Main Street Idaho Podcast Episode 8: Representative Jon Weber
“Finding the common ground and working together is the beauty of politics.”
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Follow Along With The Transcript
Brennan Summers (00:00):
Welcome to Main Street Podcast, an opportunity to talk to I Idaho's elected leaders about the issues that matter to you. So we are here today with Representative John Weber out of district 34. So that's Madison County, correct? That's
Representative Jon Weber (00:16):
Correct,
Brennan Summers (00:17):
Yes. Right. So we had your seat mate, Britt Ray Bull on. Excellent. And she told us all things farm and water, so we really got into the
Representative Jon Weber (00:24):
Details. Yes. She'd be the one to ask.
Brennan Summers (00:26):
Right, right. So this is your second term, so you've been elected twice now.
Representative Jon Weber (00:32):
That's correct,
Brennan Summers (00:32):
Yes. Third legislative session.
Representative Jon Weber (00:34):
Yes.
Brennan Summers (00:35):
How's it going?
Representative Jon Weber (00:36):
Excellent. We've got great representatives across the state. We may not always see eye to eye. We might have different opinions and ideas, but overall great people and we work hard for Idaho.
Brennan Summers (00:52):
So we're going to cover a lot of different topics today. We're going to be all over the board, but we kind of need to start with is it what you thought it would be joining the legislature?
Representative Jon Weber (01:01):
Somewhat. As you know, I've served in local government as a county commissioner for 12 years in Madison County, and so I had that flavor of local government and serving locally state is a little bit different, a little bit, well not a little bit, but a lot broader in terms of policy and things that go on throughout the state and how it impacts all of us, particularly locally, but overall great experience and good things happening.
Brennan Summers (01:33):
Yeah. You mentioned you were a county commissioner that helps give the listeners kind of an idea of how you ended up here, but let's go back a little bit further. Born and raised in Michigan, right south of Detroit?
Representative Jon Weber (01:43):
That's correct.
Brennan Summers (01:44):
Okay. What was that like?
Representative Jon Weber (01:46):
When I say south of Detroit, we were about 40 miles south of Detroit, so it does get a little bit more rural area. In fact, similar to Idaho in a lot of ways when it comes to, we grow a lot of potatoes in Michigan, really, which is a fun fact that most people don't realize. But great fond memories of growing up. My buddies and I did spend a lot of time in the city and so we have unique experiences there, but so much fun and things to his fond memories and
Brennan Summers (02:25):
Then left Michigan to come. Was it Rick's college that you ended up to?
Representative Jon Weber (02:30):
Yeah, I served mission for church in St. Louis, Missouri. And after the mission I attended Rick's College and my wife is from Rexburg, Heather, and we met at Rick's the old story of so many people and we attended Utah State University, then back to Rexburg to run a small business. We ran that small business for 30 years and sold it to my oldest son. Still in the family, still connected and great things. But yeah,
Brennan Summers (03:03):
From there. What kind of prompted you to say, look, maybe I'm going to run for county commission? I mean that's got to be one of the more controversial positions in an area. They deal with a lot of really kind of tough issues. What prompted that?
Representative Jon Weber (03:19):
So as a small business owner and being active in the community, chamber of commerce sat with different city projects and different things became very involved in the community and when the opportunity came to run, there were some folks that said, John, you really need to consider this. And really honestly hadn't crossed my mind until that time. And then I thought I am interested becoming more involved. And so I ran and was obviously elected, had a great experience for 12 years, did a lot of great and accomplish some amazing projects in the county.
Brennan Summers (04:07):
What things looking back are you most proud that you did while in the commission?
Representative Jon Weber (04:12):
I think working with Road and Bridge and the transportation, our transportation plan and moving that forward as a very fast growing community, it's important that we keep up with infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges and moving people more efficiently and safely around our community would be a standout.
Brennan Summers (04:36):
And people think Madison County, and I think based on who you ask, the image day SS can be very different. So for some it's the potato farms up on the banks, right? For others it's the university, a massive university. It has big influx of students coming and going. How did you manage such a diverse population there in terms of what everyone was doing in Madison County, and I mean Madison County's not just Rexburg either that you're handling right, got sugar, you're going all over the place. What was your approach there in the commission?
Representative Jon Weber (05:09):
The approach is we need everyone. We need the university that defines us in so many ways. As a community, we need and recognize the importance of our ag community, our families in agriculture, we need them. And so when you look at the broader picture and put everything together, it makes an amazing dynamic and it's a beautiful puzzle. As they say, all the pieces fit together, not always nicely, but they fit together and define who we are as a community.
