UI a central theme in District 6 race

In legislative District 6, which encompasses Latah County, the University of Idaho is considered by many to be the lifeblood of the economy. So it makes sense that education issues are at the forefront of the district’s only contested legislative race, House seat B.

Republican L. Roger Falen, a researcher at the UI, is challenging Rep. Shirley Ringo, a former schoolteacher, for the seat, saying he’ll be more effective than the Moscow Democrat because of his GOP ties.

The money UI received through the state budgeting process last year was inadequate, Falen said, and he thinks he can do better because of his ties to the university and to the Republicans in control of the Legislature and the budget process.

“I think I could probably give better representation in this area than we’re getting now,” Falen said.

But Ringo points to her committee opponents and her tenure in the Legislature as a sign that she can get things done.

As a member of the budget-writing panel, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, Ringo is directly involved in doling out tax money, meaning she “can work for better funding for programs to support our district,” she said.

Like Falen, one of her main focuses is funding for educational entities such as the UI.

“We’re really having problems with losing some of our excellent professors and researchers at the University of Idaho because they’re getting paid vastly higher salaries at other institutions,” Ringo said.

She said her three terms in the Legislature have given her the opportunity to form working relationships with members of the Republican Party – relationships that can help her get bills passed and get District 6’s issues addressed. Besides, a one-party system isn’t good government, she said.

“It does happen sometimes where it’s very difficult to get a fair and complete discussion of issues when the majority party refuses to talk about them,” she said.

A bill Ringo co-sponsored in the last session that would have raised the minimum wage by a dollar wasn’t even going to be heard in committee until Democrats staged a procedural protest. It then was rejected in committee.

Ringo said one of her biggest priorities if re-elected will be to increase the minimum wage, now $5.15 an hour, the same as the federal minimum wage. She plans to introduce another bill that would go further, increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour and indexing it to the inflation rate.

“I think it’s just disturbing that wages in Idaho are so very low,” Ringo said. “If we are not successful in the next session, I think it will be time to form some groups and try to get it through initiative.”

Falen said he supports higher wages for everybody but is undecided about how much the minimum wage should be increased.

“You may wind up putting people out of jobs,” he said.

Ringo has raised more than $18,000 compared with Falen’s approximately $4,900, according to campaign expenditure reports filed Tuesday.

Along with more money for the UI, Falen said he’d like to work on further strengthening the state’s anti-sex offender laws, such as closer monitoring of dangerous offenders.

He criticized Ringo for voting against a bill last session that added murder linked with sex abuse to the crimes that qualify for the death penalty. He also criticized her for voting against a bill that provided protection from civil suits for people who hurt someone who’s trespassing in their home or on their property. Both bills passed handily.

“But nevertheless, she’s out there on the fringe,” Falen said.

Ringo said she supports strict penalties for violent crimes but opposes the death penalty no matter what the crime. She said she voted against the other bill because she heard from people in the legal profession that the protection the bill sought was already in Idaho law.

“Every time we go down to the Legislature we deal with hundreds of bills, and I really believe we should try to be efficient and not clutter our system,” Ringo said.

The candidates agree on some issues. Ringo voted against the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions, and Falen said he doesn’t think the amendment is necessary. “I’m a Barry Goldwater-type libertarian that’s conservative on economic issues,” he said. “I don’t think that the government should be in the business of legislating morality.”

Among other issues, Falen said he’d like to do more work to improve the state’s open meetings and records act and do more to protect whistleblowers.

He said he’d also like to introduce a bill similar to Proposition 2, which mandates the government compensate for any regulatory takings. He doesn’t like the way the measure on the Nov. 7 ballot is worded but supports the overall concept.