Republican Caucus makes town hall swing through region
Idaho State House Republican leadership and members of the House GOP Caucus from North Idaho will hold a town hall at North Idaho College tonight, holding the eighth town hall meeting as the convoy careens through the state to gather public input before its next legislative session.
I harken back to my title of state representative,” Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, said of his inclusion in the Coeur d’Alene event. “If I don’t listen to the people, it’s hard to do the job. It’s always important for me to hear from my constituents. As it stands now, people can always call me or can stop me in the grocery store, but this gives them a more reliable avenue, and it gives me a great opportunity to listen.”
The event at the college’s Student Union Building will be a larger venue than most other town halls Amador says this campaign has traversed, but he said that extra population will mean extra access to both himself and House leadership.
“This is a larger spot,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have House leadership come up here, as they often drive the ship where the Legislature is going.”
That delegation includes Speaker of the House Scott Bedke, Majority Leader Mike Moyle, Assistant Majority Leader Jason Monks and Majority Caucus Chair Megan Blanksma, who will moderate the event.
“I think, frankly, it’s important North Idaho gets its chance,” Blanksma said. “Being a [University of Idaho] grad, I’m pretty sensitive to this. It’s important North Idaho doesn’t go overlooked. It’s important North Idaho gets its chance to speak to the issues that are important to you.”
Attendees will be provided the opportunity to ask questions of the panel via notecards. Some have already submitted questions via email to Blanksma, which range from concerns about university funding to re-districting to a potential new home for a prisoner re-entry center.
“This way, we can group questions together and answer them more efficiently,” she said. “The way we’ve done it so far, instead of reading the questions verbatum, you drill down to the heart of the topic and get it dialed down to a basic set of questions.”
Local representatives on the panel include Amador, Rep. Vito Barbieri (R-Dalton Gardens), Rep. Ron Mendive (R-Coeur d’Alene), Rep. Jim Addis (R-Coeur d’Alene), Rep. John Green (R-Post Falls) and Rep. Tony Wisniewski (Post Falls).
“The three years I’ve been in office,” Amador estimated , “I’ve probably done about 25 town halls. Having people show up is certainly helpful. I’ve booked rooms where I thought 50 people would show up, and only two or three would. On the other hand, I’ve had venues where I thought 25 would show, and we had 50 or 75 show up. I’m hoping this will be a good showing.”
Amador added as more people show up, more creative dialogue tends to develop.
“The more people you have there, the more diverse opinions you can have, he said. “I think that helps foster solutions, which is really the most important thing. We want solutions before laws. The last thing I want to do is create a state law around an issue. If we can find solutions through discussion and a back-and-forth, that’s certainly preferable to having to pass a law to address an issue.”
The Caucus will hold the town hall from 6:30-8:30 p.m. tonight inside the Coeur d’Alene Room at the North Idaho College Student Union Building on 495 N. College Drive. After answering written questions, the Representatives will be available to talk to people one-on-one. Any early questions can still be sent to info@idahohouserepublicancaucus.com.