GOVERNMENT/10TH AMENDMENT: Our Founders believed in the limited role of government via a system of checks and balances to protect our rights to life, liberty, property, and happiness. To this end, I will uphold the 10th amendment. Restoring constitutional rights to the states, as well as to the individual, is of upmost priority. Local government understands local needs since it is directly connected to the situation at hand. I believe, like our Founders, that higher government should intervene only if local government can not solve the issue. Since our government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it should foster initiative and prosperity, not hinder the common good.
TAXES: Our Founders fought the revolution because of taxation. Besides a balanced budget, I believe in zero-based budgeting for each program and agency in order to cut and monitor spending: only if there is adequate revenue is a penny spent; furthermore, every penny spent must be justified and necessary. Taxes need to be stabilized and lowered to bring in more businesses and enable them to prosper. Business growth creates a broader tax revenue base, increasing income without raising taxes, which then allows taxes to be prudently reduced.
JOBS/ECONOMY: Allowing the private sector to stimulate the economy by eliminating governmental expansion and over regulation will bring in revenue. The economy will rebound if we put our federal and state lands back into revenue producing status for loggers, ranchers, farmers, and miners. Idaho’s rich, renewable resources, if wisely used, can contribute to more jobs and a higher standard of living. I will support efforts to stimulate real economic recovery, including start-up businesses.
PRO-LIFE: Every person has innate human dignity which must be respected at all times. Foremost is the right to life from conception to natural death. Without life, there are no rights. The most vulnerable, such as the unborn, the elderly, and the handicapped must be defended. I have always been and will continue to be actively and fully pro-life.
GUN RIGHTS: Every law-abiding citizen has the right to bear arms for protection, recreation, or sport. The 2nd amendment is a constitutional right that is very important to me. I am a National Rifle Association member and have a concealed weapons permit.
EDUCATION: Parent’s are the primary educators of their children. This responsibility should be re-established and honored. Parents should have the choice to determine how their children should be educated. I believe that family and schools are meant to work together for the sake of our children and a healthy nation. The constitution requires that states provide a thorough education for children, obliging school districts to implement local control. I will work to assure the school districts that the State will impose no unfunded mandates, as well as working with our Congressmen in D.C. to limit unfunded Federal mandates.
WOLVES: The Canadian wolf is not native to the Northwest and has wreaked untold havoc on livestock, sport, safety, and tourist industry. I support all efforts to eliminate them.
WATER RIGHTS: The priority doctrine “first in time, first in right” must be upheld. Water is a precious resource that belongs to our state, not the federal government. I support an ecology that demands wise use of water.
IMMIGRATION: Our nation attracts many immigrants because of the opportunity for freedom, prosperity, and the kindness of the American people. I welcome legal immigrants who contribute to our nation, seek the road to citizenship, and learn English to enter the work force. Immigrants must be treated with dignity and equality as brothers and sisters. Immigration laws should be humane and feasible, and then enforced. Illegal immigrants who seek naturalization and respect our country should follow the legal naturalization process, while those who hold our country in contempt should be humanely deported. Welfare programs must be revamped to encourage immigrants’ responsibility so that immigration reform is not just a hand out, but a hand up.
TRANSPORTATION: The condition of Idaho’s highway system is crucial to the state’s industries and safety of its citizens. I know that local control is absolutely essential to maintain, repair, and improve roads. Toll roads are an option to raise money for roads. Interstate roads are the responsibility of the Federal Government.
MARRIAGE: Marriage is a union between one man and one woman. Gay men and lesbian women deserve respect and have a right to live as they choose as long as they don’t disrupt the common good, but no human has the right to redefine marriage or morality. As marriage is the basis of society, I will guard this natural institution.