Idaho GOP Platform Responses

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Survey and Interview Responses

“How long have you lived in Ada County?

43 years

How long have you been a Republican? Any prior party affiliation?

As long as I can remember. No

Have you been involved with any political organizations? (IACI, Idaho Majority Club, IFF, etc.)

No

Have you supported candidates from another party?

Yes, My dad was a card carrying union member as a career Iron Worker and member of the democratic party. I took a different direction.

Why are you running for this office?

To become part of the solution for transportation issues in Ada County.

Have you held elected office before?

Yes, Kuna School Board Trustee, ACHD Commissioner, and Ada County Commissioner.

What makes you qualified for this role?

Experience in Local Politics

If elected, what 2-3 actions do you intend to pursue in your first year?

1. Prioritize Congestion Relief,
2. Build Smart,
3. Anticipate Growth rather than reacting to Growth.

How have you served your community (boards, nonprofits, etc.)?

Kuna Planning and Zoning, Kuna Urban Renewal District, Kuna School Board Trustee, ACHD Commisssioner, Ada County Commissioner, Compass,

Do you consider yourself fiscally conservative?

Yes

Do you consider yourself socially conservative?

Yes

Share your one-minute elevator speech.

I’ve been retired for a while, and haven’t really been out of politics, I’m still staying involved. I see with the congestion and the growth and stuff that we’ve got with the roadways in Ada County that I don’t want to be the type of person that sit backs and complains. I want to be the type of person that jumps in and tries to get things accomplished. What I’ve got as far as the three main areas of interest that I want to concentrate on are congestion relief by building smart, making sure projects get funded properly, on time, and we don’t have any issues where we have to go back and correct things. I’d also like to focus on what I refer to as infrastructure, infrastructure demanded or related growth instead of trying to play catch up with developments as they come in and not try to gear these developments where there is infrastructure in place already. That way we’re not playing catch-up, on the back side, when a big subdivision gets built, and now suddenly, we’ve got this traffic congestion because we don’t have the roadways there. So, those are the three main areas that my campaign will focus on.

What are your top priorities, and what would you act on first?

Well, I think all 3 of them kind of meld together. The issue of traffic congestion, kind of deals with mainly where are the bottlenecks that we have on our roadways currently, and are they being addressed? I kind of got thrown a curveball here about a week or so ago, and that was I was under the impression that I would be running in a district race, and not a county-wide race. Having talked to the legislators about where this new law was going. I was under the impression, having talked to them, that it was the 28-year. I was preparing just to run a district-wide race. I was looking specifically at what’s going on out here in District 4, and where are the areas that we’re experiencing the main congestion. And there’s a couple of different main arterial roadways that really need some attention, in my opinion. I don’t know if you’ve ever been out on Kuna Mora Road, by Cloverdale at about, 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, but I’ve experienced those multiple times, where I’ve literally had to wait just to drive about 2 miles distance. I’ve been in a line waiting for a good 40 minutes just to get to my intersection. I’m not sure if that’s been addressed as far as that roadway. The other roadway that I’ve been looking at, is the 10-mile corridor. That’s for District 4 out here and that’s a main arterial that is basically a two-lane road and is about the same as Kuna Mora. It’s just backs up, and rush hour is terrible and they have been trying to address it by putting roundabouts in, but it’s almost done in a piecemeal fashion. \We’ll go and put one roundabout in one intersection one year, and then we’ll wait another year and put another one in. To me, that just keeps traffic congested all the time, because you constantly have construction going. So as far as the congestion, we must address that, and that’s what I’m hoping to do.

What is one current ACHD policy or practice that you believe isn’t working as well as it should, and what specifically would you change if elected

It’s been quite a while since I dug into all their policies. Not necessarily a policy as much as just a commonsense type of thing. Let’s get some of these supervisors that are over these construction and maintenance crews, and get them out from behind a desk, and get them out in the field to see what their crews are doing, how they’re doing it. And are they doing it efficiently? To me, we need to get more of that, and, you know, is that something that I, as a commissioner, would have direct emphasis on? No, but it would be through policies. Maybe we can institute a policy that directs our director and our administration to look at getting these folks more out, so that we have direct hands-on supervision in the field.

Do you believe growth is paying for growth in Ada County today? If not, what would you change?

Is growth going to pay for itself? Well, it does, again, piecemeal. What I mean by that is do those impact fees from that specific subdivision go to that roadway? In the past, when I was a ACHD commissioner, it goes into a pot, and then the pot gets distributed around. What I’m seeing out here is when a subdivision comes in, and this must deal with communication with the cities. The cities are the ultimate over approving subdivisions when they come in. Yes, they do send a report over to the district, and the district reviews that report, and basically, they send back this blanket statement saying, you’re good to go. You know, we like to see this, but it doesn’t seem to really have any teeth in it. And what I would like to see is that homes get built.

