Statesman endorses Republican Rep. Greg Chaney of Caldwell for reelection

Idaho Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, has come a long way since he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2014. Now in his third term, Chaney is much more knowledgeable about the issues and demonstrates a greater understanding of the complexities of some of the decisions confronting the state Legislature.

Chaney has risen in stature, rising to chairmanship of the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, which can sometimes be a hotbed of controversial issues. He has handled that duty with distinction, encouraging and accommodating public testimony on hot-button issues, publicizing committee hearings, communicating changes and demonstrating transparency in decisions.

Chaney also has become a voice of reason within his party, often acting as a counterbalance to far-right factions in Idaho politics.

For these reasons, Chaney earns the Idaho Statesman editorial board’s endorsement for reelection to the Idaho House of Representatives in District 10.

Chaney faces a strong challenge from Democrat Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln, who speaks passionately about issues that are important to Idaho, such as adequately funding public education, Medicaid expansion, making sure Idahoans have a livable wage and preserving farmland.

We find ourselves agreeing with Gaona-Lincoln on a number of these issues. The question, as always, is how. How to increase public education funding, how to ensure Idahoans have a livable wage and how to preserve farmland.

We admonish Chaney to take these issues back to the Legislature and work to solve some of these vital concerns, to find the answers to “how?” With his growing status as a leader in his party, we are confident he can help provide those answers.

In a conservative state and particularly his district, Chaney is the type of reasonable Republican we need in the Idaho Legislature to push back against the sometimes fringe elements of his party.

During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Chaney stood up against those in Idaho who he said were exploiting fears over a perceived loss of liberty and manipulating people to curry attention and donations to their causes. His was a voice of reason during a chaotic time.

There is no better illustration of his leadership as chairman of the House Judiciary committee than a five-page letter he wrote to fellow Republican Rep. Christy Zito, R-Hammett, explaining his decision to hold in committee a bill that would have criminalized medical treatment for transgender children.

Chaney said he was moved by the overwhelming testimony from opponents of the bill, including transgender children and their parents. While Chaney said he personally disagrees with treatment for transgender children, which he calls gender dysphoria, he said he killed the bill because of legal concerns and because “it didn’t send the right message.”

We have complained here before about Republican legislators ignoring hours and hours of committee testimony and voting the opposite of experts and those affected by legislation. Chaney went against that practice and did the right thing.

In the spirit of openness, Chaney also wrote a letter to Boise Democratic Rep. Lauren Necochea explaining his reasons for killing a bill she sponsored that would have exempted patients actively in a mental health crisis or actively seeking mental health care from felony charges.

Chaney lists one of his main accomplishments as a legislator as working with his fellow Republican legislators in Canyon County on securing transportation funding to fix and expand Interstate 84 to Caldwell.

We also applaud politicians who are willing to admit mistakes and seek to remedy them.

During our interview with Chaney, he admitted making a mistake in voting to cap the homeowners exemption, which has led to a shifting of property tax burden onto residential properties. He is open to raising the exemption and indexing it so that it changes as values change.

We remain concerned about his vote to make the initiative process nearly impossible and his position that even though Idaho’s public education per-pupil funding is 51st in the nation, our education outcomes outpace spending. We don’t agree with the “good enough” philosophy and hope that he pursues increased funding for education.

We are encouraged that Chaney expresses interest in making targeted investments in education, such as classroom technology and broadband.

If he can keep focused on increasing education funding, transportation funding and property tax relief measures, he can be an influential and effective legislator.

This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 4:00 AM.