Hearings reset in election case

SANDPOINT — Preliminary hearings have been reset for two Bonner County officials accused of malfeasance in their handling of a Lake Pend Oreille School District recall election.

The hearings in Clerk Ann Dutson-Sater and Charles Konrad Wurm’s cases were set for Wednesday, but were postponed so their respective defense counsels have more time to prepare and a joint preliminary hearing can be conducted.

The hearing was reset for Wednesday, Oct. 8 in Bonner County Magistrate Court.

Dutson-Sater is charged with subornation of perjury for allowing a recall organizer to attest that he had witnessed all of the recall signatures being gathered when he had not. She’s also charged malfeasance for accepting improperly-certified signature sheets and allowing recall organizers to submit signature sheets in two stages rather than all at once as required by state law.

Wurm is charged with malfeasance for accepting improperly verified signature sheets.

Both Dutson-Sater and Wurm deny any criminal intent and told investigators they have no ties to any parties involved with the attempted recall of school board Chairman Steve Youngdahl.

The recall election was canceled earlier this year, after the Idaho Secretary of State’s office determined that backers of the effort were required to submit all of their signatures all at once.

The oversight was generally regarded as an error by the clerk’s office until the emergence of felony criminal charges last month.