Brennan Summers (05:49):
So after over a decade of dealing with opinionated constituents and complicated policy, you decided I'm going to end up going to Boise and dealing with this even more.
Representative Jon Weber (06:01):
Well, as you know, there's a shift when Senator Hill retired from the Senate and that left an open seat and then there was a shift from then Representative Ricks, now Senator Ricks to fill that seat and left an open seat again. Folks approached and says, consider running. And so it really wasn't on the radar at the time, but again, after a long weekend of visiting with family and friends and thinking it over says, yeah, I'm interested and again, decided to run.
Brennan Summers (06:40):
No, that's fantastic. Was the campaign as stressful as you thought it might be? What was it like actually, because you've had a couple primary races now and they've both been pretty hard fought and close in the result. And what have you learned from those
Representative Jon Weber (06:58):
Campaignings? Interesting. You meet a lot of amazing people out on the campaign trail and they want to be heard and you listen to their concerns. But it gets stressful. There's no doubt. I mean, when you're in public life, you put yourself out there, you put your family out there for full spotlight scrutiny of every detail of your life, if you will. And that can be stressful in a lot of ways. You take as an individual and as a person, as a candidate, you take some hits that can hurt once in a while, but there's so much good out there that far outweighs the bad. And so it keeps you motivated, keeps you coming back.
Brennan Summers (07:54):
Imagine it helps when you have people coming to encouraging you to run for this and for those that don't know you, there's a lot of people that are big supporters of you. There's a lot of people that are just big fans. You're not necessarily the type that has to say, I think I want to run for this. Like you've mentioned twice now, people will come to you and say, Hey, you're a good guy. They've seen the way you've run your business and they've seen the way you've run the county and they've been pretty impressed. So is pretty helpful to have such a good group of supporters in the county?
Representative Jon Weber (08:21):
Oh, absolutely. And everyone loves a fan club. Everyone loves to have their name out there in a positive way. And so yeah, it's important that you build that base and it's far and wide and you run it in all circles. And I really, really try hard to treat all people the same respect. You respect their opinions even if you disagree with them, but you find common ground. And that's the beauty about politics is finding that common ground and working with them.
Brennan Summers (09:10):
This is Main Street, Idaho, the podcast, the caucus. It's a group of legislators who've come together to support Main Street ideas. You're kind of embody that in the fact that your business was literally on Main Street in Rexburg, right?
Representative Jon Weber (09:24):
Over 30 years.
Brennan Summers (09:25):
So let's walk through that and what, running a small business for 30 years, how has that helped you? And when it comes to being in the capitol and voting and building legislation,
Representative Jon Weber (09:39):
It's going to sound like I'm beating a drum here, but it is so true. Everything we do in life is about people. When I'm running a small business, it's about customers. It's about customer service and how you not only entice 'em or get 'em into your store and sell 'em a good or service goods and services, but it's how you treat them and get them to come back. Heather and I would always say if we only served our customer one time, we wouldn't be in business very long. And so it's to keep that and build that relationship of keeping them coming back. So whether it's business, whether you're in education, whether you're in healthcare, politics, it is all about the individual, the person, and building that relationship of trust.
Brennan Summers (10:35):
So maybe give us some examples of how in Boise you do that.
Representative Jon Weber (10:41):
The first is you have to reach out. Some folks aren't going to reach out to you. You've got to reach out to them and generally build that relationship step by step. It's sometimes it is, you've got to keep it obviously on a professional level, but as you build that relationships, it starts going more personal now, Hey, how's your wife and your kids doing? And you start learning more about them as an individual. So open yourself up, open your mouth, start talking and getting to know people.
Brennan Summers (11:24):
Sure, sure. That's great advice that really anyone can take down. We've finished up what is now your third legislative session. You had a very successful session. I mean, I guess I shouldn't say that. How do you feel about the session?
Representative Jon Weber (11:36):
I think the session was amazing. Whenever we can give literally hundreds of millions of dollars back to the taxpayer, that's a win. Whenever we can make major investments in infrastructure, in education, in healthcare, that's a win for all of Idaho.
Brennan Summers (11:59):
As a county commissioner, roads and Bridges was always kind of a big pain point of something that always needed fixed, but there wasn't always the money for it. You came out of this legislative session pretty proud of what the state was doing and roads and bridges. Why don't you talk us through that a little bit?
