STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Paulette Jordan wants to make history.
She could be the first Native American governor ever elected in the United States, as well as the first female governor of Idaho.
Jordan is running against AJ Balukoff in the May 15 primary for the Democratic nomination for governor.
With Gov. Butch Otter stepping down, three men—Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Boise businessman Tommy Ahlquist and U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador--are vying for the Republican nomination.
That makes this primary the most contested gubernatorial primary in Idaho in recent memory.
While the Republican candidates introduced themselves at the Blaine County Republic Women’s Brunch in February (See Eye on Sun Valley’s story “Women’s Brunch Offers a Sneak Peak at How May’s Primary May Turn Out”), the Democratic candidates made separate swings through Sun Valley in the past month.
Here’s a look at Jordan and Balukoff, who hope to be the first Democrat to head up the state since the late Cecil Andrus served out his term in 1995.
PAULETTE JORDAN
You might say Jordan’s leadership is in her genes. One of her great-great grandfathers was Chief Moses of the Sinkiuse-Columbia tribe; the other, Chief Kamiakin, who led the Yakima, Palouse and Klickitat tribes.
As a Couer d’Alene Tribal Council member, she says her family has been here defending public lands and human dignity for thousands of generations.
Having spent two terms in the legislature, she says now she just wants to lead all Idahoans.
“I was raised by a group of elders. This is my way of giving back,” she said.
Jordan, who stands 6 feet tall, could have attended Washington State University on a basketball scholarship but chose instead to attend the University of Washington on an academic scholarship. That decision invited applause from about 50 people who attended a meet-and-greet sponsored by Aimee Christensen, who has worked with Jordan on energy issues.
Today Jordan is an advocate for building Main Street, preserving public lands, providing more funding for schools, infrastructure and rural economic development and expanding Medicaid.
She says she knows firsthand how rural Idahoans struggle to get education for gifted students. Her son, she said, ranks in the 98th percentile in mathematics in the United States but their local schools didn’t have the resources to help him take advantage of that.
The problem, Jordan said, is a funding system that requires school districts to rely on supplemental tax levies. And that needs to be restructured.
Teachers need to be paid better, too, she said, noting that the average salary of $48,000 ranks Idaho 47th.
“As a mother of two, one of my priorities is investing as much as we can in early childhood education. I’ve seen what can be done when we reach children early. Early childhood education could even help reduce our crime rate,” she said.
Idaho could better utilize its research institutions to build innovative jobs, she said. And industry in the state needs to do more to protect the natural resources. The state, for instance, could better manage timber harvesting, which would help mitigate fires.
A big advocate for criminal justice reform, Jordan was involved with an effort to have penitentiary inmates involved in building solar panels.
“It would have given them job skills for when they got out, reducing recidivism, and bolstered our clean energy,” she said.
AJ BALUKOFF
AJ Balukoff has met with those wanting to know about him at several venues around the valley, including Wiseguy Pizza and Sawtooth Brewery.
A CPA for more than 30 years, he brought three athletic clubs that were in trouble in Boise turning them around before being selling them. He’s been involved with Boise’s Grove Hotel and Idaho’s Steelheads hockey team.
And he’s been on the Boise School Board for 21 years and the St. Luke’s Hospital Board for 13.
Balukoff, who grew up in California where his father served in the Navy, said Idaho has a constitutional mandate to provide uniform education in Idaho but is not doing that.
He told of the northern Idaho town of Wallace where a crusty old miner left his $3 million estate to provide college scholarships to all the town’s children, many of whom have left and returned to teach. At the same time, he noted some school districts have reduced the school week to four days a week and struggling to make ends meet.
“You can mess around with funding formula all you want. But, unless you increase funding, you’re going to have winners and losers,” he said.
Balukoff is also a advocate of public lands—one of his priorities is protecting access to public lands.
“We’re just temporary stewards while on earth. We need to preserve our public land for future generations,” he said.
Baluokoff noted that in Idaho women make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes.
“Equal pay for equal work is an important part of my campaign—we need to crack down on employers who knowingly pay women less than men,” he added.
Balukoff has supported Reclaim Idaho’s efforts to expand Medicaid to cover 78,000 Idahoans who don’t currently have access to health insurance. He recounted the story of a teacher who didn’t get seek health care early because of lack of insurance. By the time declining health prompted her to go to the ER, she had stage 4 cancer.
“Now she’s going to die because she didn’t have health insurance,” he said. “It’s not right that someone should work 40 hours a week and need public assistance. We need to raise the minimum wage.”
Balukoff noted that one of his staff members—a young man from Blaine County—is a Dreamer.
“And I’m glad to have him,” he said. “A very large percentage of the workers in our state are foreign born and 40 percent of our students are Hispanic. Government can be voice of welcome and a voice for immigration reform.”
Balukoff noted that Idaho has not been funding roads and bridges correctly, thanks to a $300 million deficit.
“We need reliable broadband in all parts of the state so primary doctors in rural area can connect with specialists in Boise via telemedicine,” he said. “We need to find equitable way to spread maintenance costs across users.”