Crossover By Democrats Aided Centrists

The winners in Bonner County’s Republican primary election may have quite a few Democrats to thank.

A whopping 86 percent of voters chose to vote Republican, a statistic that shocked the county’s Democratic Party chairwoman, Carol Pietsch.

“When it came in last night, I was totally amazed at how many people voted Republican,” she said.

Given the numbers, it must have been an organized effort to encourage Democrats to vote Republican, she said. But Pietsch, a die-hard Democrat, was never included in the effort: “I wouldn’t have gone along with it.”

The overwhelmingly Republican turnout coincided with a record turnout for a primary election in Bonner County, said Marie Scott, county clerk. The turnout was 38 percent of registered voters.

“We were not expecting to break records,” she said Wednesday.

Pietsch and others speculated on the reasons for the huge crossover vote. One could be the lack of contested races on the Democratic ticket, where only the presidential and sheriff’s races were contested.

Or, it could have been an organized effort to keep the reins of local government out of the hands of rightwing conservatives, as evidenced by some pre-election propaganda.

Not only were some Democrats concerned about congressional candidate Dennis Mansfield winning the primary - he lost to Lt. Gov. Butch Otter - but many were concerned about local government posts.

For example, the People for Sensible Government PAC - formed by local business people - placed newspaper ads encouraging voters to cross party lines.

“Sometimes finding sensible choices requires ignoring party lines,” read one advertisement endorsing the local winners in Republican races; Phil Jarvis for sheriff, and Tom Suttmeier and Jerry Clemons for county commissioner.

Bobbie Natschke and Bobbie Kassel, of Hope, Idaho, did their own campaigning for the winners by sending out a fax encouraging people to vote Republican.

“Increasingly, the `fringe elements’ in the county have been mounting campaigns for public office and drumming up support at the polls,” they warned voters. “There is much at stake on the Republican side of the ballot.”

Bonner County Commissioner Brian Orr speculated that much of the crossover may have been a concerted attempt to remove his colleague, commissioner Bud Mueller, from office.

Mueller only won three out of 30 precincts. He was out of the office Wednesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

“There was some big bucks put into this election,” Orr said. “People are wanting to get some normalcy, a more smooth-running operation.”

When asked if he crossed over party lines to vote, Orr - a Democrat - just smiled and declined to comment.