Representative Jon Weber (12:11):
Yeah, over $200 million investment made in roads and bridges, and again, from local issues to regional, the state, our transportation plan needs to continue to be updated and improved and worked on and that's not going away. That is something that will need to be for a very long time. Yeah.
Brennan Summers (12:45):
So you talk, property tax relief was a big one that you were able to support. We rode some bridges, a lot of good stuff came out of this last session. But you had a bill that actually you authored and worked with a few others on that involved a public defender's office. Is that right?
Representative Jon Weber (13:00):
Yeah. We have a constitutional duty to provide an attorney when one can't afford an attorney. And so it's called public defense and a public defender throughout our state. And in the past, the state has always deferred or given that responsibility to this and relied on local government counties in particular. And it's very expensive and the bigger metropolitan areas do a great job in public defense, but then you start thinking the more rural areas and they do the best they can, but it's challenging. It's very expensive. And you think of some of the challenges with the cases in Madison County that we just went through the case up in north Idaho with the University of Idaho students, and as sad as that is, we as a state, we weren't keeping up with the standard that we needed to keep up with when it comes to public defense. And so the last two sessions, we worked hard House Bill 7 35 last two sessions ago was to move and reach the funding mechanism back to the state, which by the way, relieves property tax burden from local government, puts it back on the state. I think that bill was roughly $36 million somewhere in there.
(14:56):
So this last session we worked on house bill 2 36, which restructured public defense back to the state and created an office. The state public defender. It is not growing government, it is a new office, but it's replacing the Public Defense Commission, which currently is in place. There were some concern throughout the state and the locals local public defenders with some of the way it was currently being run. But anyway, it needed to be tweaked a little bit. And so this is what we came up with, help of public defenders throughout the state. The governor's office had overwhelming support in the House and the Senate and is now state law.
Brennan Summers (15:51):
So in essence, you're able to provide a higher quality public defense and you're able to relieve the counties and cities of, they're not going to lose all their budgets in this process by shifting the burden to the state. For those that might be thinking, why would we want to give murderers better quality defense? Maybe walk us through, even with some of the cases we've seen in your county, Madison County, why we actually do want to give them better quality public defense.
Representative Jon Weber (16:23):
Well, yeah, that's frustration. I understand. But it's our constitutional duty and that's the bottom line. And if we are firm believers in our constitution, then we will provide representation when one can't afford it.
Brennan Summers (16:40):
And I imagine it actually ends up being cheaper in the long run because if you have bad representation, not only are there endless appeals that people can actually get off because of poor council. Right.
Representative Jon Weber (16:52):
There's always that possibility. Yes.
Brennan Summers (16:54):
So that bill passed the house, passed the Senate and the governor signed it,
Representative Jon Weber (16:58):
Right? That's correct.
Brennan Summers (17:00):
That's got to feel good.
Representative Jon Weber (17:02):
It feels good. And there's a lot of work to be done as we transition from our current model to our new public defense model.
Brennan Summers (17:15):
But this was kind of grassroots. You didn't wake up one morning and think this was on you, so this was fed to you through a lot of different people who were saying, there's a problem here.
Representative Jon Weber (17:24):
And it started Brendan back when I was a county commissioner. Oh really? We as counties looked at this and said, this burden of public defense is killing us. It's expensive. There's challenges out there providing the adequate representation, and now you've got federal folks looking at us saying Idaho needs to step it up and provide a better public defense for these people as your constitution. Not only the state, but the federal constitution demands. And so we had to do something.
Brennan Summers (18:04):
Yeah, it sounds like a common sense solution to it.
Representative Jon Weber (18:07):
Absolutely.
Brennan Summers (18:08):
Yeah. So that's the box checked last session as you look to, okay. It won't be long before it's snowing here. It won't be long before the session is speaking up on us again. What's on your to-do list for the new session?
Representative Jon Weber (18:21):
Oh, well, it is an election year and I think we will be focusing still on property tax relief.
Brennan Summers (18:31):
So let me stop you there, because some people, legislators are really good about pointing out, well, it's an election year. Why is an election year different in the legislative session than a non-election
Representative Jon Weber (18:42):
Year? Well, every two years, all of us are up for election. We're accountable to the people. We want to get home to the people and really get out and start visiting more than we currently do because we want to be with the folks and hear what's on their mind. So yeah, we point out that a selection year mainly for that reason, get home and be with the people
Brennan Summers (19:11):
And be a little more effective and get done pressing issues. Right, right. So what are the big pressing issues that you want to take care of this session?
