Robinson Runs For Bonner Prosecutor Job

Attorney Phil Robinson announced Thursday he will run for Bonner County prosecutor on the Republican ticket.

Robinson, 50, was county prosecutor for 10 years. He resigned in 1993 after successfully lobbying to make the position a full-time job.

“Back then I was not in a position to surrender my private civil practice and do the prosecutor job full time. I am in a position to do that now,” said Robinson, who also served as deputy prosecutor from 1977 to 1983.

Robinson also said law enforcement officers, citizens and elected officials encouraged him to run because of their “dissatisfaction” with the current prosecutor, Tevis Hull.

Hull is seeking re-election to the $50,000-a-year job as an Independent. Hull has been unpopular with local law enforcement officers. They publicly chided him last month when he declined to prosecute two men who had a gunfight with authorities and wounded a sheriff’s deputy. Hull blamed officers for provoking the shooting.

“Police officers felt betrayed by him (Hull) long before that case,” Robinson said. “Hull has plea bargained cases when he said he wouldn’t. He promised officers monthly training sessions and has had two or three in the last 14 months. Then he turns around and tells officers they are ignorant and incompetent.”

Robinson currently is city attorney for Sandpoint, Ponderay and Kootenai and a public defender in Boundary County. Sandpoint attorney John Topp, a Democrat, also is running for the prosecutor job. , DataTimes