Commissioner Alienates His Colleagues Waters Defends Brochure, Others Call It Misleading, Untrue

Shoshone County Commissioner Gary Waters’ campaign literature is misleading, and in at least one case patently false, his two fellow commissioners say in a letter to editors of local newspapers.

“The public has a right to know what’s going on,” said Commissioner Jack King. “If he hadn’t written his brochure this way, we never would have done this.”

Waters, reached at a trash haulers’ convention in Las Vegas, defended his statements and said he’s puzzled by the criticism.

Waters is locked in a three-way Democratic primary race with former commissioner Jim Vergobbi and restaurant owner Jack DeFeo. All three commissioners are Democrats.

In his re-election brochure, Waters blasts the county for buying supplies outside the area to save a few dollars.

“Our county road crews had to go after tires in Benewah County because our county commission saw fit to award the contract away from local suppliers,” Waters writes in his brochure.

Waters, however, was the one who seconded the motion and voted to approve the low bid to the Benewah County dealer.

Waters also criticized the commission for buying a truck outside the area because the local dealer’s price was slightly higher.

“Here is another example of a savings that Gary thinks the county can ill afford,” he wrote in his brochure.

But Waters seconded the motion and voted to approve the bid to buy the truck.

“We felt our credibility was being criticized, when he was part of the same commission and voting the same way,” said Sherry Krulitz.

“His brochure says ‘If you want a ‘yes’ man in county government, vote for someone else,”’ said King. “It looks to me like that’s a ‘yes’ man.”

In a phone interview, Waters fired back. He acknowledged voting for the out-of-area suppliers, but said it’s county policy to accept low bids. Therefore, he said, he felt he didn’t have any choice.

“I don’t think I’m criticizing them,” he said of Krulitz and King. “I criticized the commission, which includes me. But if the shoe fits, wear it.”

He said he tried unsuccessfully to get the county policy changed.

Waters also wrote that the county spent $63,000 on a truck with 800,000 miles on it. The county never bought any such truck, Krulitz and King say.

Waters blamed that brochure statement on a typographical error, saying he meant to say that the county almost bought such a truck, until he talked the other commissioners out of it.

All three commissioners said relations already are strained.

“I don’t think it could be any worse,” said King.

Waters said he’s hoping for a landslide victory to make the other commissioners more likely to listen to his ideas.

, DataTimes