Pend Oreille County Commissioner

Incumbent Republican Pend Oreille County Commissioner Mike Hanson has two Democrats breathing down his neck.

Sandi Lewis and Al Earl will compete in the Sept. 17 Democratic primary for the right to challenge Hanson in the November general election.

Hanson, who has no primary opponent, is finishing his first term as representative of the county’s southern district.

In the county’s northern district, incumbent County Commissioner Karl McKenzie, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Wanda Stenzel have no primary opponents.

Earl, 38, has lived in the Diamond Lake area all his life. He owns and operates an insurance agency across the Spokane County line in Deer Park, and has been in the insurance business 16 years.

Earl hasn’t run for public office before, but is the son of former Pend Oreille County Auditor Glenn Earl, who resigned in 1993 during his second term. Al Earl has been rodeo chairman for the Deer Park Fair Association for 15 years.

A graduate of Newport High School, he studied business at Spokane Community College and West Texas State University. He is single and has no children.

Lewis, 55, and her husband, Dale, moved to the Fertile Valley area in 1990 from Fremont, Calif. A Democratic precinct officer, she hasn’t run for other elected offices until now. She served on one Pend Oreille County growth management committee and has been appointed to another.

She is secretary-treasurer of Pend Oreille County Fire District 7 and the county Emergency Response Council, and volunteers in numerous other civic organizations.

In California, Lewis was a partner in an accounting firm for 14 years and operated a sign shop. She attended San Mateo (Calif.) Community College and Healds Business College in Oakland, Calif. Lewis and her husband have one adult son.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE JOB Pend Oreille County commissioners serve four-year terms and are paid $23,760 annually.