by BILL BULEY
Staff Writer | December 20, 2021 1:06 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — Dorothy Moon answers quickly when asked about key issues and why she is seeking the Republican nomination for Idaho Secretary of State.
“Election integrity,” she said during a recent stop at The Press. “And that was brought up, definitely after the presidential election. And as a state representative I had a lot of phone calls from my constituents, emails, personal interaction, about the concerns about elections in general.”
“Number one issue, election integrity,” she said.
Moon is in her third term as state representative of District 8B, which includes Lemhi, Custer, Boise, Gem and Valley counties.
Current Secretary of State Lawerence Denney is not seeking re-election.
District 4 Sen. Mary Souza, who won her fourth consecutive term in November 2020, is also seeking the Republican nomination for Idaho Secretary of State.
The 63-year-old Moon said she is a “proven conservative.” She lives in her home up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River east of Stanley with her husband Darr, a professional engineer, land surveyor and geologist.
She has served as president of Moon & Associates Inc., a civil engineering and land surveying business, for 27 years.
She cites her legislative work, education career, business acumen and life experiences as reasons she would do well as Secretary of State.
Moon said another key responsibility of the Secretary of State is serving on the State Land Board. She said federal land mismanagement is hurting Idaho’s economy.
“Idaho needs a leader who is willing to stand up to the Feds and demand an end to smoke-filled summers and idled natural resource jobs,” her website states.
The former high school science teacher said she has a master’s degree in resource planning and her district is 16,000 square miles of federal forests and mining and ranching.
She said she understands the importance of the endowment lands and getting the highest return for Idaho’s schools. Idaho has about 2.5 million acres of endowment land.
In 2020, the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Endowment Fund Investment Board provided Idaho public schools with more than $52.5 million from the trust, according to Idaho Forest Products.
The money comes from timber sales and leases on endowment lands and earnings from invested funds.
“I think I bring the experience of having been in the Legislature, it will be six years when I leave, and I will continue to represent my people until November,” she said. “I think I bring the experience to the endowments of being an educator and understanding that our endowment land should be economically viable and produce the greatest outcome to support our schools.”
But she repeated that “the number one charge of a Secretary of State is to guarantee uniformity in our elections. And I haven’t seen that.”
She said she’ll continue to address the issue of voter identification and believes people should show ID when turning out to cast their ballot.
“We just need to make sure people have confidence in our election system,” she said.
Her lifestyle is pretty simple, she said.
“I’m very frugal. I don’t live in a big fancy home. I live in a log cabin, I light a wood stove every morning, I put on my coffee pot and perc my coffee,” she said.
“I breathe good air unless there’s a fire. I drink water right off the snow melt from Mount Estes, and I work hard.”
A hobby for Moon is panning for gold. She and her husband have a small mining operation.
“We actually live on one of the last patented mining claims in the continental United States,” she said.
Moon is known for her high energy level, which she attributes to healthy living and being in Idaho’s outdoors.
“In fact, everybody says everywhere I go, ‘Where does she get the energy?’ And I do drink a lot of coffee,” she said.
Moon is confident that the support she received as representative of District 8B will continue if she’s elected Secretary of State.
“My folks, they turn out for me. They know I work hard for them,” she said.
The Republican primary election is May 17, 2022.
