Thank you for your interest in the Keith Allred for Idaho campaign. Since the campaign began, we've received an outpouring of interest and requests for information. Keith has answered some of the most frequently asked questions here.
Why are you running for governor?
Why are you running as a Democrat?
What will your top priorities be?
Are you for fiscal responsibility?
Do you support a balanced budget?
How do you define the proper role of government?
What do you think about the federal health care law?
How will you defend our state sovereignty?
In these tough times, would you have cut education spending?
How would you fund transportation?
What is The Common Interest?
How does The Common Interest work?
How would you use The Common Interest model as governor?
What are your views on abortion?
What are your views on guns?
Why are you running for governor?
I’m running for governor because we need a hard-working, problem-solving leader who’s committed to making our state government answer to the interests of everyday Idahoans. That’s what I’ve done for the last five years. As the leader of The Common Interest—a citizens’ group of Republicans, Democrats, and independents—I’ve helped Idahoans cut their property taxes, protect property rights, and fight proposals to raise vehicle fees. With this kind of leadership, we can make our state government by, for, and of the people instead of by, for, and of party politics and special interests.
Read More
Why are you running as a Democrat?
Like many Idahoans, my independent streak runs deep—I like good ideas and good leaders wherever they come from. When the Democratic Party asked me to become their gubernatorial candidate, they told me that they were offering to enthusiastically support the sort of leadership I’ve provided at The Common Interest. They told me that that was the sort of leadership that Idaho Democrats, at their best, have provided. It was the sort of independent-minded leadership Governor Andrus provided. I was grateful for their confidence. When I understood that they knew who I was and weren’t asking me to change, I was determined to run. In these tough times, nothing matters more than the need for strong, smart leadership in the governor’s office.
Read More (Keith’s Letter to members of The Common Interest)
What will your top priorities be?
As governor, my two top priorities will be, first, to create new jobs and promote economic growth by unleashing the most productive sector of Idaho’s economy—the small business sector—and, second, to improve our K-12 education system through strategic and cost-effective investments.
These need to be Idaho’s governor’s top priorities. During this economic downturn, Idaho has been outperformed by surrounding states. We’ve experienced higher unemployment, higher foreclosure rates, and lower economic development. Why? Because we haven’t had a proactive strategy for economic development and we haven’t made the strategic, cost-effective investments in education that are critical to compete in tomorrow’s economy.
I have a strategy for accomplishing both. And when I say that I have a strategy, I don’t just mean that I’ve got good ideas. I’ve got a way to partner with everyday Idahoans to make sure that party politics and special interests don’t come between us and our goals.
Read more in Priorities.
Are you for fiscal responsibility?
Yes, I’m for fiscal responsibility. I’ve spent much of the past five years fighting for fiscal responsibility because too many leaders—including our current governor—say they’re for fiscal responsibility, but don't do much to back up their words. Out of a commitment to fiscal responsibility, I've paid attention to the details of significant legislation that have come before our legislature in these years. I wish that Governor Otter had taken the trouble to do the same.
- In 2008, Butch Otter advocated building a private prison. Analyses showed that a private prison would cost Idahoans millions of dollars more than the public alternative. Did Otter not review these analyses? Or did he simply put the interests of a private prison company ahead of Idahoans’ interest in having our hard earned tax dollars wisely spent? Whatever the reasoning, it was a fiscally irresponsible proposal. Members of The Common Interest strongly opposed the proposal. We helped beat it back.
- In 2008, Butch Otter zeroed out $20 million in substance abuse appropriations. Otter said there was no evidence proving substance abuse treatment to be effective. In response, I made sure that legislators had access to rigorous research demonstrating that substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $17, including significant savings from not needing to build more prisons, for every $1 we invest. Otter simply hadn't done his homework. His veto of the appropriation was fiscally irresponsible. The legislature reinstated most of the $20 million.
- In 2009, Butch Otter proposed raising car and pickup truck registration fees by 138%. In response to pressure from The Common Interest and legislators who understood that the proposal was both unfair and, in the midst of the recession, unwise, Otter scaled the proposed increase back to 69%, then tried to send the bill straight to a floor vote. I reviewed the fiscal note on the new bill and discovered a $10 million error. I alerted the Otter administration. The bill was killed the next day. Bills with multi-million dollar errors aren’t fiscally responsible.
