Commission Candidates Focus On Economy Three Democrats Vying For Commissioner Are Running In County’s Only Contested Race

In Shoshone County political races, the question generally isn’t whether a Democrat will win - but which Democrat.

In fact, of the eight people running for Shoshone County offices, seven are Democrats. The other is an independent.

“All the races in Shoshone County have traditionally been decided in the primary,” said former county Commissioner Jim Vergobbi.

This year’s race for Shoshone’s sole contested seat is no different. Vergobbi and restaurant owner Jack DeFeo are challenging first-term county Commissioner Gary Waters. All are Democrats, and all have local political experience.

As you’d expect in the long-depressed Silver Valley, jobs are high on the agenda of all three candidates.

To win those jobs, Waters, 54, wants to offer county land - at a discount - to businesses at the Smelterville industrial park.

Waters said he ran for office two years ago because he wanted the county to spend locally. It’s foolish to buy tires in Benewah County just because they’re $10 less, he thinks, and local auto dealers shouldn’t be rejected because their bids are “a few dollars higher.” Similarly, he said, the county’s lawyer shouldn’t be in Boise, but in Shoshone County.

Waters, a former miner and firefighter, has owned and run Waters Garbage Co. for 26 years. He said he’d bring business sense to the job and carefully question spending.

“I’ve always considered myself really fair with all issues,” he said. “I’ve been a working man all my life, and I try to use common sense.”

Challenger Jack DeFeo moved to Osburn six years ago, selling his New Jersey deli and escaping East Coast taxes and attitudes.

He bought an old drive-in eatery shaped like a barrel, renamed it The Italian Barrel, and joined the Osburn City Council. He resigned to run for commissioner.

“I’m honest, I’m effective. I just have a lot of will to do good things here,” said DeFeo, pausing from cooking spaghetti sauce.

Among those things: he wants to help the county promote itself more as a tourist destination, drawing dollars off the interstate.

He also wants the county to push for more state grants and to promote education. The county also must work harder to prevent child abuse, drug abuse and domestic violence.

DeFeo, 53, said he’d bring a fresh outlook and enthusiasm to the job.

“I’m an activist, in the good sense,” said DeFeo. “I’m available 24 hours a day, and I’m a fighter. I don’t just lay back.”

Vergobbi, the other challenger, comes from an old Silver Valley family. There is a Vergobbi Avenue in Kellogg, and a Vergobbi Gulch.

Vergobbi, 65, worked in the wood mill industry for 22 years, ultimately running a Smelterville sawmill that fed timbers to the mines.

Starting in the late 1970s, he served seven years on the Kellogg City Council, and was appointed as mayor, serving two years. He resigned to run for county commissioner, won, and served from 1985 to 1990.

“I dug out all my signs. I thought I’d thrown them away,” he chuckled recently.

His lost his re-election bid in the 1990 primary, and lost again in a race for state representative two years later.

Vergobbi said he has the time, the energy and the commitment to do the job.

“Once you’re a politician, it gets in your blood,” he said.

The county must promote mining and industry to supplement tourism dollars, he said.

“Standing alone, tourism, with its part-time jobs, minimum wage and no benefits - that’s a toughie for survival,” he said.

The county also must push hard for state and federal flood-repair funds, he said.

Health care was a specialty of Vergobbi’s during his commission term. He served on a governor’s committee that led to the state paying Shoshone County’s annual $89,000 insurance premium. On a statewide board, he later helped shift the indigent health care burden from counties to the state.

, DataTimes