Hutchings seeking House 1A seat

Spencer Hutchings, a lifelong Republican, has announced his campaign for the open Idaho House of Representatives, District 1A seat, in the May 17 primary.

Hutchings and his wife of 26 years, Monique, have lived in Idaho since 2012. He grew up in the California Sierra Nevada mountains, and as he watched the state slide toward what he felt was destruction caused by misguided policies, he decided to leave.

He sold his business and settled in Idaho because he felt it was a better fit for freedom-loving people like himself and his wife. It reminded them of the way California used to be, he added.

Hutchings joined the United State Marine Corps fresh out of high school where he was a turboprop mechanic on KC-130s. He is a self-taught computer networking specialist who owned a successful computer networking company. For 10 years he was also a construction project manager for one of the largest hospital firms in the nation. He opened and operated a gun store in California, and after settling in Bonner County, became the owner of Sheepdog Supplies, a gun store in Sagle.

Since moving to Idaho, Hutchings has been involved in civic and other volunteer activities. He and his family have been active in the Bonner County Republican Central Committee for several years, during which he has served as treasurer. He volunteered for the NRA and ran Friends of the NRA fundraisers that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fund firearms education and training for youth and women's programs.

The recent realignment by Idaho redistricting committee of District 1 boundaries removed conservative Rep. Heather Scott from the seat caused him to focus on the need for a more conservative Legislature, Hutchings said.

“I saw gerrymandering that negatively affected the conservative political landscape of District 1 to further a political agenda coming out of Boise," he said. "Big government is alive and well in Idaho, even though it is known as a 'red' state, but I still believe that District 1 residents favor small government principles."

Hutchings said he believes that freedom and special interests are not compatible. If elected, he said he will work to preserve and expand freedom and expose the negative effects on taxpayers caused by special interests in Idaho politics.

"The average working citizen has been abandoned by most of the current representation in favor of personal agendas, personal enrichment, and crony capitalism," he said. "We can stop this with conservative representation."