- In 2009, the Otter administration accepted a bid for technological support for the Idaho Education Network. The accepted bid was 33% more expensive and far less technologically proficient than another available bid. This was fiscally irresponsible to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Idahoan taxpayers are paying for it. Our kids’ education is suffering for it. Now, the company that put forward the less expensive, more technologically proficient bid has sued. The Otter administration has set aside $500,000 to defend their action, but have still not offered any explanation of their decision to choose the more expensive, less technologically proficient bid. This is fiscal irresponsibility on top of fiscal irresponsibility.
When state government collects our tax dollars, it must assume the responsibility to spend those dollars wisely. I resent waste. As governor, I'll do the hard work to make sure your tax dollars are wisely spent.
Do you support a balanced budget?
Yes. I’m an Idahoan. We, the people of Idaho, require our governor and our legislature balance the budget. Idaho’s founders were wise to make a balanced budget a constitutional mandate. This means that, unlike the federal government, we will never allow our spending to spiral out of control.
I find it discouraging when the governor claims a balanced budget as one of his successes. Balancing the budget is a constitutional imperative. In other words, it is the minimum job requirement for Idaho’s governor. If a governor starts mentioning a balanced budget as a notable success, then he’s expecting too little of himself and not working hard enough for us.
As governor, I’ll balance the budget. But when I do it, we’ll have lower overall tax rates and higher economic growth because I’ll close special interest tax exemptions. We’ll also have a better K-12 education system because I’ll champion strategic and cost-effective investments. How will I get this done?
Read more in Priorities.
How do you define the proper role of government?
Our founding fathers defined the proper role of government differently for the federal government than for the states. They understood that the best government was the government closest to the people. As a result, they envisioned a larger role for state governments than for the federal government. We’ve forgotten that wisdom. We've forgotten the 10th Amendment. We need to remember it. States should function as the laboratories of democracy.
In their wisdom, Idaho’s founders understood that of state government’s many roles, the most important was to provide a thorough system of education. Idaho’s founders knew that through a “thorough” system of education—that’s their word, not mine—we would prepare our people to assume productive roles in society. We would promote civic responsibility. We would promote economic growth. We would allow Idahoans to realize their full potential.
Regrettably, we’ve forgotten the wisdom of Idaho’s founders, too. Now, we’re learning the hard way that when we fail to invest in education, we end up spending enormous amounts on prisons and health & welfare. It is not our prerogative to grow state government by skimping on the investments that allow state government to serve its proper role—that of offering every Idahoan the opportunity to act as a productive and independent member of society.
What do you think about the federal health care law?
The federal health care legislation attracted the support of only one party and not even all the members of that party. That’s the first indication that it won’t serve our country as well as it should. Regrettably, Idaho’s response—filing a lawsuit in federal court—attracted the support of only one party and not even all the members of that party. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a federal lawsuit isn't a good solution either. The problem is real: Idahoans’ health care costs are growing while our access to health care is shrinking. The best way to solve this problem is to tackle it ourselves. The federal legislation offers states a waiver from federal requirements if they establish alternatives that control costs and increase access better than the federal legislation itself. When I’m elected governor, I’ll work to do just that.
Read More
How will you defend our state sovereignty?
The best way to defend our state sovereignty is to exercise it skillfully. I share many Idahoans’ concern that the federal government has grown beyond what our founders envisioned. We’ve largely forgotten the 10th Amendment. Now, the best way to defend our state sovereignty is to assert it. The founders felt that the states should be the laboratories of democracy. I agree. As governor, I look forward to working hard to provide Idahoans with home-grown solutions to our economic, educational, and health care challenges.
In these tough times, would you have cut education spending?
No. Idaho’s Constitution makes it plain: we owe our children a thorough, effective system of public education. Cutting education funding by 7.5 percent or $128 million ignored this critical responsibility of state government. Governor Otter told us that we had no choice. He was wrong. We always have choices. There were two good choices that I would have made to keep our K-12 education budget whole. First, four evidence-based projections said we’ll realize more than $80 million in increased revenue next year. Governor Otter ignored these projections. I would have budgeted on evidence, not on gloom. Second, the Tax Commission reported that if they were given additional staff they could net $60 million in increased revenue. Governor Otter chose to cut Tax Commission staff. With this $140 million in available revenue, I would have kept education whole.
