COEUR d'ALENE - Jeremy P. Boggess is taking aim for a third time at a state Senate seat, hoping this time he'll get to bring some "fresh ideas" to the Legislature.

"We see our elected officials repeating the same mistakes, but expecting different results," the Coeur d'Alene man said.

Boggess, a 39-year-old independent, is running for the legislative District 4 seat currently held by state Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, who chairs the education committee.

Boggess works full time selling collectibles and other items using popular Web sites and part time as a health-care provider for August Home Health in Coeur d'Alene. He is single with no children.

Boggess ran as an independent in 2006 and 2008. Currently, there are no independents in the state Senate.

He said he would bring a willingness to work with legislators of both parties, and Democrats and Republicans could both come to him without feeling like they are betraying their parties.

"I'm not bound to any party line or party policies," he said.

He said his top issue is job creation, and wants to make it easier for prospective small business owners to get started.

He would work to "get rid of a lot of the red tape," he said.

"A lot of small business owners want to get started up and they have to jump through this hoop, jump through that hoop," he said.

When the economy improves, he said, he would like to see more small business loans.

A second big issue: One-strike laws for sexual offenders, he said.

"One time is too many," he said. "There's so much permanent damage that they can cause. There are certain things out there that society should not tolerate."

He also wants to see Idaho become energy independent.

"Idaho has massive natural gas reserves that it could be utilizing," he said.

He equates spending cuts to public education - something that has made plenty of headlines this year - with Idaho shooting itself in the long-term economic foot.

"The kids that are in high school right now are going to be entering the job market," he said. "That's our future workforce."

Prospective businesses to Idaho are going to evaluate the workforce here, and what those businesses find will go a long way toward determining whether they settle here, he said. The business owners are going to want to know how much training is going to be necessary.

"Everybody talks about (budget) cuts, cuts, cuts," he said.

While some cuts need to be made, the Legislature must focus more on revenue generation. He said those in Boise need to look someplace other than higher taxes and more fees to generate those revenues. "We can't tax our way out of this" state budget problem, he said.

Information: www.jeremy4idaho.com