Job creation through access to our natural resources is what Toby Schindelbeck will make his priority if he is elected to House seat A in the 4th Legislative District.

He is running against incumbent Rep. Luke Malek in the Republican primary election on May 20.

Schindelbeck said 50 political leaders from nine western states recently got together to discuss how they can gain access to federal lands and the natural resources on those lands.

He said over 61 percent of the land in Idaho is controlled by the federal government. If Idaho could access those resources, Schindelbeck believes the state could attract more jobs.

"It's all about economic development," he said. "So economic development would definitely be at the top of my list - economic development and job creation."

Schindelbeck, 36, went to community college for a year and a half before starting a small business at the age of 20. He has been in business ever since.

He has lived in Coeur d'Alene for one year, and ran unsuccessfully for city council in his former hometown of Chico, California in 2012.

Schindelbeck has been married for 14 years, and was heavily involved in church activities as well as the Humane Society in Chico.

Here are Schindelbeck's views on the four issues we asked all of the state legislative candidates to address:

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"As a Christian I believe we are all created equal under God. I don't believe in discrimination in any way whatsoever. I don't discriminate with my business. I don't turn away business it is not in my nature. With that said we already have a human rights commission that is a venue for people to take their grievances. If someone feels discriminated against they have a venue they can complain to and it will be taken care of. They have a pretty good track record. I don't believe adding more regulations is the answer, especially when they already have a venue to deal with it."

Medicaid expansion

"I don't believe Medicaid expansion is the answer. The federal government is already in debt. It would be more deficit spending. We do spend $6,500 per indigent per year - based on the numbers I found. I think that comes to $65 million total. I don't think that expanding Medicaid would be a good idea. There was a white paper done that explains several free-market healthcare alternatives to Obamacare. One of the things that was recommended is a health responsibility and savings account that would stay managed. Basically each indigent would get $4,500 deposited to their account every year to use as they see fit to use for medical expenses and at the end of the year they would be able to get 10 percent of that to spend however they want, and the rest would continue to accrue. That to me seems like a much more viable source of healthcare for people who cannot afford healthcare."

Minimum wage

"It was never meant to be a livable wage. In fact, most people who make minimum wage are second or third income earners; often they are high school kids working summer jobs. So increasing minimum wage wouldn't do anything to reduce unemployment. In fact, it would most likely result in cost-push inflation because most business owners would have to cut back on employees' hours because it's not like we are rich. We are not big corporations, but I don't pay any of my employees minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage encourages complacency, it doesn't encourage personal growth. There is a lot of things people can do to improve themselves, and I think giving people a higher minimum wage is a false promise because the difference or the increase will just go to taxes anyway. I think the answer is to reduce the tax barriers we have in Idaho and make Idaho more attractive to businesses that want to grow and expand and that will most likely increase the pay the average worker gets."

Economic development

"Reducing tax barriers to make the state more attractive for businesses is key. A nonpartisan tax foundation has ranked Idaho as 18th, and Washington is ranked somewhere around sixth. And Utah and Oregon are more attractive. We need to have real jobs in Idaho, not just minimum wage jobs. From a tax standpoint, it is actually more attractive for me to do business in Washington, and that is not right. It shouldn't be that way. We need to fix that and make it more attractive."