Snedden making bid for Idaho Statehouse
March 21, 2014
Sandpoint attorney Stephen Snedden, a third-generation Bonner County resident, is hard on the campaign trail as he seeks election to Seat 1A in the Idaho House of Representatives.

Snedden, a Republican, is running for the seat being vacated by Eric Anderson.

"I grew up here and I want to protect the things that are important," he said, "a clean lake to swim in, a safe place to go to school and a chance to come back here and make a living."

Snedden, 35, was born in St. Maries and grew up near Hope. As a high-schooler, he worked in the family business. In 1995, he was selected by the Sandpoint Rotary Club for a year-long foreign exchange. After his exchange, Stephen graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1997.

He earned Bachelor's Degrees in computer science and political science at Seattle Pacific University in 2002 and hid Juris Doctorate in 2005 at the Pepperdine Univerity School of Law.

Since 2007, Stephen has been a private practice attorney in Sandpoint, where he assists individuals and employees with business, real estate and civil litigation. In his spare time, he skis at Schweitzer Mountain Resort and devotes time to the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail – a mile-long trail along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille. He has three nieces and one nephew.

As representative for Boundary and Bonner Counties in the Statehouse, his focus, he said, will be to grow the economies of both counties and to foster the entrepreneurial spirit that's so strong here.

"My friends are moving away to find jobs that support their families," he said. We have a lot of local businesses that started in garages and grew to be great companies. There is a history of entrepreneurism here. Our own ideas and people can create the best jobs."

One of the hurdles standing in the way of fostering that spirit and building a stronger local economy, he said, is the ever-growing maze of  labyrinthine of rules and regulations that he said stand in the way of people trying to turn great ideas into sound businesses.

"It takes a subject-area expert to navigate nearly any state agency these days," he said. "It really slants the playing field. You have to be hyper-vigilant in order to protect your rights."

Another of his focuses, he said, is education.

"Education can change our course in life," he said. "For the first time, we have a four-year degree out of NIC's Sandpoint campus. I want to make sure that those programs stay funded at the state level so that local residents can work here and get an affordable education at the same time."

To find out more about Stephen Snedden or to learn how you can help support his campaign, call (208) 263-4748, email SneddenForIdaho@gmail.com, or visit his website, www.SneddenForIdaho.org.