Idaho voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to give Gov. Brad Little (R-Idaho) another four years in office, or go in a different direction.
One of the candidates hoping to unseat Gov. Little is John Stegner, a former Idaho Supreme Court justice who's running as an Independent.
Stegner says he's concerned about the direction of the state, particularly when it comes to public education, affordability, and access to health care. He also says Idaho needs leaders who are willing to put people ahead of party politics.
We've also reached out to Gov. Little's office to request an interview, but so far, we haven't received a response.
John Stegner joined Idaho Matters to talk about why he's running and what he would do if elected.
In order to focus our interviews of statewide candidates, click here to see the rules that guided our outreach efforts. To see the full interviews for those who responded, click here.
Read a transcript of the entire conversation below:
Gemma Gaudette: From the studios of Boise State Public Radio News. I'm Gemma Gaudette. You're listening to Idaho Matters. Idaho voters will decide November 3rd whether to give Republican Governor Brad Little another four years in office or go in a different direction. One of the candidates hoping to unseat little is John Stegner. He is a former Idaho Supreme Court justice who's running as an independent. Stegner says he's concerned about the direction of the state, particularly when it comes to public education, affordability and access to health care. He also says Idaho needs leaders who are willing to put people ahead of party politics. We have reached out to Governor Little's office to request an interview. At this point, we have not received a response. John Stegner, though, is joining us now to talk about why he's running and what he would do if elected. John, welcome to the show. Thanks for making time for us.
John Stegner: Thanks for your invitation, Gemma.
Gemma Gaudette: So, let's start with why you're running, because you spent decades as a judge, including, as I mentioned, serving as an Idaho Supreme Court Justice. You're now running for governor as an independent. What convinced you to enter this race? And what do you think voters are looking for that they're not getting from our current leadership?
John Stegner: So the simple answer to that question is I listened to the governor's state of the state back in January, and he talked about a number of things that I didn't think he needed to talk about, including his fealty to Donald Trump and a lot of things that I thought should have been addressed and weren't. One of which is women's health care. And as a as a jurist, I thought I was a political agnostic. In fact, I described myself in that way on numerous times. And I think that's why I'm running in part is because I think we need a more centrist view of politics in Idaho. I think Idahoans want more moderation. They don't want culture wars. They want somebody who aspires to good ideas, irrespective of their source. Uh, I have a daughter who's a studio art major and biology major in college, and she likes to quote Picasso, who said that good artists borrow and great artists steal. And that's what I think good government should do. It should look to other states or even beyond the states, to find good ideas, to aspire to and to change the direction of this state. I'm worried about Idaho. And, uh, I think we need a third way here. We need an option that doesn't have any, uh, owe any allegiance to the Republicans or the Democrats, but owes allegiance to good ideas. And that's why I'm running.
Gemma Gaudette: I want to talk about affordability, because this is something that we hear about constantly from Idahoans. As you know, housing costs, they're up. People are struggling. I mean, with everything from groceries to property taxes. And you have talked about making Idaho more affordable. So, what would you do as governor to bring some of those costs down?
John Stegner: So, um. Well, if I were the czar, I'd end the war in Iraq, but that's not within my ability. But one of the things that I think I'm seeing around the state as I travel is, um, Boise, for instance, just got a $9 million grant to help with affordable housing. It just opened a new apartment complex with, uh, 55 apartments that is designed to help people stay housed as opposed to homeless. Uh, there are trusts, um, in both Moscow and Post Falls that are, um, I think creative solutions to helping first time home buyers buy houses. And as I said earlier, we should try to export good ideas around the state as opposed to limit them to one congressional district or another. And that's, I think, what we should be looking to. Let's find out what's working, uh, which I think it is in Boise and Moscow and in Post Falls. And let's, let's try to aspire to transport those elsewhere.
Gemma Gaudette: I want to talk next about public education. You've been particularly critical of the state's private school tax credit program, and you've suggested actually challenging it in court. If you become governor, what would you change first and how would you make some rural districts in particular have the resources they need?
John Stegner: Well, I realize it's an uphill battle to challenge the vouchers. Uh, but I'm still very concerned that they're not in concert with our Constitution. We have a constitutional obligation to fund K-12 education. We have a duty to provide a general, uniform and thorough education for our school children, and I don't think we're fulfilling that obligation. I think most educational experts would suggest that we're not fulfilling that obligation, and I think we should be doing that first. And if we have 50 million to devote to vouchers and to competitors of the public school system, I think we ought to revisit that decision and see if it really makes sense, given our Constitution. The second part of your question is, uh, is rural areas. I grew up in what I would characterize as a rural area, Grangeville, and I thought we had a first-rate educational system. Um, I think my daughter's got a very good education at Moscow High School. They each graduated from there with honors. And, um, I, I'm concerned about rural areas, uh, and especially education and health care. And I think we're disserving rural areas right now, and we need to redouble our efforts when it comes to those areas and those issues.
Gemma Gaudette: If lawmakers wanted to keep the private school tax credit program, as we know, it's a majority supermajority Republicans in our legislature, would you be willing to compromise at all on that issue?
John Stegner: Well, compromise has gotten kind of a bad connotation of late. Um, but I am a mediator. Uh, I've done hundreds of mediations. And one of the hallmarks of mediation is compromise. I think I have a skill set that would enable me to work across the aisle, both with the Democrats and the Republicans, and to try to craft solutions that may not be perfect, but one of the things I don't want to do is let good get in the way of perfect, uh, or let perfect get in the way of good rather. And, um, and that's, that's who I am. And that's, that's the skill set that I will bring to this job.