Representative Jon Weber (19:20):
This session? Well, I mentioned homeowners association.
Brennan Summers (19:24):
Okay, walk us through
Representative Jon Weber (19:24):
That. So currently HOAs Homeowners Association, it's crazy to think that Idaho's become and growing so fast in these developments that most people live in association. And as we go through some of these growing pains, there's some issues that need to be addressed. For example, we have some developers in the state that remain in full control of a homeowner association even after they sell all of the lots. And some of these developers don't even live in Idaho, which is a concern. So what we're proposing is when X amount of lots sell, the developer turns that power over to the homeowners, they reorganize and manage themselves.
(20:22):
If there's contracts entered into between the developer and other folks, those contracts will be null and void after 30 days, whatever that may be, that number, and go back to the homeowners so they can renegotiate or control those contracts. There's an issue over in Teton County where most of the lot owners don't even live in Idaho and they gave their proxy vote to one person, the president of the H O A. So one person controls that whole association through proxy votes. That's a concern. So there's things like that as we get in and as we open this up and people are hearing more about HOAs, we're like, yeah, there's a concern there. We should all be concerned. So our approach is really restoring personal property rights to the homeowner. And that's what we are about Idaho, about good Republicans is personal property rights. So as we move forward, we'll be addressing some of those issues.
Brennan Summers (21:38):
I know there's a lot of people who they hear HOAs and they cringe. A lot of people had bad experiences with them. And so empowering the actual homeowners in the association to be able to make decisions, I think that's probably a good thing. Another thing, another example of information coming to you. Problems that people are experiencing that they're able to bring to their elected leaders. It seems that District 34 is very available to their constituents Now, Madison County is a unique community, close, good kind. People for the most part care about things like education and they care about low taxes. But you and Senator, Ricks representative Rold have really made yourself available to your constituents.
Representative Jon Weber (22:20):
And we do that on purpose. My cell phone number is on the contact list when you look at the registry for the Idaho legislature. And I do that on purpose. I want people to contact me and talk to me, and I make a personal effort, a concerted effort to reach back personally. And I know Representative Rabel does and so does Senator Ricks, we're going to church with these folks. We're going to school functions. We see him at the grocery store. We live in a relatively small community. In comparison, it's fastly growing, but we're still, we know who put us in office and we want to be available.
Brennan Summers (23:14):
And sometimes people see the title representative and it kind of creates this power distance. But anyone who's rubbed shoulders, he knows how warm and welcoming you are. So for those that don't have a chance to associate with you every day, we want to make sure they get a chance to know really who you are. So wife is Heather. She's lovely. We got to give her a shout out. She just got an award from the Chamber of Commerce for Women in Business Leadership. That's right. That's right. You've got a son now running the business,
Representative Jon Weber (23:41):
Jc.
Brennan Summers (23:42):
Yes, that's right. How many grandkids do you have
Representative Jon Weber (23:44):
Right now? Seven grandkids.
Brennan Summers (23:46):
Seven grandkids. And so we shouted out jc, I guess we better who are the other kids?
Representative Jon Weber (23:49):
Okay. Jcs our oldest. Yep. JC and Kaylee. They have four kids. And Brittany and Andrew, they have three. Brittany's our only daughter and amazing. And then we have Chase. Chase lives out in New York City and living his best life. And Preston and Parker are both married. Preston is married to Madison, great name. And Briley and Parker are married. And they're both, they're twin boys going to Utah State.
Brennan Summers (24:24):
Go Aggies.
Representative Jon Weber (24:25):
Go Aggies. Yeah.
Brennan Summers (24:26):
Love that. So when you're not chasing down H O A issues or solving public defender problems, what does John do in his spare time? What does he do when he finally has a bit of free time?
Representative Jon Weber (24:37):
Wow, great question. I spend a lot of time in the yard. Do you? I love doing pristine yard. I do love doing yard work. In fact, I get teased quite often that I mow the lawn way too much or too often. But I do like outdoor work. I spend a lot of time, Heather and I enjoy bike riding. We enjoy our e-bikes. We're to that age where it's softer on our knees, but it's just game changer when it comes to riding bikes. And we spend a lot of time with family doing family activity things. So
Brennan Summers (25:20):
A question we always have to ask when people come in, in your district, if you had to pick one place, I know it's hard and it's very unfair, especially because you're on Main Street with a lot of good businesses with one place to eat. Where's the one place in your district to
Representative Jon Weber (25:34):
Eat? Yeah, we have a lot of great places to eat. In fact, because we're college town, we kind of get rubbed a little bit about all the fast food. But there are still some great places. The Red Rabbit, great place to eat and there's a Thai restaurant. Heather and I really enjoy kind of out of the way hole in the wall if you will, type place. They're quiet, they're just quaint. In fact, there's a new place, I shouldn't say new. They were open and ran into some issues there. But the reopening and it's called Soup for You. Soup
Brennan Summers (26:19):
For You.
