Woman Settles Charges Over Campaign Flier Eddy Pays $800, But Opponents Of Panabaker Say She Got Off Easy

A woman responsible for a nasty, unsigned 1994 campaign flier has paid $800 to settle charges of election law violations.

Political unknown Margaret H. Eddy this month paid $400 to Kootenai County and $400 to Kids Voting but admitted no wrongdoing, according to the settlement with the Idaho Attorney General’s office.

Eddy was the only person ever publicly linked to the 11th-hour flier that boosted Republican Dick Panabaker’s Kootenai County commissioner campaign by calling his opponents violent criminals and liars.

Questions about who actually was behind the mailing remain unanswered, but state attorneys said the settlement was better than a costly court battle.

“In the scope of things, $800 is a lot of money,” said Deputy Attorney General Bill Von Tagen. “It should act as a deterrent.”

Former independent candidate and Panabaker foe Tom Daugherty called the agreement “disappointing” and Democratic Party Chair Bob Brown said it was “outrageous.”

“I suppose in a way it’s good news,” said an angry, sarcastic Brown. “I know lots of candidates who would pay $800 for an anonymous $10,000 hatchet job.”

While Eddy repeatedly has refused comment, her attorney, Peter Erbland, said Thursday he thought the settlement was appropriate.

“It’s best that it’s laid to rest,” he said. “Everybody starts this election with a clean slate.”

The two-color flier claimed Daugherty and Democratic incumbent Mike Anderson had “switched political parties, lied in sworn testimony, been arrested for domestic violence, cheated to get unemployment, failed to pay taxes and been bounced off the police force.”

It later urged residents to vote for Panabaker, the candidate who was not “a lying cheating, violent, tax-dodging indecisive politician.” Panabaker said then and now he knew nothing about the mailer.

Eddy was accused of violating two sections of Idaho’s Sunshine Law with the glossy mailing that went to an estimated 9,000 homes one week before the election.

The flier listed as its author “Straight Talk Politics,” an unknown political action committee not registered with the secretary of state. The group’s address was a rented mail drop.

Sunshine laws require PACs giving $500 or more to a candidate to file a disclosure report and register with the state or county. A disclosure report filed after the election named only Eddy as the treasurer and claimed no one had contributed to the $3,500 cost of the flier.

Stan Shore, owner of Seattle-based Polis Political Services, the consultant who produced the flier, said Thursday he never was paid. While he steadfastly refused to say who hired him, he acknowledged that it should have been handled differently.

“In retrospect, from the very beginning, people should have been really up front about who wanted to say what about whom,” he said.

Shore also said he had worked directly for the county’s GOP central committee to produce less inflammatory fliers for other candidates. All were paid for by legitimate PACs.

County Republican Chairwoman Kathy Sims on Thursday maintained the party was not involved with Eddy’s flier. Daugherty, who has filed a lawsuit accusing Eddy of libel, is not so sure.

Eddy’s mother worked for Sims at the Blackwell House, he said.

“My whole point is there are big fish being kept out of trouble in this,” Daugherty said. “It stinks.”

, DataTimes