NAMPA, Idaho —
With only two weeks until the May election, the Nampa Chamber of Commerce, Idaho Press, and City of Nampa hosted an event Tuesday night called "Get to Know the Candidates."
The event forum was designed to help community members get to know the candidates running ahead of the May 17 primary elections. The event was held at Nampa City Hall Tuesday night.
The below-listed candidates were invited to attend the forum, which was moderated by the Idaho Press.
Candidates were given two minutes for opening statements and one minute to answer questions and for closing statements.
Canyon County Clerk
- Sandy Bowden
- Chris Yamamoto
Bowden, who comes in fresh to the campaign scene, believes her experience as an accounting analyst at Northwest Nazarene University gives her a leg up in this race. While citing no evidence, she said more could be done in the county to secure local elections.
"One thing that we need to do is clean up the voter rolls," Bowden said. "Another thing I believe is to get rid of the voting machines. Voting machines are vulnerable. They will always be vulnerable because it's a machine and anybody can hack it if they know how to."
Incumbent Yamamoto, who is looking to serve his fourth term as Canyon County Clerk, disagrees.
"The machines are not hooked to the internet. They have three different fire sticks, which are military-grade and we can't be hacked," Yamamoto said. "We're secure, no doubt."
He said Canyon County does not have drop boxes for votes because it is hard to keep them secure.
Canyon County Commissioners
District 2
- Connie Constantine
- Brad Holton
- Keri K. Smith
Holton and Smith both agree that increased property taxes in the area are problems the community faces. Holton adds property tax shifts are factors because of laws made during the 2016 legislative session, which removed the indexing and capped the exemption at $100,000.
"Who was to know this kind of growth would happen after all these years?" Holton said. "For example, commercial property like Walmarts are not being bought and sold, but the property is. The residential for 2016 is at $423,000 as an average starter home. That value is getting transferred from out of the industrial and into the residential. It's a big problem that we have to solve."
In addition, incumbent Smith said she also believes growth and teen mental health are issues she sees while serving the county.
"In one-week Nampa School District had over eight attempted suicides. We need a teen crisis center and then an assessment center. We need to help our youth," Smith said. She added she has been actively working on growth challenges. She said board members are following standards for approval and working on an amended growth comprehensive plan.
Constantine was not present Tuesday night.
District 3
- Zach Brooks
- Victor Holliday
- Pam White
Zach Brooks and Victor Holliday both agree that increased property taxes and growth are problems Canyon County faces as well.
Brooks said he's had community members say they're confused as to why property taxes increase if more people are moving into the area, which he attributes to the 2016 legislative decision. Holliday agrees, he would like to see indexing brought back to the state.
Both candidates believe city and county leaders must work together to manage new growth in the area.
"I always thought that they all need to be involved with all this growth that's going on around us so we can all maintain it or try to figure out what we can do to help the growth in all of our areas, just not in one particular area," Holliday said.
"You have to show up to be able to be a part of that and have those conversations, in this particular seat that we are running for there's a lack of that. The first step is showing up so you can have those conversations," Brooks said.
White, the incumbent, was not present Tuesday night.
Idaho Legislature District 10
Senate
- Scott Brock
- Tammy Nichols
House Seat A
- Rachel Hazelip
- Mike Moyle
House Seat B
- Beverlee Furner
- Coral Kenagy
- Bruce Skaug
Idaho Legislature District 12
Senate
- Ben Adams
- Thomas Netzley
House Seat A
- Jeff Cornilles
- Machele Hamilton
- Sebastian Griffin
House Seat B
- Jaron Crane
- Jana Warner
Idaho Legislature District 13
Senate
- Jeff Agenbroad
- Brian Lenney
House Seat A
- No candidates in this race are appearing (Incumbent Rep. Brent Crane is unopposed in primary election)
House Seat B
- Tara Barling
- Roger Hunt
- Kenny Wroten
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