Read More (“Choices” Editorial)
How would you fund transportation?
Fairly. By this, I mean two things. First, we have to understand our transportation funding need. When the Otter administration announced that we required an additional $240 million in maintenance funding each year, I took a hard look at that number. It doesn’t stand up to rigorous analysis. The best estimates put the maintenance backlog at about $140 million.
Second, once we’ve accurately quantified our need, we should ensure that everyone pays their fair share of the wear and tear they put on our roads. When Governor Otter proposed raising registration fees on cars and pickups by 138% while raising them on heavy trucks by 5%, I led The Common Interest’s work to defeat his proposal because studies showed that cars and pickups were already overpaying, and heavy trucks were already underpaying, their share of wear and tear on our roads. Now, the state is conducting a new study of how much each category of vehicle pays relative to the wear and tear it puts on our roads. If the existing 2007 cost allocation study is close to accurate, heavy trucks are underpaying their responsibility by about $100 million. I would fund the maintenance backlog by bringing heavy trucks up to their fair share.
What is The Common Interest?
The Common Interest is just a group of everyday Idahoans—Republicans, Democrats, and independents—who’ve come together to think about tough problems and offer practical solutions. What’s remarkable is that we’ve succeeded. We’ve demonstrated that our system of government works best when you engage it the way our founding fathers intended. Our founders warned us against the “problem of faction”—what we, today, would call political parties or special interests. They knew that in order to find the best solutions to our problems, we needed to work together across factional lines. That’s what we’ve done at The Common Interest. As a result, we’ve cut property taxes on Idaho homeowners and protected your private property rights. We beat back Otter’s proposal to build a private prison and his proposal to raise car and pickup truck registration fees by 138 percent in the middle of a recession.
How does The Common Interest work?
The principles are simple: If you give everyday Idahoans good information, they can make wise decisions about what’s in their best interest. We work with experts to gather good information, give that information to our members, and then ask them to give us their good judgment. When two-thirds of our members—Republicans, Democrats, and independents from all across Idaho—agree on an issue, then we know we’re on the side of wisdom and I go to work advocating for these ideas in the Idaho legislature.
How would you use The Common Interest model as governor?
For a few top priorities, I’d involve everyday Idahoans in the decision-making process. I’ll give you an example. Say that the governor of Idaho really wanted to solve the health care problem. He would gather together the experts—doctors, health insurance specialists, drug companies, hospital administrators, government officials—and have them give their best ideas. He’d work with them to give those ideas full and fair expression, even when the experts themselves disagreed. Then, he’d invite everyday Idahoans to review the ideas and give their best judgment.
Could we really capture the complexities of the issue? Sure. Could everyday Idahoans really understand the issue? Sure. We all use health care. We all understand what problems need to be solved. We can recognize a real solution when we see it.
Would we come up with a better solution than we’ve gotten from our federal or state government so far? Of course we would. If everyday Idahoans are informed on an issue—if they know the real trade offs and understand the costs and benefits of any decision—then they can make smart choices. They’ll make choices that serve the best interests of all of us—not just the interests of a particular special interest or a political party. And could we really get those ideas through the legislature? Yes. That’s what we’ve demonstrated at The Common Interest.
This is not a process that I'd use for every decision. A governor makes hundreds of decisions. I’d use The Common Interest model on only a few top priorities. But
I promise you that with every decision I made, I’d be asking myself:
“What’s in the interests of everyday Idahoans?”
What are your views on abortion?
My view on abortion is the same as the view of 65-70 percent of Idahoans and Americans. I believe that abortion is not an appropriate means of birth control, but that in certain, rare circumstances including threat to the mother’s health, rape, and incest, that difficult decision should not be the government’s to make, but the woman’s in consultation with her family and her church. Like a large majority of Idahoans, I hold neither the pro-choice view (women should be able to choose abortion at any time for any reason) nor the pro-life view (life begins at conception and an abortion at any time, for any reason is murder). Like an even larger majority of Idahoans, I think we should focus on decreasing the number of abortions.
What are your views on guns?
I am a proud gun owner. My dad gave me my Remington 870 Wingmaster shotgun for my graduation from Twin Falls High School. I support our 2nd Amendment rights.