Gov candidate asked about record; responds

COEUR d’ALENE — Chairing state task forces on transportation and cybersecurity, shepherding legislators in the state’s biggest property tax decrease, and recruiting businesses to locate in the Gem State are some of Lt. Gov. Brad Little’s accomplishments as legislator and lieutenant governor, he said Wednesday.

The Republican nominee for governor visited The Press to catch up on the campaign trail. He was asked to review his track record as a public official, and he did.

In contrasting himself with his Democratic rival, former Rep. Paulette Jordan, Little said he has already visited all of Idaho’s 44 counties many times during his career. Little said he has gotten to know people across the state thanks to his decades in the business, agriculture, education, philanthropic, and political sectors.

“Instinctively if something comes across my desk I ask, ‘What does so-and-so think about this?’” he said.

There’s no shortage of people with great ideas walking into the governor’s office, so doing a reality check with those whose boots are on the ground prevents many a bright idea from turning into a boondoggle, he said.

That includes people from across the political spectrum, such as the Idaho Education Association, with whom Little said he recently met. If fortunate enough to be elected governor, Little said, he would reassemble a task force on education with the goal of “bringing everyone together to decide what we need to do to improve education.” He said he will also push for Idahoans to have the freedom to get non-ACA health care plans with all 10 essential health benefits, and to examine and “refresh” the state’s licensing procedures.

Little supports diverting a portion of sales tax funds from tires and cars into a fund to pay for state roads. However, he was not rigid about the proposal and said he would work with the Legislature to find ways to improve Idaho’s roads and bridges.

As lieutenant governor, Little said his record working with the governor’s task force on education helped deliver progress to Idaho schools.

“We didn’t get all we needed, but we wouldn’t have gotten any of it without doing it,” he said.

He similarly advised Gov. Butch Otter to accept a legislative proposal to raise fuel taxes seven cents back in 2015.

Little chaired a task force on cybersecurity, which resulted in the creation of a director-level information security chief who reports directly to the governor. That hadn’t existed beforehand, said Little, who explained that he and Otter wrote the executive orders to create the task force and implement its recommendations. In addition, Little said, he was one of Otter’s go-to guys for staffing decisions.

“I was involved in all the boards, commissions, and almost every short list the governor got came across my desk,” he said.

Before becoming lieutenant governor in 2009, the gubernatorial candidate served as a state senator from 2001-11. His peers elected him majority caucus chair from 2003-11. He highlighted his role in the 2006 debate over property tax relief, “one of the biggest tax reductions” in state history.

As a legislator, Little said, he carried about two-thirds of timber-industry related bills, but not many others, since a leader’s bills can be held hostage in legislative negotiations.

On the topic of the proposed sale of Avista Utilities to Toronto-based Hydro One, Little said Idaho would likely follow Washington’s and Oregon’s lead with conditions required for approval of the sale. He said he’d prefer that Idaho utilities were owned by Idahoans, but that previous sales to foreign or out-of-state companies have set the precedent for such a sale.

“I wouldn’t bet the ranch that it goes through, but I think it will,” he said.