Bonner County sheriff candidates
Here’s a quick look at the candidates for Bonner County sheriff:
James “Bean” Johnston: Police reform is his top priority. The former paratrooper, deputy and anti-war protester said he believes deputies are too quick to reach for Mace or billy clubs. Johnston said such “hard” skills are legitimate police tactics, but said deputies would be better served learning how to handle situations without so quickly resorting to force. He would seek to bridge mistrust between cops and citizens by encouraging deputies to participate in a Big Brother/Big Sister program. “I would be the first to sign up,” he said. Johnston isn’t shy about admitting he is far younger than the other candidates and has minimal police experience but he also makes no bones about feeling confident he has the leadership qualities to pull it off.
Fast fact: As a paratrooper in 1986, he volunteered for a secret mission to Honduras that, he said, turned out to be part of the “Iran-Contra” arms-for-drugs-for-death squads scandal. The disillusionment of being caught up in the scandal seems to have shaped his sense of accountability and limits for police.
Johnston’s Web site: http://www.electbean.com
Tony Lamanna: The longtime reserve officer and school resource officer promises more and better training for deputies. “Currency, quality, quantity,” was Lamanna’s mantra in a recent interview. He has paid his own way through advanced training sessions and said he believes the Sheriff’s Office is shortsighted by not aggressively encouraging deputies to attend training in Coeur d’Alene offered through the state’s POST (peace officer standards and training) Academy. “There is money available for training,” he said. Instead, the office brings in speakers who may give outdated or hit-and-miss advice, Lamanna said. The upshot is deputies can feel discouraged, even demoralized, by not being able to learn specialty skills, Lamanna said.
Fast fact: His cadaver dogs have helped Spokane and Spokane County authorities locate the bodies of several murdered children.
Lamanna’s Web site: http://atlamanna.supersat2.net/
Elaine Savage: She has the best law enforcement resume of the candidates, spending nearly 20 years in various line and administrative posts with the Irving, Texas, Police Department. A fourth-generation North Idahoan, she left Texas in 1998 when her dad was ill (Bob Savage died in August 2004) and was chief of the Priest River police before the department was absorbed into the Sheriff’s Office. A sheriff in a department as large as Bonner County’s is primarily an administrator, Savage said, and she has spent the last two years handling many of those chores as undersheriff. She cites her experience with the department’s policy and budget and accounting procedures.
Fast fact: Her favorite posting in Irving was on the detail that provided hotel security for the Dallas Cowboys on game nights. She still has Cowboy memorabilia in her office.
Savage’s Web site: http://www.elainesavage4sheriff.com