BUSINESS AND TAX POLICY

As a small business owner, I have worked for four year with the Idaho Center for Budget and Tax Policy to analyze Idaho's tax system, strategize to increase fairness and corporate accountability, and educate Idahoans about state budget cuts and other tax policy issues. During the 2004 Legislative session I was part of a successful effort to stop cuts to the Children's Health Insurance Program which provides health care to low- and moderate-income children.

1 – I served on the powerful House Revenue and Taxation Committee as a leading minority member for four years from 2005 to 2008. I frequently led debate and was an outspoken member of the  committee, appointed to serve on the legislative interim committees both to Review Idaho’s Tax Exemptions (2007) and Idaho Property Taxes (2006.)
2 – Before I was elected to the legislature, during the 2003 Legislative session, I worked with members of the state legislature to encourage the introduction of a "Working Families Credit" modeled after the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit as an affordable mechanism for increasing fairness in Idaho's tax system and targeting tax relief at struggling families.
3 - In 2002 I was one of two coordinators for a week-long series of lobby days that brought constituent groups to the legislature to speak to lawmakers about the effects proposed state budget cuts would have on their lives. I trained and helped bring day care workers, parents of children with disabilities, students, seniors and people living on low incomes to speak to the Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Committee members about passing an increase in the sales tax to avoid budget cuts in essential programs.
4 - I've spoken to community organizations, created materials and organized teachers and other citizens to oppose funding cuts to education and encourage repeal of the tax cuts of 2001.
5 – I was awarded a “Woman of the Year” award by the Idaho Business Review in 2007.
6 - I served for four years as a board member of the progressive coalition, United Vision for Idaho, working on tax policy, campaign finance reform, labor, human rights and environmental issues.
7 - For three years I served as a board member for Community Shares/Choices in Community Giving, a non-profit workplace giving organization that funds progressive non-profit organizations in Idaho.
8 - From January of 1999 to 2006 I was the owner of LeFavour Graphic & Web Design, offering marketing strategies, print and online graphic design for countless progressive non-profit organizations in Boise.

TEACHING & EDUCATION

A certified teacher, I have taught many grade levels in public and private school classrooms across the Treasure Valley. I worked for more than ten years through The Cabin Literary Center, where, as a Writer in the Schools, I taught writing to at-risk teens and 6th graders in the Boise Public Schools. For four years, I taught writing to some of Boise's most economically-disadvantaged youth at Franklin Elementary. Subsequently, I worked as a Writer in the Schools at Fort Boise Mid High, an alternative public school program where I taught teenagers to write and gain confidence addressing difficult issues in their lives.

1 – In 1995 I worked as an 8th grade Classroom Teacher at Fort Boise Learning Center for students at risk. I also worked in a 5th and 6th grade integrated class room at the Boise River School, and as an assistant teacher in a K-2 classroom at The Children's School in Boise's North End.

2 - While completing my Masters Degree I worked as a freshman composition writing instructor at the University of Montana.

3 - I completed my student teaching with an inner city emphasis in E.S.L. Biology and Physics at McAteer High School in San Francisco, where I also worked as a reading tutor for students with learning differences.

4 - For four years I've worked through the Idaho Center for Budget and Tax Policy to oppose budget cuts in university and public education programs. I have worked to educate the public and to pressure legislators to maintain state revenue and fully fund education in Idaho.

WATER QUALITY & CONSERVATION

As a legislator I bring a braod and deep understanding of science, ecology, forest issues, water quality and human health to the Senate. I work hard to protect the health of Idaho’s children and Idaho’s clean air, water and wild lands from the trend toward loosening environmental restrictions and standards for industry and agriculture. My seven seasons of work in water quality, recreation and fire management and my years of non-profit environmental advocacy have equipped me with a sound technical background and the ability to ask strong questions and lend critical analysis to proposed legislation affecting Idaho's natural resources and environment.

1 - For seven summer seasons I worked in hydrology, wilderness management and wild land fire for the U.S. Forest Service in the Middle Fork District of the Challis National Forest in the Frank Church Wilderness. I was a wilderness ranger and water quality technician and did threatened and endangered plant inventory, wilderness acid lake baseline data collection as well as drinking water studies on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

2 - In 1993 I was a staff member for the Snake River Alliance, and a key organizer and spokesperson with the Owyhee Canyonlands Coalition and its work to organize around the EIS hearings in Boise to protect the Canyonlands from the proposed Owyhee Bombing Range.

