A strong economy is the key to everything else, according to incumbent Rep. Luke Malek.

"It is what is going to allow us to grow our schools and grow programs that will benefit our kids. It's going to help with the healthcare problems, and it's going to help with jobs," he said. "If we can get economic development right, and make sure that government isn't hindering the economy and businesses are allowed to grow and that we are attracting new businesses, that is the key to everything in my mind."

Malek is running against Toby Schindelbeck for House Seat A in the 4th Legislative District. If incumbent is re-elected, Malek plans to pursue programs like crowd funding.

"I want to create an incentive for businesses and individuals to invest in new businesses here in Idaho, so we keep Idaho money here in Idaho and allow for investment locally," he said. "It is not truly a security in terms of the SEC, but you can collect funds and create local investment opportunities. There are a lot of creative things that Idaho could be doing, and those are going to be my top priorities."

The 32-year-old attorney got his law degree from the University of Idaho, and has been involved in politics since he was in high school.

Malek, who is recently married, worked for Senators Mike Crapo, Jim Risch and Larry Craig. He also worked for the Post Falls Urban Renewal District.

He has lived in Coeur d'Alene since he was 8 years old. Malek has been involved with Kootenai County Young Professionals, Coeur d'Alene Rotary, 4-H, CASA and Lake City Center.

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

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"As far as I know there is not going to be a bill for us to vote on. Kind of the same as it was last year. And we will deal with the protesters the same as we did last year. We just have to kind of work around them. They tried to make themselves pretty invasive, but we are so busy down there. I don't think they are garnering much attention from the legislators. It's more of a media circus more than it is anything else."

Medicaid expansion

"I am not in favor of expanding an entitlement, and in fact, I think we should really shrink that entitlement. I think Medicaid should be for those people who truly can't take care of themselves for one reason or another. Those would include those who are disabled and those who fall into extreme poverty and children - those kind of populations that just can't take care of themselves. What I would be more interested in would be a private option that would allow for us to cover those individuals proactively and make sure they get private insurance. When I say those individuals I mean those who fall into the gap - those who are below 100 percent of the poverty level but are above where Medicaid eligibility is now. Those are the people who are costing the county money and costing the state money, which is causing insurance premiums to rise because the system is needing so much money. These people have no route, other than Heritage Health obviously, for accessing primary care, so they access primary care inappropriately through the emergency room. We need to fix that and get them health coverage that provides them primary care. And obviously there would have to be some subsidy there. That's not something these individuals could pay for on their own. We will have to figure out a way where they can pay for their own health insurance and become proactive in their health."

Minimum wage

"I am not interested in strangling existing businesses with mandates. What I am interested in is improving the economy, and allowing for those businesses to pay more on their own. By making things more competitive they have to pay more. The way we are going to do that is by allowing businesses to grow more, not by putting more restraints on them, which is what I believe the minimum wage would do."

Economic development

"Economic development is a broad topic, but urban renewal is just one arrow in that quiver. I believe that urban renewal, if used responsibly, is an extremely effective tool. I personally introduced two pieces of legislation and wrote one that would require elections to use urban renewal for public buildings that are not going to go back onto the tax rolls. I don't necessarily believe that is the purpose of urban renewal unless the community decides that is the purpose of urban renewal. If you are going to build a city hall or a library then let's have an election. I think urban renewal is a critical tool, but we also need to do everything we can to improve the economy including making sure we are structuring our taxes as fairly as possible for existing business and for new businesses."