BY KAREN BOSSICK
Tommy Alquist, who is running for governor on the GOP ticket, will speak at 11:30 a.m. Friday—Sept. 29—at The Senior Connection in Hailey.
The 49-year-old candidate, who is running against Lt. Gov. Brad Little and U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador in the 2018 race, will speak for a few minutes and then be available for Q&A.
Alquist has built more than 2 million square feet of commercial property across Idaho in the last 10 years. He was involved in the construction of the Zion’s Bank Building, now the tallest building in Idaho, at the corner of Eighth and Main streets in Boise.
He also started several small businesses in Idaho, including a pharmacy, primary care clinic and the national med-tech company Stat Pads.
A farm boy, he came to Idaho to play basketball at Ricks College and pursue a career in medicine. He eventually earned a medical degree from the University of Utah and studied emergency medicine at the University of Arizona after serving a mission in Brazil with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As an emergency room doctor in Idaho, he helped create FACES of Hope Victim’s Center for victims of abuse and neglect. The Boise-based organization helped more than 3,000 women and children in 2015 and 2016 alone.
Alquist also has served on a number of organizational boards, including that of the Boise Chamber, Boise State University, Untied Way Treasure Valley, the American Heart Association, Together Treasure Valley and the FACES Foundation. He recently co-founded the Treasure Valley Leadership Alliance and Idaho 2020: Investing in Idaho’s Future.
The candidate is currently on a 44-day, 44-county tour talking about his plans to improve Idaho’s educational system, lower health care premiums and reform the state’s tax code. He has promised to cut $100 million in the state’s budget within his first 100 days in office but hasn’t released details telling how he would do that.
For more information, go to www.tommyforidaho.com.
The Senior Connection is located at 721 Third Ave., S., in Hailey.