3 - For two years as a staff member with the Snake River Alliance, I worked to protect the Snake River Aquifer (Idaho's most important irrigation and drinking water source) from nuclear contamination. I did presentations on the geologic composition of the ground over the Snake River Aquifer and the barriers to contaminant migration from buried and injected waste at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. I worked in Washington, DC, training citizen lobbyists and local activists on the issues. I have also written extensively on nuclear issues (and other environmental issues) as a reporter for the Boise Weekly.

4 - In 1986 I honed my microbiology skills, working for the Idaho State Department of Agriculture doing lab work inspecting wheat seed for infectious diseases.

5 - I have a background in plant and human physiology, and studied neurophysiology at U.C. Berkeley as part of my individual major. I have experience in and a deep understanding of scientific concepts from microbiology to large-scale fire and soil ecology. I am intricately familiar with the many parts of central Idaho's ecosystem and have read and commented on many environmental impact statements for projects affecting Idaho lands and resources.

LABOR AND WORKING FAMILIES

Having worked on Idaho budget and tax policy issues for the past four years, I hope to help craft a tax system that does not simply expend tax dollars enticing corporations to do business in Idaho, but enhances our economy by rewarding business for providing jobs with decent wages, retirement and health care benefits. I have been a strong supporter of labor throughout my adult life and have walked picket lines with hotel workers in Las Vegas and longshoremen in San Francisco. I have been active gathering signatures and assisting in Idaho's efforts to repeal its so called "Right to Work" law which has left our state with some of the weakest labor laws and minimum wage standards in the nation.

1 - In 1997 I earned first place from the Idaho Press Club for best general news story in an Idaho weekly newspaper for my story "Where Have You Gone Joe Albertson?" The story was an investigative piece focusing on union legal challenges to a corporate culture that encouraged unpaid "off-the-clock" work for countless employees in stores across the U.S.

2 - I have advocated for increased worker safety in nuclear waste clean-up operations at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Eastern Idaho.

3 - I have walked picket lines in the Frontier Hotel Strike in support better wages, benefits and working conditions for hotel workers in Las Vegas.

4 - As a board member for both Western States Center and United Vision for Idaho I have worked side by side with labor leaders from Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon on issues ranging from opposing anti-labor legislation to improving wage and hour policies, worker safety and statewide labor organizing.

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY

Widely recognized for years of dedication to advancing human rights in Idaho, I was a recipient of a 2001 Human Rights Day Award from Idaho Voices of Faith for Human Rights.

1 – It was a great honor for me to be appointed to serve on The Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs from 2006 to 2008. Serving on the Commission and working with Latino leaders from around the state, I was one of four legislators appointed to work as a eyes and ears for the governor, raising awareness of urgent issues and helping guide policy affecting Idaho’s vibrant communities of Latino families, businesses and non-profit organizations. I met with governor Otter to address immigration and youth education issues, traveled with the commission and met business leaders in towns all over the sate. It was one of my most values appointments as a legislator.

2 – I served on Governor Kempthorne’s 2006 Mental Health Transformational Work Group to propose reforms to create a system of mental health care for people of all ages in all parts of Idaho. I advocated for a more regionalized system where Idaho’s seven health regions would use staffed Mental Health Boards to work with County, State, Federal, Private and non-governmental providers to assess gaps in the system, coordinate resources and work to create a complete system of care including preventative care, crisis intervention, treatment and ongoing recovery resources in rural in urban parts of the state.

3 - I served for two years on the board The Ada County Human Rights Task Force where, with Don Curtis Senior I designed and co-created the statewide "Not in Our Town. Not in our State. Idaho's Too Great for Hate." window card campaign. Use of the window card has spread across the state in response to incidents of hate since the Task Force released the placards in May 2001.

4 - I worked on the successful campaigns to create workers compensation and minimum wage standards for Idaho farm workers.

5 - My letters and editorials have appeared in the Idaho Statesman for more than 20 years, addressing racism and hate when ever incidents of discrimination or violence occurred in our state or community.

6 – Prior to being elected, in the 2004 session I worked on a bill to extend drivers licenses to immigrant workers and their families in Idaho, allowing individuals to drive safely to the doctor, school or work regardless of their immigration status. I have continued to debate against and oppose efforts to marginalize and demonize Idaho’s Latino residents, immigrants and business owners dependent on migrant and seasonal labor for their livelihood.

7 - I've advocated for the rights of women, children and victims of domestic violence, raising funds every year for three years for the Women's and Children's Alliance Crisis Center and speaking out in the community and the legislature.

8 - I served on the board of Western States Center based in Portland, Oregon The Center supports non-profit organizations in the region in their work to end race, class and gender discrimination from 2002 until 2005.

