Restoring voter trust key for Democrats

POST FALLS — Lisa Brown, Democratic candidate for the Washington Fifth Congre-ssional District, urged the roughly 250 audience members at the 2018 North Idaho Democracy Dinner to reject division in favor of cooperation in her keynote address.

The 16th annual edition of the event was held Thursday evening at The Red Lion Templin’s Hotel on the River in Post Falls and was presented by the Kootenai County Democrats.

“We’ve got to reject these false divisions, as if it’s the east and west coast of the country against the center of the country, as if it’s urban against rural, and liberal against conservative,” Brown said.

She referenced her own family as an example of people with different ideological views living in harmony.

“My dad is a proud conservative, gun-owning Catholic, still living a couple blocks from the oil refinery [in central Illinois] where I was raised,” Brown said.

According to Brown, though, Congress has allowed those differences to splinter the country into separate camps.

“Sadly, the current Congress has let all of those differences — both real and manufactured — stop them from moving forward, and they have become completely caught up in the blame game,” she said.

Brown, who previously served in both the Washington Senate and House, lamented the declining trust placed in government by citizens.

“People’s trust in government is very shaken right now,” she said. “They wonder about the balance of power. They wonder if people will stand up and do the right thing and put their country over their political party. I believe Democrats will do that when we elect them in November.”

Brown suggested that lawmakers could regain that trust by focusing on the issues important to voters, speaking candidly and thinking independently.

“I think we’re going to talk about the issues that really matter to people,” Brown said. “I think we’re going to talk authentically with integrity, and not just the manufactured talking points. I think we’re going to be independent, and sometimes that means independent of our own party. That’s what our fellow American citizens want from us.”

During her 20 years in the Washington State Legislature — which included an eight-year stint as the Senate Majority Leader — Brown said she took away valuable lessons whether her party was in the majority or minority.

“I think sometimes it’s specifically from the position of the minority that you can learn the most,” she said.

Brown said that experience taught her how to govern under the spirit of cooperation.

“I learned that you’ve got to figure out how to get along in order to get things done, and I think we’re going to do that, as Democrats,” she said.

The former chancellor of WSU Spokane, a branch of Washington State University with a focus on health sciences, fittingly named public education and health care as her top two concerns.

Brown also listed the protection of public lands as an important issue.

Prior to Brown’s keynote address, the Kootenai County Democrats honored Janet Callen with the 16th annual Art Manley Lifetime Achievement Award.

The group also handed out its second annual Rising Star Award to Jessica Nash-Mahuron for her role in collecting signatures throughout the county to place an initiative for Medicaid expansion on the ballot this November.

Numerous local and statewide Democratic candidates running for political office were also in attendance: A.J. Balukoff, Governor; Paulette Jordan, Governor; Kristin Collum, Lt. Governor; James Vandermaas, U.S. First Congressional District; Cristina McNeil, U.S. First Congressional District; Joseph Chastain, Secretary of State; Rebecca Schroeder, Idaho District 4, House seat A; Dan Hanks, Idaho District 3, House seat B; Shem Hanks, Idaho District 4, House seat B; Cory Jane English, Idaho District 4 Senate; and Ruben Miranda, County Commissioner.

Judge John Mitchell of the First District Court — a nonpartisan position — was also in attendance.

Primary elections for the nonpartisan judge position and the Democratic and Republican parties will be held Tuesday. General election voting will take place on Nov. 6.