Leroy: This race matters

COEUR d’ALENE — Dave Leroy understands Idahoans’ obsession with the governor’s race.

He also thinks it’s a mistake to overlook the crowded field for the First Congressional District seat being vacated by Raul Labrador, a field that includes Leroy and six other Republicans.

“I think we’re overshadowed,” Leroy said Tuesday in an editorial board meeting at The Press, pointing out that a Zions Bank survey in December showed 54 percent of voters were undecided. “I think the undecided remains very high because people are not focused on this race, though they should be. In a sense, what happens at the national level will more likely determine a lot of quality of life issues than even does the Idaho governorship simply because we’re on a pretty good track here in Idaho, and we’ve got so many raw, needful issues at the national level.”

On Monday afternoon in Boise, Leroy was the first CD1 candidate to formally seek that seat. He wasn’t just first; he says he’s also most qualified.

“I’m stressing, frankly, my varied and considerable experience makes me a person who can go to Congress and be a very uncommon freshman, immediately useful to the nation and the state,” said the former Idaho attorney general and lieutenant governor.

As attorney general, Leroy argued state sovereignty issues three times before the U.S. Supreme Court while interacting closely with legislators. As lieutenant governor, he presided over the state Senate and actually served as acting governor for 254 days.

Perhaps less known, Leroy headed a small federal agency for three years while serving as United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator. There he not only worked with federal rules, regulations and fiscal accounting, he said, but in the final year he returned 34 percent of his budget to taxpayers “because I didn’t need to spend it.”

“Those are all immediately useful skills,” he said of his background. “It’s probably the equivalent of all the experience of all of my opponents added together.”

While much of Congress has remained silent on school violence and gun issues since the mass shooting Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Leroy was asked what he would say, were he a member of Congress today.

He said he would combine efforts at the federal and local levels in several directions:

•Encourage hardened schools.

•Enforce existing national and state laws on background checks and following up leads on criminal conduct or “questionable activity.”

•Recognize mental health as a national priority.

•Encourage early intervention at local and state levels for “aberrant conduct and difficulty particularly in youth.”

“This Florida situation was the perfect storm where all of those systems indicated either failure or great room for improvement,” he said. “You can’t simply legislate these problems away, but you can divide them into those kinds of component parts and make a positive contribution to discouraging them in the future.”

Asked if he agrees with President Trump that sometimes you need to stand up to the NRA, Leroy didn’t hesitate.

“Certainly,” he said. “You need to stand up to every group from time to time if their particular interest is not absolutely focused on the national interest.”

But there was a caveat:

“I do not agree that the NRA or NRA Second Amendment positions are the cause of our current situation. I support the Second Amendment and I believe the NRA ... has useful positions.”

If he wins the Republican primary May 15 — Leroy thinks getting 30 percent of the vote would do it — and goes on to victory in the November general election, one of his goals will be to work more closely with the other members of Idaho’s congressional delegation.

“Rep. Labrador hasn’t always been as collaborative as might be useful,” Leroy said.