Idaho’s gubernatorial candidates struck starkly different tones on topics ranging from transparency to health care and education during a live televised debate in Boise Monday evening.
Brad Little and Paulette Jordan
Brad Little, a longtime Republican lawmaker who has served as lieutenant governor since 2009, faced Democrat Paulette Jordan, a former state lawmaker and member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council. Both are vying to replace Governor Butch Otter, a Republican who has served three consecutive four-year terms in Idaho’s top elected post.
The Idaho Public Television debate started with a lively exchange on transparency. Jordan refused to answer a question about a Wyoming business to which she has paid $20,000 in campaign expenditures just a few days after it was created, but said she’s been “above ground” on all campaign finance issues.
Little, meanwhile, noted that he both drafted and passed some of Idaho’s open government laws.
On education, Little cited efforts to increase teacher pay, and noted that Idaho recently had some of the largest percentage pay increases for teachers nationwide. Jordan said that distinction isn’t necessarily great as much as it’s an indication of how far the state had fallen behind. Jordan said state leaders have failed to adequately fund public education and that she would increase public school funding by saving elsewhere, particularly by stopping out-of-state prison spending and by expanding Medicaid, which she said would save $400 million in the first year.
On a voter initiative to expand Medicaid coverage to Idaho’s “gap population,” Jordan expressed strong support while Little refused to say how he would vote, saying only he would “implement the will of the voters.”
The debate is available for streaming at idahoptv.org. (AP)
