As a three-way Idaho Republican gubernatorial primary election May 15, 2018, heats up, the only candidate who has never before run for political office became the first candidate to pay a visit to Bonners Ferry earlier this month, and while the crowd at the Bonners Ferry Visitors Center was small, Dr. Tommy Ahlquist was able to present his blueprint "for an even better Idaho" as he adroitly adroitly fielded a wide-ranging barrage of questions.
Dr. Ahlquist, Boise, an emergency room physician for 18 years and entrepreneur since high school, told the eight or nine in attendance on Saturday. October 7, the three-prong outline of his "Conservative Blueprint for an even Better Idaho," which forms the foundation of his platform in his campaign against U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador and Idaho Attorney General Brad Little in the Republican battle to take Butch Otter's seat.
"We started this campaign eight months ago taking on career politicians," Ahlquist said. "We're off to a great start!"
What has given seasoned politicians and the voting public alike cause to sit up and take notice of his campaign, he said, is his clear vision, a solid plan and relentless action.
"We're focused on getting things done," he told those in attendance.
His visit to Boundary County is part of a tour that will take him to all 44 of Idaho's counties, where, he said. He plans to meet with people in the community, with community leaders and public servants, the owners of business large and small, to hear what is happening in every corner of the state, not just Boise and the Magic Valley.
"The more we can do at the state level to provide what you need at the local level, then get out of the way," he said, "the better. State regulations are getting harder to follow every year. We need to overhaul our tax structure so we can compete with surrounding states. Idaho is 44th in the nation in median wage, we lead the nation in families living paycheck to paycheck. We're 43rd in the nation in the percentage of high school students graduating. We need to do better and we can do better."
Dr. Ahlquist spoke of his years in the emergency room, but it's his experience in business, he said, that drives his ideas on the state's role. As a developer, he said, he's built over a million square feet, mostly business space, in and around Boise, investing over $375-million into the state of Idaho.
Tax reform and government spending, he said, is one leg of his platform.
If he's elected, he said, his administration will begin tax reform on day one and identify $100-million in wasteful tax spending in the state in his first 100 days. He will, he said, reform Idaho's tax code to make it more fair, flat and simple for Idaho's families and businesses.
Another leg, he said, is education, and he pointed out that addressing issues in education will, by itself, resolve many issues affecting Idaho business.
"I'm tired of the status quo," he said. "Idaho is 49th in the nation in per-pupil spending, yet 63-percent of every Idaho tax dollar goes to education! We need to do more with what we have, we need to define our education goals; reading proficiency by the third grade, math by the eighth grade, career readiness by graduation, whether that's continued education or job and technical training. Local school districts are overwhelmed by the flood of state and federal mandates, and you know what?
"If they'd cut that red tape, step back, set goals and step out of the way of local school boards, you'd see local solutions to local business problems springing up throughout the state. We'd be plugging Idaho kids into Idaho jobs and not making them look elsewhere to earn a decent living. If we fix education, we fix most of our problems."
If elected, he promises to cut state mandates on local school boards by at least 25-percent, to set achievable, sustainable common sense goals and to increase school choice options state wide.
The third leg of his three-legged platform, he said, is, no surprise, healthcare, an area he said he has watched deteriorate steadily since he earned his medical degree some 30 years ago.
"When I started as a doctor, the system was built on doctor-patient relations," he said. "A physician had a one-on-one relation with the patient and costs were more fair. In the decades since, government regulation has increased and then along comes Obamacare. Before, Idaho was one of the most affordable states for health care. Now there are 55 separate mandates per insurance policy, prices have skyrocketed and the quality of care has declined."
As governor, he said, one of his first acts would be to demand a state waiver from Obamacare and institute policies that, he said, would make Idaho the model for conservative health care reform nation wide.
"I will fight to bring back the doctor-patient relationship, to reform Medicaid so it's the safety net it was intended to be, not the catch-all it has become to cover every one. Medicare is supposed to be there to help high-risk patients, and that's what it should be used for. You want to cut costs? Provide care to those at high medical risk to keep them as healthy as possible! It's that simple!"
During his visit, with him sitting comfortably as more like part of the audience than a candidate hat in hand, the discussion ranged from government ethics, he believes in term limits for state office holders, to financial disclosure, Idaho is a rare state in not requiring it, but voters have the right and the need to know where candidates stand and who they support (even though he has come under fire for contributing to Democrats), to access to public lands, Idaho is a better steward of its lands than a bureaucrat in Washington D.C., and more.
It was a wide ranging, and while the crowd was small, there were stalwart Democrat, Libertarians and Republicans, and going out, most seemed impressed. They might not all vote for him next November if he wins the Republican primary in May, but each will surely take him more seriously as a candidate.