Boise Democrat seeks to unseat Republican state senator. Here’s Statesman’s choice
Idaho Sen. Fred Martin, R-Boise, is a well-respected and influential member of the Idaho Legislature. He has been a voice of reason and moderation over his past four terms in the Senate and most notably as chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.
His Democratic challenger Rick Just provides a very strong challenge, with a firm grasp on the issues and strong set of priorities to make Idaho better.
But Martin’s presence as a stabilizing force in the Republican Party, especially as the chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee, is needed now more than ever. We need more Republicans like Martin to keep Idaho going in the right direction and to stave off extremist views in his own party.
The Idaho Statesman endorses Martin for reelection to the Senate in District 15.
Martin co-authored and co-sponsored legislation in the 2020 regular session to raise the homeowners exemption to $120,000, which would have offered property tax relief to Idahoans, and indexing the exemption.
Martin said he’s “very cautious” about any sort of state legislation that puts more limitations on local government spending.
“If there’s an elected official between me and the problem, the Legislature for the most part should not get involved,” he told the editorial board in an interview.
Martin said he supports increasing funding for public education and recognizes that reliance on bonds and levies leads to an imbalance in funding. But we warn Martin that our patience is wearing thin with sending legislators back to office while Idaho remains 51st in the country in per-pupil spending.
Martin voted against legislation that would have made it virtually impossible to get an initiative on the ballot. He said he trusts voters to make the right decision once it gets on the ballot.
As the chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee, Martin’s area of expertise is health issues.
He strongly supports Medicaid expansion, as approved by the voters, without sideboards.
He was the only returning Republican senator who came out in support of Medicaid expansion and wrote the original legislation to expand Medicaid without sideboards.
“When we had that first meeting I think the House came in and they had 37 sideboards,” Martin said. “From delaying it for three years, sunsetting it in two years, copays, limiting it to 30,000 people. I mean, it was unreal all the sideboards.”
Among his accomplishments as senator, he puts his work on suicide prevention near the top of his list. He secured ongoing funding for the Idaho suicide prevention hotline and worked with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to get suicide prevention information listed as a top health priority, recognizing that suicide is the leading cause of death for Idaho teenage boys.
He also worked to implement “211” as the number for the Idaho Suicide Hotline, something he’s championed for several years as a member of the Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention Board.
Just is an excellent candidate and would earn our endorsement over many other candidates. He speaks knowledgeably about a host of issues, including property tax relief and education funding. Just brings climate change as a major issue of his campaign, and we welcome that debate on the state level.
Martin has the right answers on a number of issues that are important to this board, and he has the power and influence within his party to make positive change.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 4:00 AM.