Sheryl L. Nuxoll (born March 7, 1951) is an American politician from the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
. A
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, Nuxoll was an
Idaho State Senator from 2010-2012 representing District 8 and then District 7 from 2012 until 2016, when she lost her bid for renomination in the
primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
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* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Works
...
.
Early life and career
Nuxoll was born on March 7, 1951, in
Cottonwood, Idaho
Cottonwood is a city in Idaho County, Idaho. On the Camas Prairie in north central Idaho, the population was 900 at the 2010 census, down from 944 in 2000. It is just west of U.S. Route 95, between Grangeville and Lewiston.
Origins
Cottonw ...
.
She worked as a bookkeeper for her father's business, Hoene Implement, located in Cottonwood,
Grangeville, and
Pierce. She received a bachelor's degree in business from
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the ...
in 1973.
in 1973.
Nuxoll has worked as a part-time high school teacher since 2008; she has also worked as a bookkeeper.
According to her official legislative biography, Nuxoll held a
CPA license until 1988.
From 2008 to 2012, Nuxoll was a member of the
Idaho County Republican Central Committee.
Political career
Idaho Senate District 7
Redistricted to new Senate District 7, Nuxoll won the May 2012 Republican primary with 4,084 votes (73.2%).
In the November 2012 general election, Nuxoll won 11,583 votes (64.0%), defeating independent candidate Jon Cantamessa, who received 6,522 votes (36.0%).
In the May 2016 Republican primary election, Nuxoll lost the party nomination to rancher
Carl G. Crabtree.
[George Prentice]
Idaho Primary: The Far-Right Wing of the Idaho GOP Has a Rough Night
''Boise Weekly'' (May 18, 2016).[Betsy Z. Russell]
Primary takes out three N. Idaho lawmakers, independent campaign may have backfired
'' Spokesman-Review'' (May 18, 2016). Nuxoll received 2,383 votes (48.9%) to Crabtree's 2,494 votes (51.1%).
Idaho Senate District 8
Nuxoll won the Republican primary with 56.9% of the vote against Leland G. "Lee" Heinrich.
She won the November 2010 general election with 10,051 votes (69.9%), defeating
Democratic candidate Leta Strauss.
Idaho Senate
Nuxoll was a vice chair of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee and a member of the Finance Committee and Resources & Environment Committee.
Controversies
In 2012, Nuxoll spent $890 in taxpayer funds to mail an end-of-session brochure to Republican voters only. The mailing, which promoted her activities in office and thanked her supporters, was sent to both the district she represented (Senate District 8), and the district in which she was running for re-election (Senate District 7). State legislators are permitted to send out such
taxpayer-funded mailings for informational purposes but not for political campaigning. After the mailing came to public attention, Nuxoll reimbursed the state for the cost.
In November 2012, after Republican presidential nominee
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...
lost the
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The p ...
to
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
, Nuxoll called upon states that supported Romney "to refuse to participate in the
Electoral College" in an bid to reverse the election result and have Romney become president. The notion, which originated in a blog post by
Tea Party Nation
Tea Party Nation is a conservative American group considered part of the Tea Party movement. Their official website describes them as "group of like-minded people who desire our God given Individual Freedoms which were written out by the Found ...
founder Judson Phillips, was viewed as highly unlikely.
[Betsy Z. Russell]
Eye on Boise: Lawmaker shares far-fetched idea to elect Romney
''Spokesman-Review'' (November 25, 2012). Constitutional scholar David Adler of
Boise State University
Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding ...
said that the idea was "really a strange and bizarre fantasy" and was based on a misreading of the
Twelfth Amendment.
Nuxoll dismissed the criticism, accused Obama of "depriving us of our freedoms by all the agencies," and stated "what I'm thinking is the states are going to have to stand up for our individual rights and for our collective rights."
In January 2013, Nuxoll, sent a mass email and
Tweet comparing the
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
to the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
and likening
health insurers' participation in state
health insurance marketplace
In the United States, health insurance marketplaces, also called health exchanges, are organizations in each state through which people can purchase health insurance. People can purchase health insurance that complies with the Patient Protectio ...
s to "the Jews boarding the
trains
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...
to concentration camps."
[Betsy Z. Russell]
Idaho senator compares health exchange to Holocaust
''Spokesman-Review'' (January 30, 2013). The
Anti-Defamation League criticized Nuxoll's remarks. Nuxoll defended her remarks, asserting that the legislation was "replacing capitalism with socialism."
[Ben Ysursa]
Sheryl Nuxoll, Idaho GOP State Senator, Compares Health Care To The Holocaust
''Huffington Post'' (January 31, 2013).
