Brown seeks to cut spending

SANDPOINT — Gene Brown seeks to regain a seat on the Bonner County commission because of government overspending in a dire economic times.

“They spend too much money on superfluous behavior and foolish spending,” Brown said of commissioners’ trips to Boise and the county’s planned migration to a 700-megahertz platform for emergency communications.

Brown is challenging incumbent District 3 Commissioner Lewie Rich and Russ Schenck, a Clark Fork councilman, for the Republican nomination on Tuesday.

The winner of the primary will face Democrat Melissa “Mel” Davis in November’s general election.

Brown, a 69-year-old Samuels resident, served on the board from 1993 to 1995 and said he was not bashful about exposing corruption or shielding taxpayers’ money from suspicious programs.

“I have a talent for spotting fraud,” said Brown, adding that he paid a price for upsetting the apple cart at the courthouse.

Brown said his vintage Studebakers were keyed, his bookstore was repeatedly vandalized and his late wife was the subject of death threats because of his vigilance.

Brown’s said his interest in office was renewed when he saw businesses and residents suffering while county officials spent tax dollars on needless trips to the capital and projects.

“We have enough talent locally to handle most of our problems. I think it’s a waste of money going down there,” said Brown, who believes consultants and state boards simply use commissioners as a conduit to tap local tax dollars.

The county’s juvenile detention dilemma could have been resolved years ago if it had sidestepped costly consultants in favor of knowledgeable locals, said Brown. He also is concerned about reports of landowners being treated with arrogance when they appealed their tax assessments to the commission, which acts as the Board of Equalization.

Brown said he used a boots-on-the-ground approach to resolving BOE issues and would actually visit a property in question to see if it was over or undervalued. Landowners who deserved relief would get it, but those who didn’t wouldn’t.

“I like to think we treated people with respect,” he said. “These people are paying the bills and we’re treating them like that?”