Little swings through Shoshone County

KELLOGG — With less than a week to go before the May 15 primary election, the candidates vying for the Idaho governor position are looking to cover as much ground as they can. Several cities in Shoshone County have been on the list of places to visit for many of the candidates, and the most recent one to show their flag here was Lt. Gov. Brad Little.

On May 8, Little stopped by the American Legion Memorial Hall in Kellogg to chat with supporters and answer questions about his bid for governor.

Following a quick visit to the Kellogg Veterans Memorial, the News-Press then had the opportunity to chat with him about why he is running and what some of his beliefs are.

The Emmett, Idaho, native explained that his decision to run was based on his desire to keep the state going down the right path.

“I just think we have a hell of an opportunity right now,” he said. “We‘re leading the nation in job growth, income growth and Idaho is changing so fast.”

To handle this change, Little believes that his experience as lieutenant governor and by holding several state-level positions in the fields of agriculture, business, philanthropy and education, will come in handy.

This wide range of experience combines with a special familiarity he has with Idaho’s people.

“I’m not like some of the candidates where this is the first time they have been to Shoshone County or Benewah County or wherever. I’ve done that all my life.”

If he is voted in, one of the main issues Little plans to focus on is education. Idaho has consistently ranked low in this category on a comparative national scale.

“I think we need to keep the trajectory that we’ve got now, where we have this consensus between parents, educators, school trusties, the Legislator and the business community on continuing to aid the career ladder to compensate our professionals in the classroom,” he said.

His plan to do this is at the conclusion of the current education plan next year, he wants to build a new five-year education plan that will give teachers the tools to teach in each specific school district.

“What works in Kellogg will darn sure be different than what works in St. Maries, or Dietrich, or Rexburg.”

In the classroom, Little wants to place an emphasis on students reaching reading proficiency by the end of the third grade. He believes this can be done by using the framework of Idaho’s current Core standards — a program he says is much different than the federal Common Core standards.

“They (Idaho Core standards) aren’t Common Core,” he explained. “They are the handy work of parents and teachers in Idaho.”

“Nothings perfect and we need to continue to make it better, but they are widely acclaimed amongst our educators and they’re not a federal curriculum,” he added.

Regarding Shoshone County, Little expressed his displeasure with the situation at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan and the decline of mining in the area as a whole.

“It’s really sad because Shoshone County has always had a higher unemployment rate, mainly because people love to live here, but they had one of the highest average pays. It just breaks my heart that we haven’t got this thing resolved and it breaks my heart that some of these people have left the state to get work and they’re not right here. They did all that work to modernize that mine, make it safer, make it more productive, make it deeper and I would love to see them get back to work.”

Believing that the current presidential administration looks more favorably on the mining industry than the previous, he is hopeful that the industry may have a resurgence in the area.

“We need more mining jobs in the Silver Valley, not less … I’d love to get some of the other new mines open and have more competition.”

Being situated in the I-90 corridor, the Silver Valley is no stranger to drug seizures — especially involving marijuana.

Idaho has held out on passing any sort of legislation that would decriminalize the use or possession of the substance, despite it being surrounded by states that have in one way or another.

Little states that he is against recreational use, but is open to the idea of medicinal marijuana and CBD oil — so long as it is controlled properly.

Referring to a group of epileptic children he visited the previous week in Caldwell, he said “this CBD oil is making a big difference in their life and we’ve got that product that’s about ready to be available for them and we should be all-in to make sure that it’s quality controlled and it does what it’s doing, but it’s not a back door for recreational marijuana.”

Citing safety concerns such as police not being able to test drivers for marijuana use, Little said that the decision to make the substance completely legal would not go over well.

“Law enforcement, pardons and parole, corrections — every one of them is really reluctant to say this is a good idea.”

In next week’s primary election, Little will be one of seven options in the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary, joining Tommy Ahlquist, Harley Brown, Dalton Cannady, Raul Labrador, Lisa Marie and Steve Pankey.