Bailey takes office as newest commissioner

SANDPOINT — A surprise addition to Bonner County’s management team was welcomed into office on Monday.

Glen Bailey took his oath of office as District 1 county commissioner as his family, friends and other elected officials looked on.

Bailey, a 1st District Court bailiff with an extensive military background, was appointed commissioner on Friday, after making a short list of candidates selected by officials from the county’s Republican Central Committee.

He will complete the two-year term Joyce Broadsword was elected to serve. Broadsword announced in February she would be stepping down to accept a job as an Idaho Department of Health & Welfare official.

Although Bailey was elected as the GOP’s Cocolalla Precinct committeeman, he hadn’t considered running for office until several coworkers approached him and said his background and disposition would likely serve the commission well.

Bailey said there was an obvious parallel between his work in the U.S. Air Force and the county commission.

“County commissioners deal with solving problems,” said Bailey. “Those are thing I like to do.”

While stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska in the mid- to late-1990s, Bailey served as an inspector general that worked to resolve disputes. He also served as detachment commander for the Air Force’s office of special investigation, which delved into criminal matters of all stripes.

Bailey’s chosen field in the Air Force was navigation, which put him in refueling tankers that aided fighter jets and bombers. His first combat mission was Operation El Dorado Canyon, a 1986 air strike against Libya for the bombing of a Berlin discotheque that killed 79 American servicemen.

Bailey, 56, said he will also bring to the board his patience, a deliberate approach to decision-making and the courage to make unpopular decisions if it’s the right thing to do.

“I know how to deal with those decisions and live with the results,” said Bailey.

Political and historical figures who have influenced Bailey include Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, George Washington and Claude Frédéric Bastiat, a classical French liberal theorist and economist from the 1800s.

Abraham Lincoln and his stirring speeches were also influential to Bailey.

“A lot of his decisions were unpopular, but proved to be  the right thing do,” said Bailey.

Bailey summed up his political beliefs by pointing the Republican party platform and admits the public may know little about him because he did not have to mount a traditional political campaign to win office.

The only knock Bailey has publicly taken in Bonner County occurred in 2009, when he briefly left his service weapon unattended in a courthouse restroom.

Bailey does not shy from the embarrassing episode.

“I took responsibility for it,” he said.

Bailey said has been given plenty of advice since being appointed.

“A lot (of people) just said, ‘Be yourself. Don’t try to please everyone and do what you think is right.’ That’s good counsel,” he said.