Say, Anybody Have a Hat I Can Borrow? There’s This Ring…

By Sharon Fisher, 3-21-08

Is there any stronger human motivator than “Hell, I can do a better job than that”?

Whether it’s becoming an athlete, writing a book or a movie – or becoming a politician – that motivation is there. Not just doing a good job, but doing a better job than the so-and-so who’s doing it now.

That motivation is particularly strong when one is a journalist. You spend your entire life in observer mode – watching other people do things – and while that puts you in what seems like an inherently superior position as you comment and judge and critique, you start to wonder. You wonder whether your position actually emanates from fear. Maybe you hear it from other people, or maybe you start hearing it from yourself: “Well, if you think you’re so damn smart, you try it.”

I’m trying it.

After two years of covering the Idaho Legislature, I’m going for it. I’m running for House Seat A in District 21 (Kuna and southern Ada County)

Jill and Courtney, my editors here, have been very kind. Supportive and enthusiastic, even. They tell me it’s fine for me to still write here, as long as I tell you-all, and I’ll have a little disclaimer down at the bottom of everything I write that I’m a candidate for the Idaho Legislature, so people can read me with the cynical filter that is always necessary when reading something from a damn politician.

The thing is, if I do say so myself, this is not just the usual case of a journalist getting fed up and muttering, “If you want something done right…” I have legitimate qualifications. I have a Masters in Public Administration from Boise State University with a focus in state and local government, and a certificate in Community and Regional Planning. I’ve also completed the three-year Community Development Institute. I’ve been involved in politics in a small way ever since I was a little kid, and I’ve worked on campaigns here for Howard Dean (my Subaru Outback still boasts one of his bumper stickers) and for a variety of candidates and issues.

But more than that, I am a citizen of the great state of Idaho. And one of the wonderful and maddening things about Idaho is its citizen legislature. It is a microcosm of the state – young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural, male and female, farmer and businessman—with all the advantages and disadvantages that provides.

I am a microcosm my own self: a woman, a mother, a rural resident who appreciates the city, a computer geek, a writer, a government wonk. I can quote an old great poet – I contain multitudes – or a modern one – I’m a million different people from one day to the next – but the sentiment is the same. I can represent the vast diversity of people in Idaho, because it is a diversity I have within myself.

They say that when one is a writer, everything is grist for the mill. If nothing else, this’ll give me a hell of a lot to write about.

Sharon Fisher is a candidate for the Idaho Legislature, District 21.

Editor’s Note:  Any Idaho candidate for office who wants to have a blog on NewWest.Net/Boise like Sharon’s, you are hereby invited.  Contact me at .