Ron Mendive said he wants to continue to protect freedoms for future generations.

Mendive, a Republican incumbent who runs a construction and land services firm, is being challenged by Terry Werner for the District 3 House seat A position in the May 20 primary. The seat serves Post Falls, most of the Rathdrum area and south to Worley.

"My whole agenda is to preserve freedom for our kids and grandkids," Mendive said. "I've become very concerned watching their freedoms get eroded. I'm proud of my conservative voting record."

Mendive said he will continue his fight for public lands.

"I'm feeling less and less ownership over public lands," he said. "When people are locked out, that flies in the face of the public lands idea. The federal government has taken an asset and turned it into a liability (with catastrophic wildfire danger)."

Mendive said he does not support adding language to Idaho's discrimination laws to protect lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered people.

"I believe in equal rights, not special rights," he said. "The American Constitution gave people equal rights. We have Constitutional guarantees, and I'm comfortable with that. There can be a slippery slope when it gets into sexual orientation."

Mendive, who has a background in logging and mining and is a principal in a firm that developed a successful self-igniting pellet stove, said he opposes Medicaid expansion.

"I believe in a hand-up, not a handout," he said.

Mendive said helping those in need in many cases is a role that's better served in the private sector and less with government.

He said the states should fight Obamacare as much as possible, and he opposes the state health care exchange.

"This changes America forever," he said. "For the first time in my life, we've been forced to buy something that we may or may not want. If that is fully implemented, our freedom takes a huge hit."

Mendive said he's skeptical about urban renewal because he's seen poor choices on how the taxpayer dollars are spent.

"The sad reality is that, if there's a pot of money that's sitting around, and people have the ability to spend it and it's not their money, people tend to make poor decisions," he said. "Let the voters decide on how it's spent. Urban renewal sounds good at the onset, but when it gets practiced, it can be used poorly."

Mendive believes increasing the minimum wage would take away jobs.

"Some of the service industry can only pay so much," he said. "I know of a lot of restaurants that have not succeeded, so there's a limit to what the market will bear."

As a member of the House Education Committee, Mendive said increasing parental choice in education is another priority.

"Will this bill lead to greater parental choice?" Mendive said. "This is the question I ask myself each time I evaluate reforms. My constituents want to know that they will have control of their child's learning."

Profile:

Ron Mendive

Birth date: 1950

Profession: owns a construction and land services business

Educational background: associate's degree, North Idaho College

Public service: precinct committeeman, 2010-2014; state representative District 3-A, 2012-2014

How many years as a resident of your district: 35

Marital status: married to Sherlene, 44 years

Family: three children, four grandchildren

Hobbies: hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, canoeing, camping