Third Quarter 2015 Idaho Business Insider Survey Responders Tackle Politics, Presidential Election

Boise, ID — The Idaho Statesman has published the Q3 2015 Business Insider Survey. Survey respondents - a group of 12 Idaho business leaders - were asked three questions: (1) which one question would you ask the 2016 presidential candidates, (2) which one law would you have Congress change in the year ahead, and (3) which one law would you have the Idaho Legislature change in the year ahead.

The responses are varied but follow some themes familiar from previous surveys, including the need to expand the economy, to better educate Idahoans to prepare them for better-paying jobs and to control deficit spending.

One respondent, Tsheets.com CEO Matt Rissell, said he would ask the candidates: “How are you going to be different?”

“Our education, tax, health care and budget systems (just to start) are broken,” Rissell argued. “They aren’t sustainable, nor are they scalable. Politicians have proven that they don’t know how nor are they willing to make the hard decisions to fix them.”

Watch survey respondents discuss politics and policy:

• Darrel Anderson on the presidency and the economy
• Rob Perez on the need to restrain local government taxation
• Bill Gilbert on distracted state legislators
• Jim Kissler’s question for Jeb Bush
• Andrew Scoggin on developing the workforce

Made possible by financial support from Stoel Rives LLP, the Business Insider survey polls local business owners, CEOs and other business leaders on the economy, business climate and other business issues relevant to Idaho's business community. The first quarterly survey focused on wage growth and the second quarterly survey on immigration reform. The Business Insider and the Idaho Statesman maintain full editorial control of the survey.

The survey draws on the responses of 12 participants: Ken Cortez, Co-owner and Vice President, Metalcraft Inc.; Rob Perez, President, Northwest Bank; Bill Gilbert, Co-Founder & Managing Director, The CAPROCK Group, Inc.; Jim Kissler, CEO, Norco, Inc.; Raino Zoller, President & CEO, pSiFlow Technology; Andrew Scoggin, Executive VP, Human Resources, Labor Relations, Public and Governmental Affairs, Albertsons; Karen Vauk, President & CEO, The Idaho Foodbank; Bob Lokken, CEO, WhiteCloud Analytics; Zelda Geyer-Sylvia, President & CEO, Blue Cross of Idaho; Darrel Anderson, President & CEO, Idaho Power; Karen Meyer, President, Ravenware Consulting; Matt Rissell, CEO, TSheets.