Three Contend For County Clerk

A former state representative, a city councilman and a pre-law student will vie to be appointed Kootenai County Clerk.

The Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee decided to submit the names of former state Rep. Barbara Chamberlain, Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan English and Linda Payne, a student and community activist, to the county commissioners today after deliberating Monday night. They chose the trio from a list of five names.

Commissioners are selecting a successor for Tom Taggart, who resigned to become the first county administrator. Taggart started his new job Monday.

Commissioners will interview the three finalists Wednesday. They have 15 days to name Taggart’s successor to the $40,000 a year job or the responsibility reverts to the Democratic Central Committee, said Bob Brown, a party official.

Chamberlain, an active Democrat who lives in Post Falls, lost a race for state senate last year.

Dan English founded the Anchor House center for juvenile offenders and serves on the Coeur d’Alene City Council. He is a consumer credit counselor.

Payne is president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations as well as a full-time student at North Idaho College and a part-time organizer for the Idaho Conservation League.

The other two contenders were Jeanne Batson, who manages a family-run land business in Worley, and Judyth Hanna, a child support enforcement officer and an accountant.

, DataTimes