In March 2015, Nuxoll became embroiled in controversy after she stated that
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
was "a false faith with false gods" and, along with fellow state senators
Steve Vick
Steve Vick (born May 23, 1956) is an American politician serving as a member of the Idaho Senate
The Idaho Senate is the upper chamber of the Idaho State Legislature. It consists of 35 Senators elected to two-year terms, each representing a d ...
and
Lori Den Hartog
Lori Den Hartog () is an American politician serving as a member of the Idaho Senate from the 22nd district. She assumed office on December 1, 2014.
Early life and education
Den Hartog was born in Escondido, California and graduated from Nampa ...
, refused to attend a session of the legislature that commenced with a Hindu invocation prayer given by Hindu cleric
Rajan Zed
The Rajan Zed prayer protest were events surrounding the first official offering of a Hindu prayer at the United States Senate.
On July 12, 2007, Rajan Zed, a Hindu cleric and a noted leader in Interfaith Relations from the Indian Association of N ...
. Despite calls for her to apologize from a wide variety of religious leaders, Nuxoll stood by her remarks.
In 2015, Nuxoll led an effort to kill
child support
Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...
legislation to amend Idaho law to comply with federal law and the
Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance. Nuxoll claimed, inaccurately, that the measure would force Idaho to recognize
Sharia law.
[Katie Zavadski]
GOP to GOP: 'Sharia Law' Fearmongering Helping Deadbeat Dads
''The Daily Beast'' (April 15, 2015).[Kimberlee Kruesi]
Associated Press (April 13, 2015). The push against the legislation by Nuxoll and others sharply divided Republican state legislators in Idaho.
State Representative
Luke Malek
Luke Malek is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives for the 4A district from 2012 to 2018.
Early life and education
Malek was raised in the Idaho Panhandle region. He earned a Bachelor ...
of
Coeur d'Alene, for example, was critical of Nuxoll and her allies, called their maneuvers "heavy-handed opportunistic theatrics at the expense of single-parents and children."
Nuxoll and the eight other state legislators that sought to block the bill were also criticized by ''Spokesman-Review'' columnist Shawn Vestal, who wrote that the effort was a "paranoid, conspiracy-minded action" by
far-right legislators in response to an "imaginary crisis." The initial defeat of the legislation forced Governor
Butch Otter
Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and reelected in 2010, and 2014. Otter ...
to call a
special session
In a legislature, a special session (also extraordinary session) is a period when the body convenes outside of the normal legislative session. This most frequently occurs in order to complete unfinished tasks for the year (often delayed by confli ...
of the legislature to pass the bill; during the special session, Nuxoll was one of only two senators to vote against the legislation.
In 2016, Nuxoll sponsored SB 1342, a bill to establish the
Christian Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
as an official state text in schools.
['Bible Bill is constitutionally sound': Veto reactions: Sen. Nuxoll, ACLU of Idaho](_blank)
''Idaho County Free Press'' (April 12, 2016). Nuxoll's bill stated that the Bible was a good reference book for students learning "astronomy, biology, geology" and other subjects. The bill was strongly criticized by the
ACLU of Idaho.
The bill was vetoed by Governor Otter—one of the very few times that Otter has used his veto power. The governor noted in his veto message that the
state attorney general
The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gener ...
had concluded that Nuxoll's bill would violate the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...
, and stated that the bill was in "direct contravention" of a
state constitutional provision barring the state from preferring "any religious establishment or mode of worship."
The governor also stated that Nuxoll's bill would could lead to "costly litigation for Idaho public schools."
In 2012, Nuxoll sponsored legislation to force women to undergo an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion; the measure was unsuccessful. In 2016, Nuxoll sponsored different
anti-abortion legislation to require abortion providers to give patients a list of places where they can receive a free ultrasound; these locations are controversial anti-abortion
crisis pregnancy centers, which are not required to have medically trained staff and give inaccurate information about the health effects of abortions. The legislation passed the Senate on a 28-7 party-line vote and was signed into law by Governor Butch Otter.
Personal life
Nuxoll is married to her husband Felix and has six children.
Nuxoll is a first cousin of retired basketball player and
NBA Hall-of-Famer John Stockton
John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the greatest point guards, players and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, a ...
.
[Dan Popkey]
Go Zags! Capitol's small cadre of Gonzaga fans celebrate No. 1 ranking
''Idaho Statesman'' (March 4, 2013).
References
External links
Campaign Website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuxoll, Sheryl
1951 births
Living people
Gonzaga University alumni
Republican Party Idaho state senators
People from Cottonwood, Idaho
Women state legislators in Idaho
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians