|
| Affiliation | Republican |
|
| Name | Lydia Justice-Edwards |
| Address |
, Idaho , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
July 09, 1937
(87 years)
|
| Contributor | JR725 |
| Last Modifed | JR725
Dec 26, 2003 01:42pm |
| Tags |
|
| Info | In 1986 Lydia Justice Edwards lept from state Representative to statewide office, a Republican taking the place of a 24-year Democratic veteran, Marjorie Ruth Moon. She said she would not want to stay Treasurer so long, and a run for governor or Congress seemed in the offing. The right opening never came, and she was frustrated too in smaller ambitious (such as a seat for the Treasurer on the state Land Board). In 1997, when she announced that she would not run for re-election and instead planned to retire to Kentucky, where she grew up, there was no massive shock.
Certainly, her interests ran wider than her narrowly-defined job of earning investment and interest income on Idaho state moneys. By most accounts, she did that job well enough; Edwards has looked for new ways to more profitably invest money. She expanded a role for the office Moon started: joint investment of state and local money, which can yield higher returns.
She has not always been a favorite at the Legislature, however, and she has responded in kind. When the Idaho Farm Bureau moved against her 1993 proposal concerning the way the Department of Fish and Game collects hunting fees, she told the Twin Falls Times News, "I am declaring war on lobbyists. Not all of them, just some of them."
A Kentucky native, she lived in San Francisco until marriage brought her to Donnelly. She became involved in Republican politics and had a mentor in former Republican Gov. Robert Smylie. In four years in the House she became known as a leading moderate voice.
In 1986 she opted instead into what became a crowded race for state Treasurer. On the Republican side were Edwards, who announced in March 1986, and Bobbie Chapman, wife of then-state Sen. Gary Chapman, R-Boise, a former senior deputy state treasurer with extensive experience in Idaho banking. On the Democratic were Kent Rock, Boise city treasurer, and Shawn de Loyola, then a senior deputy in the treasurer's office. The general highlighted Edwards' skill campaigning in rural areas; she won decisively if not overwhelmingly.
In 1990, Moon decided she wanted her old job back, and announced against Edwards; both wound up saying the other had done an inadequate job as treasurer. But early in the campaign Moon suffered a ruptured aorta, and thereafter seldom left her hospital or home. Her name was still potent enough to draw substantial votes, but Edwards won convincingly with 56.4% of the vote. In 1994, Justice-Edwards was essentially unopposed (she faced only a small-scale write-in opponent).
Edwards likely would not have had trouble in 1998 either, but she announced her retirement early in 1997.
|
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| Start Date |
End Date |
Type |
Title |
Contributor |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
