Judge candidates on property rights views

One issue that features prominently in the public debate leading up to the primary election for county offices is protection of private property rights. Several years ago, before I made my escape from New Jersey, that state passed the Highlands Act, which prohibited virtually all development within a huge swathe of the rural northwestern part of the state. Land became almost worthless overnight.

Thousands of ordinary citizens who worked their entire lives acquiring land, hoping to use it to fund their retirement or bequeath it to their heirs, saw their hard-earned wealth evaporate.

Small businesses that had used their land as collateral for lines of credit saw access to capital vanish. Sure, they still “owned” the land, but were prohibited by law from using it for anything other than nature walks.

The ongoing battle that the Sacketts are fighting in Priest Lake is outrageous enough. Imagine something similar happening to every single landowner in Bonner County. That is equivalent to what happened in New Jersey.

Please do not dismiss the vigilance of some of our elected officials as right-wing quackery. I have seen the future of property rights, and it isn’t pretty.

Our county government is the last line of defense against this agenda being pursued by people working in distant capitals.

I am grateful to live in a county whose leaders recognize this threat, and I urge you to keep this in mind as you evaluate the candidates.

MIKE DUNN

Sagle