O'Donnell-Bangeman to seek legislature

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

The former owner of professional Home Health Care, Tish O'Donnell-Bangeman has announced her candidacy for the Idaho Legislature.

She will be seeking representatiave Seat B, currently held by Sher Sellman, who will be challenging Sen. Robbi Barrutia for the senate seat in the May primary. O'Donnell-Bangeman made her first foray into politics ten years ago when she unsuccessfully challenged Barrutia, who at that time was seeking her first term as a state representative.

O'Donnell-Bangeman, a republican, said she decided to run for the legislature "because I got ticked off" over the legislature's revocation of the term limits law. "When you get ticked off, you have to put your money where your mouth is."

"I believe in term limits. I voter for them. Idaho's idea of a part-time legislature is correct. I don't believe it needs to be a business, and it has become one -- a career."

She said that, if elected, her focus would be on health care for the elderly and reform of the education system.

"I've spent so many years dealing with older people. They have so many expenses. Look at power costs. Suddenly, I'm paying double, and I live on only $2,000 a month."

She admitted she wasn't sure what to do about it, "That's what I want to find out. There must be some way to alleviate the problem."

On the issue of education, she said that "teachers wanted a higher budget, and they got one, just not as much as they wanted.

"Education belongs at the local community. School boards should be setting the standards, not the state. If you don't like them, you can vote them out.

"The state shouldn't control teacher salaries, that should be up to the local board. The state isn't paying teacher salaries, you and I are.

"For Idaho, the salaries are adequate, although at the rate Idaho is going, they won't be."

She also said that top administrators in the state education program make too much money, and should be the first to face any cuts.

She added that the state was wasting money "basically, in building a bigger bureaucracy in Boise.

"They've got to cut more (but) you can't cut Health and Welfare -- too many people out there need them."

O'Donnell-Bangeman has three children, one a microbiologist and the other two nurses, and is a grandmother.

She made Idaho her home 16 years ago. The daughter of a career military medical officer and the wife of an Air Force pilot, Mountain Home "seemed like a welcoming place with the added bonus of great fishing and hunting," she said. In the years leading up to her move to Idaho, she showed "an active interest in promoting education, developing the potential of children and adults, and helping the underprivileged," she said.

She has participated in numerous programs including 4-H the Girl Scouts and spent eight years with the California Civil Air Patrol.

While stationed with her first husband in Iran, she taught English to Iranian government employees.

After moving to Mountain Home, she established herself as an active member of the community through her membership in the Federation of the Blind of Idaho, was Elmore County Blood Drive Chairman for the Red Cross for several years, belonged to the National Federation of Small Businesses, and was the owner of Professional Home Health Care where she watched "first hand the decline of health care in Idaho as a result of the Balanced Budget of 1997," which she said put her and many other small health care agencies out of business. Since her business closed, she said, "I've been sitting at home, looking for a job. When they tell you you're overqualified, I guess it means you're too old."

She has also been active in the Republican Party. In 2000, she was recognized by the National RNC as a distinguished Republican Small Business Owner.

In 1996, she participated in the People to People Ambassadorship Program, traveling to Russia and the Czech Republic to meet with and advise on public health care issues which were forced into the private sector, in those countries due to the fall of the Soviet Union.

She is also a Daughter of the American Revolution, Boise Chapter, saying "To me, the DAR exemplifies how we feel about our country. At the opening of each meeting the Preamble to the Constitution is read, which reinforces our dedication to the ideals of our Founding Fathers."

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