Bee announces candidate endorsements

The Daily Bee today continues our tradition of endorsing local candidates and issues facing citizens on Tuesday’s ballot.

Hopefully by now, most readers poured through Wednesday’s 2012 Voters’ Guide. If not, you can find that information online or stop by the Bee Monday or Tuesday to pick up a copy.

Also, there was a sample ballot in Thursday’s Bee.

Many of the local races were determined in the primaries. The far right wing of the Republican party chose to close their primary and run Tea Party candidates in nearly every race in May.

This curious act of overt voter suppression resulted in two predictable consequences: A record low voter turnout in the Republican primary and the ouster of all of the Tea Party candidates from the local races.

Many people believe that the closed primary may be kaput before the next election cycle lest the political pendulum come swinging back to the center faster than either faction of the GOP would want.

Now to the endorsements:

n Dist. 1 senator

Shawn Keough. No opponent. Defeated Tea Party candidate in primary.

n Dist. 1 representative

Eric Anderson. Anderson’s opponent did not campaign or return our questionnaire. Dem. Andrew Sorg did get his name in the Bee recently for starring in the Off Pine Street play, “The Foreigner.”

This is not a default endorsement by any means, Anderson continues to lead the charge for ethics reform as well as defending our waterways from all sorts of invasive species. He deserves your vote.

n Dist. 7 senator

and representative, Position A and B

This “helicopter district” runs from south of the Pend Oreille River, east through the Silver Valley and drops all the way down just to the south of Cottonwood.

This attempt at gerrymandering was a result of the last census and makes it virtually impossible for a candidate to really represent constitutents.

While we are glad some hearty folks are trying, we are afraid that local voters might shy away from this race because it lacks any name recognition north of the Coeur d’Alene River.

Don’t be fooled. Do your own research.

n Dist. 7 senator

Former Shoshone County Commissioner Jon Cantamessa earns our endorsement. Independent Cantamessa has proven he can work with divergent opinions and that he isn’t beholden to a strict political idealog. His opponent is burdened by this.

Sheryl Nuxoll liked the closed primary. Her first piece of legislation was and will be “implementation of the 10th Amendment, especially against the Affordable Care Act, EPA, MSHA, OSHA,” according to her questionnaire.

Idaho’s leadership in the state House and Senate is going to undergo a shakeup when the session starts. While Idaho won’t become a two-party state anytime soon, it is high time we start electing people who can at least recognize there might be more than one side of an issue.

n Dist. 7 representative, Position A and B.

We don’t have enough information to endorse in either of these races. To our knowledge none of the candidates running in these races have stopped by the Daily Bee or made campaign stops in Bonner County. Remember the helicopter district comment above? Before the districts were changed, we could count on Sen. Joyce Broadsword to help represent us in the northern portion of the extinct District 2. Now it is a flip of an unknown coin in these two races.

n County Commission, District 1

Sen. Joyce Broadsword saw the writing on a long and winding District 7 wall and at the same time recognized that the county commission had degenerated into name calling so she decided to run for county commissioner.

In the primary, she defeated incumbent Cornel Rasor.

On Tuesday, she faces a nice man in Steve Johnson.

We endorse Broadsword because she has proven that she can represent all folks regardless of party affiliation.

Johnson, an independent, would be more than capable of jumping into a county commission seat during normal times. With budget and personnel concerns threatening to make the commission a laughing stock, someone with legislative experience is needed to help guide this county ship through turbulent waters.

n County Commission, District 3

Cary Kelly defeated incumbent Lewis Rich in May’s primary and will probably do so again by a large margin.

We endorse Cary Kelly.

We give Mr. Rich credit for being a better commissioner than many thought. The public always knew where he stood on topics and he seemed to be an approachable commissioner.

Unfortunately for him, he will be seen as the second commissioner to fall because of the debacle withthe remodel of the county courthouse.

A write-in candidacy is a tough way to go and we don’t think there is enough daylight between Lewis and Kelly for folks to re-elect Lewis.

Cary Kelly will do a fine job as commissioner. He has the right demeanor, communication and leadership skills to work with a new commissioner.

He is a Marine and worked with the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office for 18 years. It is obvious he jumps into situations with his eyes open.

n Sheriff

Daryl Wheeler is the obvious choice. While he continues to attract detractors, Wheeler also has moved forward to make Bonner County a safer place.

Wheeler has shown he can balance watching his budget with safety. He has raised the professionalism at the BCSO and has made a good effort at communicating with and involving the public.

Rocky Jordan has been a good sounding board for current and former BCSO employees but isn’t prepared for the rigors of office. In order to defeat an incumbent, a challenger has to show the current system is broken. It isn’t. It is our hope that questions raised by Jordan concerning Search and Rescue cooperation and morale will be addressed by Wheeler.

n Prosecutor

Incumbent Louis Marshall is the best pick of the three lawyers running for prosecuting attorney.

Elected in 2009 — as well as being in the office since 2002 — Marshall represents the county well. He has been endorsed by law enforcement and has benefitted by constituents who say he does a good job.

Marshall is acutely aware that Bonner County has a drug problem. He also has not shied away from cases that might have been better for him and his office to stay away from.

Michael Waldrup and Tevis Hull both have interesting resumes and experiences but when a person weighs all of the evidence, Marshall is the best choice.

n Local option tax

Sandpoint. Yes.

Ponderay. No.

Sandpoint has the classic pay us now or pay us later quagmire. War Memorial Field’s grandstands are close to condemnation. Funds being raised privately right now could fall short before the structure will have to come down.

The Sandpoint City Council would like to have county shoppers and visitors assist Sandpoint residents in helping pay for reconstructing the grandstands by attaching a .5% sales tax on sales in Sandpoint for the next five years. If this fails, in all liklihood, the grandstands will still need saving but the funds will probably have to come out of property taxes from Sandpoint residents only.

Ponderay could gain more revenue than Sandpoint’s .5% tax, but the mayor and council blundered. Instead of allocating the money raised to one needy and worthy cause, see above, they have presented a laundry list of recipients.

This proposal appears to the public (and several councilmembers) to be rushed and ill-conceived. Many businesses are up in arms because they weren’t consulted and see this tax as a detriment to business instead of helping the greater good.

Anytime an entity asks folks to tax themselves they owe it to their constituents to make a good case.

Ponderay didn’t. Sandpoint did.

David Keyes is the publisher of the Bonner County Daily Bee.