Gemma Gaudette: I want to talk about health care because as you know, it is another major issue, particularly, again, in the rural parts of our state when it comes to access. And we're talking access to doctors, right? Access to hospitals can be limited depending upon where you live. So, in your opinion, what role should the state play in keeping those services available? And what would you do if you were governor when it comes to the future of Medicaid?
John Stegner: Well, in 2018, we as a people passed Medicaid expansion because we were tired of waiting for the legislature to do it and, uh, took that issue out of the legislature's hands. In the most recent legislative session, we saw the number of Medicaid recipients decreased by 42,000, which is roughly half of the people that it was expanded for. And what we do when we defund Medicaid is we impair Rural areas in very real ways. Doctors can't get paid; hospitals can't get paid. And when you defund hospitals and doctors, they leave. Uh, we've seen maternity care deserts created because, uh, both of inability to pay and because of our, uh, laws as it relates to women's health care. And I have three daughters, as I mentioned, very bright young women, none of whom live in the state of their birth anymore. And they had to ask themselves a very, a number of questions. And they weren't comfortable with the answers that they came up with. And they've all left. And that means my grandchildren are no longer or never were Idahoans. And so I think we're seeing an exodus of both physicians and women, and we ought to change the trajectory that we're on. And if we don't change that, that trajectory, I think we run, uh, an existential crisis. Can you live without doctors? Can you live without hospitals? Can you live in a maternity care desert? Those are all very, very worrisome to me. And I'd like to change that direction.
Gemma Gaudette: You mentioned your daughter is living out of state. Um, and women leaving the state of Idaho. As we all know, reproductive rights are likely to be a significant issue for voters this November. Proposition one is, you know, will be on the ballot. You have said you would defend the initiative if voters approve it. But regardless of what happens at the ballot box, what would you do as governor to address concerns about access to reproductive health care here in the state?
John Stegner: Well, one of the things that's happened is that the legislature has had three years to try to fix this problem, and they have done nothing. And they've actually made it worse. And, um, I think if the initiative passes, I will do everything I can to defend it and to keep the legislature from limiting it in ways that it isn't intended to be limited. Uh, but if if it fails, I think that a governor should be asking what changes can be made and should be made to preserve women's health. We're not, uh, protecting women's health who are, who are pregnant. And that strikes me as anathema to what we should be doing as a society. If we can't protect pregnant women, uh, we should resign our commissions and do something else. I think we should elect people that are concerned about women's health care and health in particular, not just their, uh, whether their life is being threatened. I've talked to many doctors who think that our approach is draconian, and I don't use that word lightly, but, uh, I think we have to be more Accommodating to women and more accommodating to providing sound health care to those women and to our women, especially those who are pregnant.
Gemma Gaudette: I want to talk next about our state's tax and budget decisions. You've been critical of some of those decisions, but there are Idahoans who really do believe, um, that lower taxes and smaller government that they're important to, to our state's success. So how would you convince those voters that your approach would leave them better off?
John Stegner: So, I consider myself something of a Jeffersonian. And, uh, he of course, said that government is best, which governs least. Um, and I grew up in a libertarian Idaho, and we used to, uh, let people live their lives. And I think we ought to get back to letting people live their lives in that regard. But I also, uh, I want to call out a, a Uh, superintendent. His name is Randy Jensen. He's an American Falls, and he's made pre-K accessible to anybody who wants their child to have access to pre-kindergarten education. And what he's found is that by enabling pre-K to occur in the way that it has, the students that hit kindergarten are much more ready for school when they start in the K 12 program in the state. He's not forcing people to go into pre-K. He's enabling them to go into pre-K. I want to enable Idahoans to have the government that they want and the access to education that they need, and whether that's too much government, uh, I'll let the experts decide that question, but I think we ought to make things accessible. That's who I want to be as governor is, uh, someone who's made access to pre-K education to whomever wants it, uh, accessible.
Gemma Gaudette: And John, finally, before I let you go, um, our state has never elected an independent governor, at least in modern political history. What would you say to someone who has maybe always voted Republican, or maybe they've always voted Democrat, but they're listening right now and they're wondering, you know, should I give an independent candidate a chance?
John Stegner: So, I think I'm giving people a real opportunity by running as an independent. Uh, I think the two-party system is broken in a very real way. Uh, we have closed primaries for the Republicans, which tend to, uh, limit our choice to a very, very conservative, uh, legislature or we have Democrat opportunities that aren't viable. We haven't elected a Democrat to state office since 22,002. Um, so those aren't really viable options for what I think of as good government. Why don't we elect someone who aspires to find good solutions to the problems that beset us, as opposed to somebody who is beholden to a political party or a political ideology? I think I don't think either political party has a monopoly on good ideas. Let's aspire to promote and implement good ideas irrespective of their source. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change? And I, I think I, I think I represent a refreshing change and a refreshing opportunity. Let's, let's vote for an independent. And in the 250th year of our Declaration of Independence. Why not?
Gemma Gaudette: Well, John, I want to thank you so very much for taking time to talk with us today. We've been speaking with John Stegner, an independent cabinet candidate for the governor of Idaho. Election day is November 3rd. John, thanks for joining us today.
John Stegner: Thank you. Gemma for having me.