ACHD’s FY2027 budget is approximately $261 million, including $133 million in capital projects. If you believe ACHD needs additional funding to address transportation needs, what revenue source would you support—and if you don’t support additional revenue, what projects or services would you reduce or delay?

I think the one revenue source that I believe is on the ballot this year is to continue to renew that registration fee that helps fund their projects. I think that’s important. I get a little bit antsy about trying to increase your taxes anymore. I mean, it’s an increase for people, regardless of how they spin it, but it’s a needed necessity. We have all these projects, with all this growth coming in, and it’s very difficult to keep up with what is needed. You must prioritize and fund them. One of the things that has always been kind of a pet peeve of mine is when we have developed in the past and when we have this five-year plan, it seems like projects, get put on this five-year plan, and you think, okay, this will take care of the issue. Then suddenly, the next year, a new 5-year plan comes out, and the project’s gone. I’ve got one roadway here in our district that has been literally on the 5-year plan for the last 20 years, and it’s never gotten past the 5-year mark. So, as far as the taxes go, I think we need to be more efficient with how we’re spending our money and our personnel. I can’t say that we cut personnel, because there’s jobs that’s needed to stay up with the growth. That’s a topic that I’m not an expert at, but I would certainly listen to folks and get their ideas about how it should proceed and then go down that route. I would kind of veer to the experts, and utilize them, surround myself with people who know more than I do.

Where does ACHD need better coordination with Ada County, cities, and ITD, and how would you improve it?

I think they’re doing a pretty good job as far as sending people to meetings. When I was an Ada County Commissioner, we were assigned an individual, Ryan Head, who was our liaison that would come to our meetings, and he would take our concerns, and he would stay in the meeting, listen to the comments and questions, and then take those concerns back to the administration. They would then decide how to work with that, and how to improve it. I think they need to continue to do that. would also encourage at the upper levels at the city councils and the mayors and the commissioners of ACHD to have more joint meetings to discuss what issues are affecting each individual town. Each town is different and they have their own needs, and I think they need to do more of that.

ACHD invests in bike lanes, multi-use pathways and other bicycle infrastructure. What criteria should ACHD use to determine when a dedicated bike lane is appropriate, and when road space should instead be devoted to vehicle capacity, parking, or other uses?

Good question, I’m glad you asked that. That’s been one of the things I’ve looked at extensively lately, and I don’t believe that there should be bike lanes on these arterial roadways that have speed limits of 55 miles an hour, or even 45 miles an hour. I think the safety issue there, not only for the cars, but also for the pedestrians. I think that they need to look at trying to make a plan. On their website, when I went to their bicycle transition plan. The earliest information I could find was 2005. I was there in 2010, and I know that they were having meetings and we had a group there, but they’re not posting it on their site. These days, in the respect of how can a person or a bicycle completely cross the county? If they wanted to go from Eagle to Kuna, how can we get them there without putting them on a major roadway? I would encourage looking into that.

ACHD has a 5 year plan for capital improvement projects. How will you prioritize which projects make the list?

Well, I think you need to prioritize it by the congestion. Number one, is the infrastructure in place for these developments to come through? What are the safety issues? I mean, are we dealing with a roadway that is classified as an F roadway, or are we looking at something, further up the list that’s like an A or a B. To me, the safety issues are the biggest concerns and the congestion, because you’re going to have congestion, and you’re going to have safety issues also. We need to look at the traffic and accident rates, and all that stuff to help you make your decisions, but those are the biggest. Ada County Highway District is there to move traffic, and that traffic, whether it’s cars, pedestrians, and bikes. The whole goal there is to move them, and move them safely, and to move them quickly. Anytime you’re sitting in traffic behind a wheel is wasted time.

ACHD is responsible for serving motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and other users. When limited road space forces a choice between adding vehicle capacity and adding bicycle or pedestrian infrastructure, what factors should determine which gets priority? Should maintaining or increasing vehicle capacity generally take precedence on major transportation corridors? Why or why not?

It comes down to traffic. I know that’s going to irritate a lot of people, because we have, in this valley, a lot of bicyclists, but the whole purpose of our roadways is moving traffic from point A to point B. How do I determine that? Well, where’s the congestion? If it comes down to a dollar amount, the dollars need to be spent on alleviating that. Bicycle lanes have their place. When I was growing up, our bicycle lane was the sidewalk.

Should maintaining or increasing vehicle capacity generally take precedence on major transportation corridors? Why or why not?

Well, I think if you’re moving traffic, you probably need to expand it. The maintenance is important but increasing the size of the roadway so we can flow more traffic through. I believe that’s the importance. Our goal is to move people, move traffic, get them from point A to point B. If you can build bigger roadways, you’re going to get more vehicles on there, you’re going to move more people.

What question do you wish voters were asking candidates that they aren’t?

Well, I think the question that voters need to be asking is, how do we pay for this? Are we willing as voters to increase tax money? Are we to pay more tax money to accomplish this growth? Or are we not willing to pay more? I think knowing that answer is going to give the commissioners the direction that they need to go.”