Mueller, Suttmeier Face Off In Primary Former Police Officer Says Leadership Lacking; Incumbent Says Second Conservative Needed

Tom Suttmeier didn’t like what he was seeing in county government.

As a retired San Francisco policeman, the fact that politics got in the way of buying new bulletproof vests for sheriff’s deputies rankled him - among other things.

So now Suttmeier is waging a spirited campaign against incumbent Commissioner Bud Mueller in the District 1 Republican primary.

“I didn’t see any clear and positive leadership in the county,” Suttmeier said. “The meetings have always been somewhat contentious. They don’t seem to get a lot of things done.”

Mueller doesn’t think much is getting done either. But that’s not from lack of trying, he said.

“It takes two conservatives to get anything done,” Mueller said at a recent candidates forum.

Mueller hopes that another conservative Republican will be elected to the District 3 commissioner’s seat.

He predicts that he’ll be outvoted again this fall during budget-setting season, and “we’ll see the budget go up another half a million this year.”

Mueller often finds himself at odds with the two Democrat commissioners on the board, Dale Van Stone and Brian Orr.

It wasn’t always that way. When Mueller was elected in 1996, he had Republican Larry Allen in his camp. The two made some major changes, not to mention headlines, in the first months of office.

Their first act was to eliminate the county’s Building Department.

Mueller, a former building contractor, sees no need for a building department. “All it did was slow down everything,” he said.

Suttmeier disagrees with the way the department was eliminated. As a result of the commissioners’ abrupt action, the county was forced to pay former employees more than $100,000 to settle lawsuits and the county’s liability insurance costs increased.

“You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” Suttmeier said. “Our insurance costs doubled. They won’t go down until there’s some normalcy.”

Suttmeier wants to see the return of building inspections, but not a building department. He suggests that the county adopt the Uniform Building Code, and an ordinance that requires that builders and property owners get a building location permit before getting power.

Property owners would need a qualified building inspector to stamp their plans before getting a certificate of occupancy from the county, he said.

“Then we know it’s in conformity with UBC and the future owner of the property is going to be protected,” Suttmeier said. “And we have it on the tax rolls.”

All those requirements could be handled through the Planning Department, he said.

Mueller doesn’t care much for the Planning Department, either.

“We chase everyone away with planning and zoning,” he said recently. “It’s terrible. We need to revamp government so people want to come here.”

Mueller prefers to simplify government - and lower fees - over spending tax dollars to lure industry. He opposed his fellow commissioners when they voted recently to move $200,000 from the county’s litigation fund to create a fund for economic development.

That’s one clear difference in the candidates.

Suttmeier believes a public investment in manufacturing businesses will help taxpayers in the long run by expanding the tax base.

“Businesses will take up a larger share, as well as provide some diversification,” Suttmeier said. “They (workers) will be able to afford their own homes and that spreads the tax base around a little bit so that the same small group isn’t constantly paying a high tax rate.”

Taxes are Mueller’s biggest issue.

The county is over-collecting taxes, he said, and it’s evident throughout the budget.

“We have too many reserves,” he said on a recent talk show. “We have to stop hoarding money.”

Mueller has consistently argued in budget hearings and at other meetings to cut travel and other noncrucial expenses to give taxpayers a break.

But while the intentions may be worthy, Suttmeier doesn’t like Mueller’s methods.

For instance, earlier this year, Sheriff Chip Roos went to the commissioners to request matching funds for a grant to buy bullet-proof vests.

Mueller agreed to approve the expenditure, only if Roos convinced his deputies to drop a lawsuit they filed against the county over law enforcement funding levels.

Mueller’s vote was necessary to tap the statutory reserve account. Mueller admitted playing politics, saying that it was the only leverage he had to save taxpayer money being spent to defend the county in the lawsuit.

Around budget time, Mueller told Roos he would support Roos’ proposed marine patrol budget if Roos fired controversial Marine Sgt. Larry Schulze.

Roos declined both deals.

“He’s had the dollars’ best interest at heart, but he can’t seem to learn about what you can do and can’t do,” Roos said of Mueller.

Mueller, meanwhile, has accused Roos of bringing unreasonable budgets to the commissioners during budget time. “He’s the worst,” Mueller said on a recent talk-show.

Suttmeier said he’s tired of the “silliness” and “grudge matches” that characterize the current commission.

“We need leadership to take the county to the next level,” he said. The winner of the District 1 Republican primary will face Seth Batt, a Democrat from Sandpoint, in the general election.

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