9 - I've served on the State of Idaho Tobacco Disparities working group examining and working to address through prevention and cessation the high incidence of smoking among Idaho’s at risk minority populations including, people of color, gays and lesbians and people living on low incomes.

10 - I have worked as a personal attendant to physically challenged college students in Berkeley, California and as a law maker continue to work to ensure people with disabilities are treated with respect and dignity in Idaho law and policy. In 2009 I strongly opposed drastic cuts to rehabilitation services for people facing mental health issues and people with disabilities.

11 - From 1999 to 2003 I served as co-chair of Your Family, Friends and Neighbors, a non-profit organization working to educate Idahoans to respect and understand gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

12 - I have worked as an organizer on fair lending and banking issues with the Latino community in Burley, Idaho.

13 - In 1992-1993 I was a key leader and organizer in the coalition that stopped the proposed Owyhee Bombing Range near the Shoshone Paiute Reservation on the Idaho-Nevada boarder.

14 - I was one of a handful of organizers nationwide forming a nuclear trainwatch network to track nuclear waste shipments from Navy facilities through communities and Tribal lands around North America.

COALITION BUILDING AND POLITICS

1 - Snake River Alliance: I supervised over 20 interns and volunteers and put together portions of the Northwest Trainwatch Network while working with peace groups, Tribes, activists and citizens across the country to publicize and track nuclear spent fuel waste from the Navy's ports on the East and West Coasts. I worked effectively with members of Congress, Department of Defense and Department of Energy officials, the governor's office and members of the Clinton Administration. First as a volunteer and later as a staff member I participated in citizen lobby work in Washington, DC, for three years. I lobbied as team leader and assisted in training other citizen lobbyists for one year, testified at more than five D.O.E. and D.O.D. hearings, acted as guest speaker at local high schools and colleges, and organized turnout for environmental impact hearings and other events. I also participated in strategy sessions of progressive lobbyists working in the Idaho State Legislature in various years beginning in 1993.

2 - Idaho Community Action Network: Prior to being elected to the legislature, for the 2004 Idaho Legislative session I worked with senators on transportation, state affairs and local government committees to propose legislation to protect low-income Idahoans from electricity and gas utility shut-offs in cold winter months. I worked to pass a bill to end the state's punitive practice of automatically placing liens on personal property of those seeking medical assistance from county indigency funds. Also as a part of this work for the Idaho Community Action Network in 2004, I successfully opposed passage of a bill that would have deregulated Qwest's local phone service, allowing the corporation to set its own phone rates and no longer seek approval from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission for rate increases.

3 - Owyhee Canyonlands Coalition: I helped organize a coalition of environmental groups, ranchers, pilots, outfitters, hunters, high school students, federal agency employee associations, peace groups, and Shoshone-Paiute tribes in three states to successfully stop the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands Bombing Range in South-West Idaho. I helped analyze the Air Force's draft Environmental Impact Statement and organized turnout for the successful hearings in Boise in January of 1994.

4 - Ada County Human Rights Task Force: As a board member from 1999 to June 2002, I co-founded and organized the Task Force's VOICE committee to respond publicly to incidents of hate and racism in Idaho and especially Ada County. As part of the VOICE committee's work I helped develop a network of, and relationships with, an array of human rights organizations and activists within Idaho's Latino, African American, Native American, religious and ethnic communities.

5 - Your Family Friends & Neighbors: I served as the non-profit organization's co-chair from July of 1999 to January of 2002. Specifically as a coordinator of YFFN's Speak Out Idaho! Project, I led training on grassroots organizing, dismantling oppression, media and message development, fundraising, citizen lobbying and other topics for numerous conferences and local progressive organizations. I have done grassroots fundraising and budget planning and have formed coalition efforts to speak out against and defeat anti-gay legislation and policy in Idaho. Previously, in 1994 I was a staff member for the statewide No On 1 Campaign that brought human rights groups, progressive organizations and individuals together to defeat Idaho's first and only anti-gay ballot initiative.
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DEGREES AND FORMAL EDUCATION

• San Francisco State University Teaching Credential Program; inner city emphasis, June 1988
• Idaho Secondary Credentials: Biology/General Science, English, Art and Anthropology, 1989-1990
• University of California/Berkeley, B.A. Individual Major, cognitive science, a study of anthropology, neurophysiology, psychology and linguistics, May 1987
• University of Montana, M.F.A., English: personal essay and short fiction emphasis, December 1990
• University of Oregon/Eugene, additional course work in physics, English and plant physiology, May 1989
• Boise State University, additional course work in education & economics, ongoing