Leg District 2 Candidates

(See Leg District 4 Candidates, Leg District 5 Write-In Candidate, County Commissioner Candidates)

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Rand C. Lewis

Legislative Dist 2 State Senator

There are many issues facing our representatives at the state level that must be evaluated and discussed by the voters. These are the primary areas that I would initially emphasize, but are not exclusive.

• Health Care: Ensure that every citizen can receive adequate medical care and affordable prescription drugs so that they can enjoy quality of life. I support some form of universal health care and efforts to provide affordable health insurance for small businesses.
  
• Economic Independence: Support those who want to work and obtain a living wage. Protect our working citizens from efforts to eliminate good quality jobs in Idaho. Ensure that taxes are appropriately distributed and that programs to support our less fortunate citizens are protected.
  
• Education: Advocate the importance of education to the future of our nation. Support adequate funding to enable schools, teachers, colleges and universities to best prepare our next generation of leaders in all disciplines to excel.
  
• Financial Responsibility: Take a responsible position on taxes, making sure that we prioritize commitments, spend wisely, and that our citizens are the recipients of the appropriate services and security.
  
• Resources: Protect our environment and support efforts to find alternative sources of energy and materials. Provide support to our science community to develop ways of balancing between our resources and our needs, thereby protecting jobs and the dwindling natural resources.

Rand C. Lewis, a third generation Idahoan, was born on October 21, 1947, in Moscow. His father, Glenn, was a Soil Chemistry professor at the University of Idaho and his mother, Hope, was a homemaker. Rand graduated from Moscow High School in 1965 and enrolled at the University of Idaho. In November, 1967, he received his draft notice and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In 1971, he returned, thanks to the GI Bill, to the University of Idaho. Rand earned a Bachelor’s degree in History and, through ROTC, was commissioned a reserve 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1973.

From February to August 1974, Rand was on active duty. He returned to the Coeur d’Alene area as a reserve Air Force officer working with the Civil Air Patrol and, in November 1975, officially transferred his commission to the Army working with an Army Reserve unit located in Hayden. Rand returned to active military duty at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, in September 1980 as an Army Captain Engineer officer. He was assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade and served as a battalion staff officer, a Company Commander, and a battalion executive officer. Rand finished his Master’s degree in History through the University of Idaho while assigned to Ft. Bragg.

He completed a three-year tour near Heidelberg, Germany, and an intensive German language course at the Defensive Language Institute in Monterey, California. He was then offered the opportunity to attend the University of Idaho for his Ph.D. in History and to become an Army Foreign Area Officer, commonly referred to as “Soldier Diplomat.” After finishing his coursework, he became Director, Overseas Program at The Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (DISAM) at Wright-Patterson AFB. While a professor and director of the DISAM Overseas program, Rand finished his dissertation on “Right-wing extremism in post-WWII Germany” and in 1990 received his Ph.D.

In 1993, Rand was promoted to Lt. Colonel and appointed U.S. Army Europe Chief of Host Nation Support. He was a primary liaison between the Army and the German Ministry of Defense, a principal negotiator for U.S. Army Europe and one of the first U.S. Army official representatives into Eastern Europe after the Soviet Union collapse. In October 1996, Rand retired as a Lt. Colonel after over 29 years in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Rand returned home to Moscow to be closer to his father. In 1997 Rand became the first Associate Director of the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution and in 1999, its first full-time director. In 2002, Rand developed and implemented the Martin School of International Affairs, which provides a B.A. in International Studies.

In late 2002, Rand met Jan Newsome. They were married in September of 2003. In 2005, they retired from the University of Idaho and moved to their lake home near Worley. In March 2006, Rand opened Lewis and Associates Appraisal Services.

Today Rand and Jan work together with their son, Ron, as appraisers in Coeur d’Alene. They are blessed with seven children and seven grandchildren. With his love for Idaho and all of his experiences and expertise, Rand has decided that now is the time to run for the Idaho Senate and to do all he can to represent the people of the 2nd District. It is time, he believes, to give back all the hope and opportunities that he was given growing up in Idaho.

Mary Lou Shepherd

Legislative Dist 2 State Rep Pos A

C. J. Rose

Legislative Dist 2 State Rep Pos B

www.imbris.net/~rosehips

rosehips@imbris.net

Born in Ohio, I lived in Minnesota and upstate New York before my family moved to Brazil. My father was a professor of Industrial Arts who spent five years with US Aid for International Development, helping Brazil design and build and staff and open Technical Schools. So I went to high school in Rio. I returned to the states for college on the east coast, and drove myself across the country in 1965.

Moving around so much, I learned an open-minded open-hearted respect for others. Being new girl so much, I learned the skills for entering new groups again and again. Working full time for a law firm in the Bay Area, I earned a master’s degree in Education of the Exceptional Child. My goal was to help The System to work better for individuals.

My first teaching job was in East Palo Alto, an all-black school district
across the freeway from Stanford with many special-needs kids. Then I was recruited by the Australian government for an airlift of American teachers to help their school system with a deluge of Southern European migrant families. We made inroads in helping the immigrants to be perceived as enrichments of the system, instead of a problem.

I was glad to return to America and a job with the Rand Corporation,
to research school districts in the south, to see how well the Emergency School Aid Act was integrating kids on playgrounds, in cafeterias, and in classrooms as a result of federal funding.

Then I was hired by the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, as Program Specialist, to work with incarcerated youth, to help them learn to see themselves as contributing citizens, and to help their communities to value their contributions.

So this was my background when I passed through Coeur’ d’Alene on vacation and knew where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

In North Idaho schools I’ve been both Resource Teacher and Consulting Teacher, working with parents and staff to help our growing population of kids with special needs get more individualized support in the system.

If my face is familiar to you, it may be because of my most recent role with the Robert Wood Johnson planning grant called North Idaho Linkages Caring for Older Adults, to bring seniors, agencies, and providers together to come up with solutions to improve quality and accessibility to health care and support services, and this remains one of my passions. I know the contribution of older adults is more and more valued, both in the workforce and in the volunteer community. That growing dignity and autonomy for elders is part of the reason I’m stepping up to take my turn to represent Benewah and Shoshone, and 12 precincts in Kootenai and Bonner counties.

I want to improve the balance in our legislature so that we build a commonwealth that reflects our diversity.