Hart faces Democratic challenger in District 2

A Republican incumbent is facing a Democratic challenger for the Idaho State Senate District 2.

Phil Hart is the current representative for the District 2 seat, which includes areas of Bonner, Kootenai, Shoshone, Benewah and Clearwater counties, and he is running against Tom Hearn.

Hearn, 75, lives near Harrison, Idaho. He decided to run for office because he disagreed with Hart’s voting record and wanted someone who represents the rural areas.

Hart was also a representative from 2004-2012, according to his website, hart4idaho.com. Hart didn’t respond to requests to be interviewed for the story.

According to Hart’s website, he is anti-abortion and pro-gun rights. He believes food grown and sold in Idaho shouldn’t be regulated by Congress and wants to strengthen local agriculture economies. He also believes people are “sovereign over our bodies and should not be forced to have any medical procedures against our will.”

Hart supports parents having control over their child’s health and medical welfare as well as school choice. “Parents who choose schooling for their children outside of the public school system should not have to pay twice for their children’s education,” according to his website.

Hart was the only senator who voted against a resolution denouncing racism after a report of people yelling the N-word at a group of University of Utah women’s basketball players in Coeur d’Alene, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

Two constituents also requested that the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office investigate Hart’s residency. Hart is registered in Kellogg, but the two constituents allege Hart’s home is under construction and unoccupied. Hart also faced legal issues in 1996 when trees were illegally cut down from a state school endowment land for his log home in Athol. In 2016, that property was sold as a settlement for not paying federal income tax, according to the Idaho Capital Sun and the Spokesman-Review.

Hart’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Utah in 1980. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, according to his website.

Hart worked as a businessman in Kootenai and Shoshone counties and at Alpine Engineering LLC, with an office in Hayden. He is a licensed civil and structural engineer, according to his website.

His website lists his family information as having one daughter.

Hearn has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in clinical social work from the University of Washington. He is retired but spent 27 years working at a mental health clinic in Coeur d’Alene. Before that, in the 1970s, he worked for child protective services in Bonner County, then worked in Kootenai County investigating child abuse in rural communities.

He moved to Idaho in 1973 and became a resident in 1976. He’s been married for 44 years and has two children and four grandchildren.

Hearn is not new to elected office — he was on the Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai school boards. When Hearn was on the school board, he was part of the Idaho State School Board Association as the regional chairperson for northern Idaho.

He was on other boards appointed by different governors including Gov. Cecil Andrus, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter for the social work licensing board and sex offender classification board. He was appointed by attorneys general to different task forces including child witness legislation and sex offender registration law, and setting up the sex offender classification board.

Hearn thinks his background in mental health and on other boards would make him a good representative. He said he is willing to do bipartisan work for rural communities and advocate for their needs.

Hearn knows people in Idaho are independent and “don’t want the government interfering in their lives.” However, Idahoans also want basic services like roads, schools, medical care, and protection of public lands and local control. Hearn wants the state and local officials to work together to address those issues.

Public school is at the top of his list of concerns because of funding issues. His work on two different school districts has shed a light on the experiences of communities funding education. Hearn’s wife is also a retired teacher, so he said he supports good wages for teachers.

“I know what it’s like to try to provide good schools in Idaho — good public schools in Idaho — with the funding we get from the state,” Hearn said.

Hearn noted that Idaho ranks near the bottom in the country for per-pupil funding. That then forces the school board to turn to local levies to fund school districts. If the state provided more funding to school districts they would be less reliant on local funds, he said.

Hearn said the voucher system for private or religious schools as well as homeschool threatens public schools and will divert funds away from public education, which is already underfunded. Hearn doesn’t have a problem if people want to pursue alternatives to public schools, but it shouldn’t be funded by the state.

“As far as I’m concerned, public money is for public schools,” Hearn said.

Other areas he wants to help with rural communities are the economy and infrastructure. Hearn supports the Launch program initiated by Gov. Brad Little and eliminating the grocery tax. He supports mental health care and wants to support health care services in rural communities.

If Hearn is elected, he knows that as a Democrat “you’re doing a lot of defense.” But Hearn wants to collaborate with Democrats and Republicans as a freshman senator to work on the issues for his constituents.

“This is one of the problems — I’m a Democrat running in a very red, very Republican area. I hope people will look past the party label and look to the candidates and look at our backgrounds, look at our history, look at what we’ve done, what … we stand for,” Hearn said. “I hope that people will look into our background and consider the fact that I would be advocating for their needs.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.