Boundary County Races
Boundary County Commissioner Kevin Lederhos has been a little too busy to campaign for re-election the last couple of weeks.
He’s been trying to help residents find a way around the mudslide that’s closed U.S. Highway 95 north of town.
Ironically, it was the state of the county’s roads that motivated his challenger, Dick Dawson, 63, to run against Lederhos.
“Some of them are in pretty bad shape,” Dawson said of the roads. “I’d like to work with our road superintendent and foreman on getting these road projects completed.”
It wasn’t roads that drove 38-year-old Lederhos into politics two years ago. At that time, he Lederhos was interested in cutting government regulations.
“I’m a strong conservative,” Lederhos said. “Anyway I can keep the cost of government down and keep taxpayers paying the lowest bill that they can, that’s the biggest thing for me.”
Lederhos, who rebuilds helicopters, has used his political clout to fight the federal government on access to public lands. He helped organize the road rally earlier this year that protested the closure of Boundary Creek Road.
Dawson, a retired maintenance man from Bonners Ferry High School, said he opposes the road closure, but “if it belongs to the Forest Service, they have the right to shut it.”
Commissioner Merle Dinning also is running for reelection, but is unopposed.
In the only other contested race in the county, the deputy assessor and an attorney are both running for county assessor.
Terry Lopez, 56, is a semi-retired attorney who was motivated to run for assessor after having problems with the assessment on her own land.
“I don’t know that there’s anything wrong, but I think more could be done to give property owners a little more tax relief,” Lopez said.
The county current assessor, Steve Fendos, is retiring and his deputy, David Ryals, doesn’t want to see “someone come in and mess it up,” Ryals said.
Ryals, 45, has been deputy assessor for two years and with the department for five years. He’s also worked in the Kootenai County Assessor’s office, and his own father was assessor for Boundary County.
He believes an appraisal background is critical for an assessor.
“You absolutely need to know what’s going on,” he said, adding that Lopez is mistaken if she thinks she can single-handedly save property owners money.
“Everything that happens in this office is dictated by code,” Ryals said. “If it’s not directed properly, you’ll make mistakes.”
Lopez said that, as a lawyer, she’s familiar with reading the law and real estate law in particular.