Voter Guide: Brad Whipple

Website: bradwhipple4if.com

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Interview Transcript:

Reporter: what inspired you to run for office?

Whipple: Well, I experienced, what local, local governments like when myself and my wife are we under underwent the conditional use permit process to develop our own land. And so I saw how local decisions, can really impact local life as well as the taxpayer. And you know how bad decisions can hurt the landowner as well as, get the taxpayer into lengthy and expensive lawsuits. And so that's when I first started thinking about running for local office. And the one way that sealed the deal was I started researching, local offices. You know, here in Idaho Falls and saw that seat two was open and it was being, you know, multiple seats were had had candidates that I thought were running on policy that was deeply flawed, that would make life harder for the younger generation here in Idaho Falls would make things harder for, anyone that's not a homeowner and decided, you know, I'm not someone that sits by and says, I hope someone does something about this. I think I'm a someone. So I thought, I have to run. I have to run to try and block some of these policies.

Reporter: What would you like to accomplish or changes if elected?

Whipple: So my I think the main thing that's going to be on a lot of voters minds is the growth in housing prices. And so one of the things I want to do is, is keep the spirit of the free market and capitalism alive in Idaho Falls. That's what's going to rescue the high home prices and the high cost of living. And some other things I'd like to change is I'm somewhat critical of, I think, some of the spending that the city is doing. I think that we have some areas that could be trimmed down. I'm a little bit critical of the Parks and Recreation Department. You know, despite Idaho Falls being four times the size of Hammond, we're spending like nine times as much on our parks and rec department is human. And so I'd like to take a pretty critical look at that, that budget and see if there's, there's room to to slim that down as opposed to just raising, you know, taxes year after year. All right.

Reporter: How would you like to go about maintaining and possibly creating a relationship with citizens?

Whipple: So, a couple different ways. One is, you know, have kind of an open door policy. Emails, Facebook messenger. I'm, I'm very quick to respond through any of those methods to, when City council makes a decision. I think it sort of owes the, the taxpayer as well as the voter, an explanation on why they're doing it. And the best place to do that is at the public hearing.

So the Supreme Court has ruled for at least for land use cases, that that's not per functionary. They have to do, clearly outlined why they're making the decision. But I think the best place to do that is, is to explain to the people that matters most. Agree.

Reporter: How are you feeling about your campaign so far?

Whipple: The campaign's been busy. It's been busy, for sure. I feel like it's going pretty good. You know, going to be kind of validating, going to some some of these forums and things and people, you know, agree or appreciate the that I'm running on the the platform I'm running on. I think that, yeah, I think it's, I think it's been going good for great.

Reporter: Anything else you'd like to talk about and bring up or suggest and anything you have?

Whipple: Yeah, I think that the growth is a pain point of Idaho Falls, and it's hard to experience that change. I mean, I drive the same roads. I see the traffic, I experience the traffic, and I see the apartments going up. But I think it's important for people to realize that the city of Idaho Falls is not building any of that. In the city of Idaho Falls doesn't really get a say in what gets built. They get a say in what doesn't get built. And so it's it's developers and landowners and people in the building space that are recognizing a shifting market. I mean, there's this notion that we got to go back to single family homes. And the thing is, we've we've never left the builders. The city has never left building single family homes. The problem is, is that every input has just gotten drastically more experienced, more expensive. And so the price for, you know, by all means a starter home. A couple weeks ago, I checked, and it was, like, $410,000 was the cheapest one I found. The problem is people can't afford that and people can't afford the rent to pay for that. You know, a home like that either. And so at a time when housing is the most expensive, and we have proposed policy that we're going to take out the cheapest form of housing out there, which is going to be the apartments in the townhomes. And with the economic situation the country is faced with right now, I think that it's more important than ever to, to keep those so that you're graduating class of high school. You know, Idaho Falls High School has a place to go, has a path to get into housing to meet those, you know, those life milestones that are, you know, as of the past few decades, have been getting pushed further and further out. You know, this family formation, homeownership, starting a family. And if we pull the rug out from under them, that's going to get kicked out even further.