Representative Jon Weber (26:20):
Okay. It used to be Soup for You. I think they changed the name to, they just changed it. So anyway, it's on College Avenue.
Brennan Summers (26:30):
It's a wet, rainy day in Rexburg, so it'd be a perfect day
Representative Jon Weber (26:32):
For soup. Yeah, winter's coming. I mean great soup, warm the soul.
Brennan Summers (26:37):
One book you'd recommend everybody should read.
Representative Jon Weber (26:40):
I've been into Team of Rivals with a Lincoln. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln. That's a great, and what a great lesson for heaven's sakes. If you got people that are your rivals, bring them in close, use them. They're smart people.
Brennan Summers (26:57):
And you have a few of those. You have a few rivals in Madison County that it might not fall as presidents of the fan club, but you find opportunities to give feedback from
Representative Jon Weber (27:06):
'em, reach out to 'em, be nice to 'em and bring them in and see what they have.
Brennan Summers (27:10):
But we need to finish today talking about your personal motto. So it's a motto that still hangs in your office. It's work
Representative Jon Weber (27:18):
Hard, be nice,
Brennan Summers (27:18):
Work hard and be nice. First off, where'd you find this model? How did that come to be?
Representative Jon Weber (27:23):
It's interesting because it really stems back to Heather because she'd always say be nice and I'd say work hard to our kids or around. And we we're thrifts. We like to go to thrift and just nose around. We find some amazing deals and we're in Boise and we're looking for some things for the office. And I see this big sign and it's beautifully done and I work hard and be nice. I said, honey, that's what I need and we need to put that in the office. And so we bought it and it's been there since day one. People come in, they love it. And it's a great mantra of just saying, folks, we can have our disagreements, but be nice about it. Be respectful.
Brennan Summers (28:19):
And I know sometimes it feels like Hatfields and McCoys over there and sometimes it's Republicans versus Democrats. Sometimes it's a little further conservatives versus a little more moderate conservatives. And you've always kind of come out on top of refusing to really get into these punching matches.
Representative Jon Weber (28:34):
Yeah, I'm not, it is not that I don't care. Obviously I care. I'm concerned about it, but I'm not going to go to the mat with some folks and punch each other out over some disagreement in the long run. Guaranteed it will work its way out. So I
Brennan Summers (28:56):
Imagine there are many times you get to look at that sign while in Boise that you may not want to be nice and you might be exhausted and not want to go to another meeting. And that signs a good reminder to keep pushing.
Representative Jon Weber (29:06):
Great reminder
Brennan Summers (29:07):
So that everybody work hard and be nice. That's right. As we wrap up, any last thoughts you'd like to share with those who are listening of things that are important to you or things that are coming down the pipe?
Representative Jon Weber (29:18):
Brian, I say stay positive. There's so many crazy things going on in the world right now and it's easy for us to be divided in so many ways, but it's important that we remain hopeful. We live in a great state. There are so many people looking at Idaho, other states looking at Idaho and just wonder, how are you guys doing it? Well, we're fiscally conservative. We have a balanced budget. We give as much as we can give back to the taxpayer while maintaining unprecedented growth. So there's so much good out there to remain hopeful. Things are great. Things are good.
Brennan Summers (30:04):
Well, we've jumped from a start in Michigan. We've covered issues with public defender's office and HOAs. We've learned about you and your family and your personal motto. We appreciate you, really appreciate taking the time to the voters, to the constituents of District 34. They can find you on social media. You've got a Facebook, they can find your cell phone number online
Representative Jon Weber (30:24):
As well. Find my cell phone, they can find me around town. And always welcome folks to sit and chat
Brennan Summers (30:34):
And you hold regular town hall meetings during the session. We do. And they can come and bring their questions and prompts to you. Right. Fantastic. Representative Weber, we really appreciate you being here and we'll have you back. All right.
Representative Jon Weber (30:46):
Excellent. Thanks Brandon.
Brennan Summers (30:47):
Appreciate, appreciate.
