About myself:
I am a 5th generation Idahoan. I was born and raised on a farm in Rigby. I have been married to my wonderful and tolerant wife, Cindy, for over 44 years. I have 2 amazing children, Jason and Kellie, and one special daughter-in-law, Alison. I started the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation in 1995 and I unsuccessfully ran for Idaho Falls City Council in 1997.
I retired from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 2016 after a successful 40-year career, starting as a laborer and working my way up to a Senior Project/Program manager. I successfully managed many highly technical and complex multi-million-dollar projects. I am an expert in spent nuclear fuel and special nuclear material management and storage, and am one of a handful of experts on the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement as it relates to spent nuclear fuel. I am well known for my tenacity and ability to solve complex problems, both technical and bureaucratic.
I helped negotiate the 2011 agreement between Idaho and the Department of Energy that enables research quantities of commercial spent nuclear fuel to be brought into and retained at INL for research. As a result of the 2011 agreement, I became manager of Industry Programs, responsible for reaching out to the commercial nuclear industry to bring their research work to INL (which was previously primarily performed overseas).
One of the companies I brought in is TerraPower (owned by Bill Gates) and I was the sole ‘Relationship’ manager between them and INL. Unfortunately, I caught TerraPower attempting to patent a nuclear fuel design that INL researchers had been developing, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. I called ‘timeout’ on TerraPower’s activities which angered TerraPower/Bill Gates and INL Executive management. As a result, my responsibilities with TerraPower were terminated and I was forced to retire. I do have lawsuits ongoing against TerraPower and INL.
Stand Up For Idaho
I wasn’t actively involved in politics until after the 2020 Presidential election. That was when there were a lot of questions concerning election irregularities and an effort to delay certification of the Electoral votes for a couple of weeks, to investigate the accusations. However, one of Idaho’s congressmen went on record and voted NOT to investigate. I believe elections MUST be completely transparent! His decision not to investigate indicated to me the congressman had something to hide. Therefore, I decided he needed to be replaced, and in order to remove him, I needed to better understand the political workings of Idaho.
After a few months of research, and with the encouragement from some friends and neighbors, I founded the organization Stand Up for Idaho, a nonpartisan citizens’ organization actively advocating for the rights and liberties of all Idahoans. Stand Up for Idaho has hosted numerous politicians and special guests during its weekly meetings, and has grown from a handful of people to having an audience of thousands all across Idaho. Stand Up for Idaho has delved into many issues and has made countless unsettling revelations about what is happening in our state.
Government is overstepping its authority in numerous ways, the most recent being unconstitutionally closing small businesses and churches, unconstitutionally forcing mandates on citizens, unconstitutionally separating family members from one another, just to name a few. Government at all levels has grown out of control, not only causing taxes to increase, but also taking our rights away.
The federal government has become notorious for the ‘strings’ it attached to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funds. These ‘strings’ are a direct assault on our rights and are designed to force compliance with unconstitutional requirements or face the possibility of bankruptcy. Many local and state government agencies have recklessly accepted these funds without consideration of the strings. We need to wean ourselves off federal funding! We are a free nation and a free state, we must stand up against tyranny and stop these unconstitutional acts!
Why am I running for office?
Over the past several years, I have learned that Idaho is actually not the State I thought it was, and our state government and legislature is not acting in the best interest of Idaho citizens. I personally attended state legislative sessions and witnessed blatant actions by legislators that were done strictly for political gain and not in the interest of Idaho citizens, this was especially evident in the Senate. For example, the Senate wouldn’t limit the Governor’s authority during a declared emergency, and the legislature, as a whole, should have understood the strings attached to the ARPA funds were designed to bankrupt recipients and should have prevented the funds from coming to Idaho!
This overt willingness of the legislature NOT to support Idaho citizens needs to change! I decided to become directly involved so I can influence and correct what is occurring. I recognize I cannot change things by myself but I will stand up and be an active voice for Idaho citizens, and I will strive to influence other legislators to do so also.
Why should voters elect me?
The Declaration of Independence states: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’
Our country and state are quickly heading down a path that will make ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ only a dream of days gone by. It is imperative that we start putting the brakes on our out-of-control governments. The quality of life for future generations depend on the actions we take today.
The Constitution begins with “We the People”, not ‘We Big Business’ or ‘We the Elite’. I vow to fight for “We the People”, and for a government ‘of the people, by the people, and for people’.