EAST IDAHO ELECTS: Rep. Jeff Thompson and Gary Marshall seek for District 30 seat
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Political newcomer Gary Marshall is running against 10-year incumbent Rep. Jeff Thompson for Legislative District 30 Seat A.
Make sure to get to know each of these candidates before voting on May 15. More details on the election can be found here.
Gary Marshall:
Gary Marshall announced in Dec. 2017 that he planned to run for Legislative District 30 Seat A against incumbent Rep. Jeff Thompson.
Marshall has spent 39 years as an educator. He taught elementary education for 12 years and taught history for 27 years at Ricks College and later Brigham Young University-Idaho. He grew up farming and still runs a small 100-acre farm.
Marshall said the number one reason he decided to run is that he told 26,000 students at a campus devotional they should be engaged in local government and he felt he needed to do the same.
“On top of that, I’ve always wanted to serve in the Idaho legislature but didn’t feel like I should do that while I was teaching,” Marshall told EastIdahoNews.com. “And Jeff Thompson’s been in 10 years. That’s enough. If I didn’t feel I could do a better job, I wouldn’t be running.”
Marshall said he does not have a specific agenda if he is elected, however, he said he is committed to education. He wants Idaho to attract and retain good teachers and wants to work to improve Idaho’s education program overall.
“I’m committed to being a little more sensible in the amount of laws that (are) being passed in Idaho,” he said. “Three hundred bills in one legislative session in Idaho — that seems a little much to me. Simplicity, less legislation, legislation that’s clear, legislation that’s in the proper role of government, that’s affordable, that’s sustainable and that’s needed.”
He said the Medicaid gap is another area that needs to be addressed, though, he admitted to not knowing the solution. He said he does not like any of the solutions that have been proposed.
Marshall has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History, with a secondary education certification from Brigham Young University. He also has a Master of Education in Educational Administration from Brigham Young University and two years of graduate work at Idaho State University in Political Science and Economics.
He and his wife have seven children and 37 grandchildren.
Voters can learn more about Marshall at his website garymarshallforidaho.com.
Rep. Jeff Thompson
Rep. Jeff Thompson has held the Legislative District 30 Seat A since 2008. He has served on the business, education and appropriation committees. He is currently serving as the chair of the Environment, Energy & Technology Committee and is on the Business and Revenue & Taxation committees.
“I believe in limited government, free markets and federalism,” Thompson told EastIdahoNews.com. “The least amount of federal government, the better.”
Thompson said one the key areas he would like to focus on if re-elected is training legislators in committees. He said when legislators are elected they are put on committees without any real training.
On the legislative side, he said one of the first things he hopes to get done is repeal the grocery tax and work on finding a solution to healthcare coverage.
“We need to address the (Medicaid) gap population with healthcare,” he said. “I think there are some ideas out there — without actually doing Medicaid expansion.”
One problem he said the legislature has is not strategically planning two, five or 10 years into the future, especially in education.
“Too many times we get to the session and we make major decisions on transportation funding, healthcare, education funding — we did that this year and then next year it’s like we’re starting all over again instead of adding to that,” he explained. “Then we get to a point — especially with education, K-12 — that we’re reinventing the wheel every year.”
He said his wife, Chanin, is an educator and that he doesn’t know how they keep up with all of the changes that are made to K-12 education every year.
Thompson has a bachelor’s degree in business finance and an MBA from Liberty University. He also has a master’s in human resource training and development from Idaho State University.
Voters can learn more about Thompson from his website thompsonforidaho.nationbuilder.com.