SANDPOINT — What Idaho needs is leadership, former Idaho Supreme Court Justice John Stegner said.

"So, I think that leadership needs to meet the moment, and I don't think leadership is meeting the moment right now, and that's in essence why I'm running," said Stegner, who is running as an independent. "I want to offer a different voice to this election, and I think people need choices."

Stegner said he is a problem-solver, pointing to his days as a district judge when he created drug addiction and mental health courts after seeing those struggling with addiction issues and mental health challenges come in and out of his courtroom. The alternative courts were a way to deal with those issues, offering a way to help and hold people accountable.

"I wouldn't say that it's a silver bullet to the problem, but for the right people it is a silver bullet for the problem," Stegner said. "I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me at the graduation of their child from those programs and said, Thank you for saving my child's life."

"That's what I think leadership is: identifying a problem, listening to people, stepping up, and trying to reach a solution to the problem."

That ability to listen taught him to explore problems, to understand the issues and to work with others to find solutions. His lengthy law career taught him the importance of listening, of understanding all sides of an issue and of using that information to find a path that benefits as many people as possible.

"I think you can't solve problems without first understanding what problems are, and that comes from listening," Stegner said. "As a judge, I learned that you couldn't solve problems without being a listener, and that's really what I think I am, is somebody who can listen, somebody who can address problems and seek solutions that will move us forward as a state."

A lifelong Idahoan, Stegner grew up in Grangeville, helping his family in their grain business and working in grain elevators in the summers.

"I learned the value of hard work and the importance of hard work and personal responsibility in growing up in a small town," he said. "I tell people that I grew up with 20 mothers in Grangeville. That was a good thing because it kept you in line and it kept you focused on doing the right thing for the right reason."

After earning his law degree at the University of Idaho, Stegner worked for 21 years as a district judge in Moscow before serving five years on the Idaho Supreme Court. He led the state in creating drug and treatment courts — identifying what he said was a flaw within the judicial system and knowing the state could provide solutions for Idahoans.

Since announcing his campaign, Stegner and his wife, Laurie, have traveled around Idaho on what he calls a listening tour, talking to the state's residents, wanting to hear directly from them what they want to see from Idaho's leaders.

"One of the things that's become evident is that I don't think the status quo is working for a lot of people, and I don't think without a change in leadership that the status quo will change," Stegner said. "I want a system that listens to people and then acts and doesn't back down when it matters."

He wants to help the state chart a path back to doing the right things for the right reasons, with Idahoans working together on common-sense solutions. Idaho is worth fighting for instead of against each other, Stegner said.

During their tour of Idaho, Stegner said recurring themes have surfaced. Idahoans are concerned about affordability and access to health care, with the state losing a number of physicians in recent years.

"Sandpoint, in particular, is I think, a poster child for that and I want to make Idaho more attractive to physicians," he said. "I think we should be recruiting physicians, as opposed to losing physicians."

Water problems in the state's southern regions need to be addressed and Idaho's leaders must make it clear that its public lands are just that, public.

"Access to public lands is a concern," Stegner said. "We need to be retaining public ownership of public lands, as opposed to selling those public lands off to the billionaires and taking them out of our ability to recreate there."

Stegner said his wife is an equal partner in his run for Idaho's governorship, noting the couple are celebrating their 45th anniversary this summer.

Both Stegner and his wife are graduates of public schools, as are all three of his daughters. He is a staunch supporter of public education and said Idaho's leaders must do more to support its public schools.

"I want to be the education governor, and I want to be pro-public education governor," said Stegner, noting his wife was a longtime public education teacher. "I think public schools are a treasure and a resource, and we have to value that treasure and that resource, or we will lose that … It's terribly important to be able to access free public education and we need to value that resource in no uncertain terms, because it's under assault on many fronts."

Information: stegnerforidaho.com