Candidate Profile-State Senate District 3-Kristy Reed Johnson (D)

Birth date: 10/25/1946

Profession: 31 years as Flight Service Manager for Trans World Airlines 1965-1996; Co-owner of Accent Interiors in Spokane 1997-1999; Corporate Payment Systems – US Bank – 2008- Present

Educational background: Kansas University – 1964 – 1965; Maple Woods Community College – 1978

Public service (elected or appointed offices):

Aquifer Protection District Budget and Policy Committee-serving as Chair of the Education & Outreach subcommittee - 2007 to Present; Avista Alternate Relicensing Plan Committee 2004; Rathdrum Prairie Planning Committee 2000-2003

Community service (service clubs, nonprofit boards, etc.):

Distinguished Young Women of Post Falls – Board Member – 2010 – Present; Post Falls Community Volunteers – Past Board Member 2002 – Present; Post Falls Historical Society – Past Board Member – 2002 – Present; Post Falls Chamber of Commerce – 2002- Present; League of Women Voters – 2000-Present; Mica Flats Grange – 2002 – Present; C.A.S.A. – Court Appointed Special Advocate for Neglected and Abused Children 1999-2003; River Run Home Owners Association – President for 10 years – 1997 – 2011

How many years as a resident of your city: 15 years

Marital status: Married to Ron Johnson for 28 years

Family: 1 son (Guy), 2 daughters (Diana, Kristina), 5 grandchildren (Elijah, Lily, Jack, Sam, Tristen), 1 Bernese Mountain Dog (Jean Val Jean)

Hobbies: bicycling, hiking, and making fudge

1. Why are you running for office?

“If you want a moderate Republican – elect a Democrat” is the mantra of the “new” Republican Party in Kootenai County. I am offering the voters of District 3 that option.

2. What do you see as the three biggest issues you’ll face?

A. Education reform and funding

B. Implementing (or not) The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) at the State level

C. Infrastructure funding for roads, bridges, and high speed internet in rural areas

3. If elected, what steps will you take to resolve these issues?

A. The debate around education reform and funding will depend on whether Vote No on Propositions 1, 2 & 3 succeeds. Overturning the “Luna Laws” would return the focus of education reform to the classroom, stop the pass/fail evaluation of schools and students using a single test score, and refocus tax payer dollars for student access to advanced technology.

B. Implementing (or not) the Affordable Care Act. The State legislature must have in place by 2014, the platform for Healthcare Insurance Exchanges. Part of which is the expansion of Medicaid funding, which would save Idaho taxpayers $380 million in the following 6 years.

C. Infrastructure funding: We can build it, together. No one can do this alone. Repairing and improving our roads and bridges (which have a D+ rating) will create jobs, improving opportunities for Main Street businesses. Investing in broadband (high speed internet) expansion into rural areas would have the same kind of impact that rural electrification had in the 1950s, a whole new world.

4. What specific skills or experience qualify you for this job?

My entire life has been in “the people business.” World travel created respect for other cultures and belief systems. Ask those I have served with in the Post Falls community, I think they will tell you I am dependable, dedicated, work hard to meet goals and have no personal agenda. I seek facts, regardless of where they lead me.

5. Why should voters elect you, rather than an opponent?

My opponent is on a power trip. I am on a people trip. Balancing the political make up of the Idaho legislature will create better government for all Idahoans. My opponent has signed pledges to extreme political platforms and to lobbyists with extreme, unyielding positions. No one owns me or my vote except the citizens of District 3.