Edinger, Copstead And Reid For Council

There are no bad choices among the five candidates seeking three Coeur d’Alene City Council seats this fall. All are qualified to serve on the council by their life’s experiences or service to the community.

If there’s an edge, it belongs to the three candidates with decision-making experience in local government: incumbents Ron Edinger and Dixie Reid and planning commissioner Chris Copstead.

The Spokesman-Review endorses the three while urging Coeur d’Alene voters to take a long look at the other two candidates: fiscal conservatives Bob Wachter and D.E. “Sam” Sears Sr.

The names of Edinger and Reid almost are synonymous with Coeur d’Alene government. Edinger has served all but two years on the council since 1968, including a term as mayor, while Reid has been a councilwoman for two decades.

Edinger and Reid have invaluable institutional knowledge of Coeur d’Alene government. They understand how it works now and how it worked in the past. They also know the community. Reid’s family moved to Coeur d’Alene in the late 1800s, Edinger’s in the mid-1950s.

Both have common sense, though they occasionally make decisions with their hearts instead of their heads. They’re pro-business but disagree on Coeur d’Alene expansion. Edinger unsuccessfully fought moves by Reid and the council majority to extend Coeur d’Alene to the east and west by annexing parts of Potlatch Hill and Blackwell Island, respectively.

Edinger and Reid will continue to pay attention to needed infrastructure work. Edinger correctly views further road construction and fiscal restraint as his top two priorities. Reid believes more attention should be paid to stormwater runoff problems that could harm the region’s surface and ground water.

Meanwhile, Copstead has gained invaluable experience during his 8-1/2 years on the Coeur d’Alene Planning and Zoning Commission. Like Edinger and Reid, he sees the need to improve the infrastructure to keep pace with Coeur d’Alene’s rapid growth and wants the city to consolidate services with other local governments.

Sears and Wachter also have impressive backgrounds.

Sears managed the U.S. Forest Service nursery in Coeur d’Alene for two decades and held national office with the Veterans of Foreign Affairs. He’s not afraid to take stands and is fiercely independent, which would be a valuable asset on a council that tends to think too much alike.

Wachter served as United We Stand’s Idaho president and served on a blue-ribbon panel trying to streamline Kootenai County government.

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