OPINON: District 10, Lori Bishop deserves your vote over Tammy Nichols

Idaho needs more people like Lori Bishop to step up and run for office. Bishop, a fifth-generation Idahoan from a small town and a lifelong Republican, would be a thoughtful, sensible legislator.

Bishop is challenging incumbent Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, for the District 10 seat that includes Middleton and rural parts of Canyon County.

One look at the vitriol on Tammy Nichols’ social media accounts shows that she’s an extreme antagonist who’s more interested in fighting culture wars against “wokeism,” vilifying public schools, and spreading conspiracy theories about the United Nations and librarians as “groomers” than she is in being a serious legislator. To wit, last year, her first year as an Idaho state senator after years in the House, Nichols introduced a silly bill that would have criminalized administering an mRNA vaccine to “an individual or any other mammal in this state,” charging doctors with a misdemeanor for administering the COVID-19 vaccine along with other scientifically accepted vaccines, as well as farmers and veterinarians for administering vaccines to animals.

Nichols also sponsored legislation to provide school vouchers for families who don’t want to send their children to taxpayer-funded public schools and co-sponsored a bill to repeal voter-approved Medicaid expansion.

She’s not a serious legislator and does not represent the good people of her district.

Bishop offers a viable, pragmatic alternative to Nichols and would be a welcome refreshing change.

Her top priorities as a legislator would be public education, with an emphasis on “public,” especially funding school facilities, public safety, including increased law enforcement training, and improving infrastructure.

She said she opposes school vouchers, education savings accounts or tax credits for private education without accountability measures. She supports the fentanyl mandatory minimum bill that passed this session, with a focus on stopping fentanyl trafficking while supporting treatment and rehabilitation for those addicted to fentanyl. She said she’s glad Idaho hasn’t gone the way of other states and has kept marijuana illegal, although she would be open to considering medical marijuana legislation, as long as it had serious guardrails.

While she said she considers herself “pro-life,” she would like to see more clarity in Idaho’s abortion laws in cases of medical complications, decisions about which should be between a patient and their doctor. She said she’s a strong proponent of local choice when it comes to issues such as the library book ban and bounty bill, and she hates to see laws that encourage neighbors suing neighbors.

The same philosophy applies to allowing guns in schools and school policies regarding LGBTQ students. She said she was disappointed that legislators this session turned down $16 million in federal money for a summer food program for students in need, rightly pointing out that the decision will hurt mostly rural students.

Bishop said she’d like to work with Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield on a new funding formula for public education and supports shifting the burden of building new schools off property taxes with more state funding. She also supports reducing the supermajority requirement for passing bonds.

Bishop has done her homework, knows the issues well and articulates her positions clearly. She has prepared for this race by talking to other elected officials, such as House Speaker Mike Moyle and Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue, to inform herself of the issues.

Bishop is a mother of six, grandmother of two, a lifelong Republican who grew up in rural Idaho, and she is active in her church and in her local schools.

“I spend a lot of time in my community at different events and with my neighbors and friends and have just led the traditional lifestyle, which I would say includes kindness, and includes support for education and support for families and I’ll continue to do that,” Bishop says.

Bishop is supported by the Professional Fire Fighters of Idaho, the Idaho Grain Producers Association, the Snake River Sugarbeet Growers Association, the Idaho Cattle Association, the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, the Idaho Potato Industry, the Idaho Medical Association, among others.

Come on, District 10 voters. We can do better than Tammy Nichols. Bishop is the clear choice.