Legislature. One is not more important than the other. The idea of lessening the executive and giving more influence to the Legislature is unconstitutional and seditious. I would side with the State Constitution.
No. We need to enforce the laws on the books with background checks. County sheriffs need to enforce the law. IC46-802 and IC 18-711 are two examples.
It was frivolous and without grounds. When you rent a facility; the lessor sets the conditions for use of the premise.
Precautions and the rejections of the communities in the response to COVID-19. We are all Americans and to disregard the CDC and their recommendations is foolhardy. It lacks patriotism, a disregard of scientific facts and concern for your neighbors.
Be informed about the people you elect. The incumbent and the write-in candidates will threaten your constitutional rights. They want to change the way we set up legislative districts, how the checks and balances of government works, remove science from school studies, dilute your referendum and initiative ratios that repeal unfavorable laws, and they fail to follow and are vocal about not following COVID-19 safety protocols.
There are two types of issues long term and short term. In the short term I think that the fire danger in our wild lands need to be reduced. The Good Neighbor Authority provides timber for the industry, jobs to our work force, and the house building industries. In the long term global warming. By rededucing fire danger, there are less emissions. The adoption of energy efficient devices in all industries and personal use.
No, law enforcement have their own funding challenges. Whether it be County, City, or State all are subject to tax base for support for the most part. Social and community based needs are just as critical and need to be treated as such with different avenues of support.
I stand by Social Security, support it and other programs that help Americans.
Taxes as we all know are the necessary tool in how government is funded. Taxes provide for civil safety, communication, health etc. I will support what it takes to fund the projects mentioned earlier and to balance the budget. We all know COVID-19 is going to cost us some money.
I’ve been asked most questions but one that is seldom asked is how long will you serve the public? My answer is just as long as I have support of the voters in Legislative District 1.
The Idaho State Legislature has had the majority caucus, leading for 28 years and they have failed with education needs, health care issues, minimum wage increases, and in granting collective bargain rights to employees just to name a few.
Yes, Idaho is at the bottom of the list of States that do not provide adequate funding based on a National averages.
Yes. It is the government’s responsibility to take these steps because as we see here in Idaho, some citizens will disobey law and order in the miss guided opinion that they are patriots when true PATRIOTS follow and defend their government; not take it down.