Democrat says she could work with Little

COEUR d’ALENE — Kristin Collum, Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, is running to bring progressive, team-first leadership to Boise.

She has never run for political office before. Following the 2016 elections, Collum felt she needed to get off the sidelines “and be part of the solution.” Collum asked state Democratic Party officials where they needed help, and of the offices they recommended, the job of lieutenant governor seemed the best fit, she said.

“I looked at the skill set and immediately knew it was what I had to run for,” she said during a recent interview at The Press.

The race has no incumbent since Lt. Gov. Brad Little is making a bid for the governor’s mansion. Collum said she sees the position as one in which she would unite people in collaboration for common goals. She gave Little, a Republican, a thumbs up for his job as lieutenant governor.

“I think he did a great job in the Senate,” she said.

Collum said if elected, she will serve the new governor well, regardless of whether it’s Little or Democratic nominee Rep. Paulette Jordan.

“No matter who is governor, I bring balance to Idaho,” Collum said.

Some of the best years in Idaho were when then-Lt. Gov. Butch Otter and former Gov. Cecil Andrus worked together at the executive level, she explained.

Despite her willingness to work across the aisle, Collum said she is a committed Democrat who holds to the state party’s platform, and rejects its Republican counterpart. She stated her belief in health care as a human right, which the government has an obligation to ensure via Medicaid expansion and similar programs. She also supports statewide pre-kindergarten programs, better education funding, and prison reforms, However, she also labeled herself a “fiscal conservative.”

Collum said she wants to level the playing field for smaller towns and counties to attract high-tech workers via improved broadband access. Good-paying jobs like those are crucial for struggling small towns, she said.

Collum knows a thing or two about such jobs: She has worked at Micron, Hewlett-Packard, and was most recently a software engineering manager for Xylem, a water technology company.

She earned her master’s degree in information systems and has five professional degrees in the field, she said. She worked her way up the ranks in tech companies in information technology, eventually becoming a program manager at Hewlett-Packard, where she ran 300-member teams of workers situated around the world on multimillion-dollar projects. Delivering on aggressive timelines with people she had no formal authority over was like herding cats, she said. It was the perfect preparation for working with state legislators.

“They’re strong, independent-minded people that all have their own vision of how things would go,” she said. “We have to go in concert together to get the job done.”

Prior to her 21 years in business, Collum enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a staff noncommissioned officer. She worked at the Pentagon with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin Powell. Later Collum earned her officer’s commission and became a signals officer. She left after 12 years of military service.

“I have a history and record of fixing problematic teams or projects or being the one to kick off a new, important large project. Those skills bode well for any governor who comes in,” she said. “They can toss something to me, I can come up with project plan, assemble a team, and hit milestones. I have that skill set.”

Collum defied tradition by joining on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Rep. Jordan during the Democratic primary season. She said that even though she highly values Democratic gubernatorial candidate A.J. Balukoff, “Paulette has my heart.” Collum said she was inspired by Jordan at candidate banquets this spring. “I knew I needed to be her lieutenant governor,” she said.

When asked to name Jordan’s achievements as a legislator or leader, Collum pointed to Jordan’s tenure as finance chair of the National Indian Gaming Association, plus her electoral victories in Legislative District 5. She also said she admired Jordan’s grit in defense of marijuana legalization during debates.

“She does not back down, knows her facts, and doesn’t back off when pressed,” she added.

Collum said: “Women are 50 percent of the population and should have 50 percent of the representation at every level of government, in corporations, the military, everywhere.” She explained that a legislator’s gender affects his or her perspective on legislation. She opined that some legislation would have turned out differently this year if the Idaho Legislature’s membership was 50 percent female. She also said women tend to be more compassionate than men.

Between Jordan, Collum, and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor former Rep. Janice McGeachin, Idaho will soon have at least a female lieutenant governor and possibly a female governor.