Sheriff’s races

Judging by this year’s races, running for county sheriff in North Idaho seems to be one of those things where the journey is at least as exciting as the destination.

A quick review:

In Kootenai County, a man who is involved in a business dispute with incumbent Sheriff Rocky Watson filed as a challenger 15 minutes before the deadline March 19. Since then he has, apparently, not campaigned but has criticized Watson of being a criminal and accused the county of conspiring against him. Watson questioned the challenger’s residency and now his opponent, California businessman John Weick, is still on the ballot but has been removed from the voter rolls.

In Boundary County the incumbent lost a close race in the Republican primary, then took a job in Iraq without telling anybody until after he’d gone. The GOP candidate is sworn in as sheriff through the partisan replacement process despite the fact that he is in the middle of a three-way race and just weeks away from the general election. County and GOP officials say this is just the way the process works and there’s nothing unfair about it.

In Bonner County a pickup truck plastered with campaign signs for one of the challengers in the three-candidate race, was discovered in the sheriff’s personal parking slot. Security cameras in the lot caught a longtime officer, who is on administrative leave, parking the truck and the candidate picking him up.

Kootenai County

Weick is a retired Los Angeles police officer who filed as an independent. He purchased a private security firm from Watson, took issue with some contract terms and stopped payment on the $1.15 million deal in early 2002. Watson sued and has since won two Kootenai County 1st District Court rulings ordering Weick to resume payments. Weick has appealed and, in July, was briefly jailed for contempt of court by order of Judge John Mitchell.

Weick contends the county is rife with a good old boy network. He told The Spokesman-Review he feels sorry for voters who are stuck with bad candidates. Still, Weick has not been running an active campaign for sheriff. Watson is seeking a pay raise for deputies to stop people leaving for higher-paying police jobs across the state line in Spokane County. The county commissioners have said they give Watson a budget and how he divvies it up between top brass and street deputies is up to him.

Bonner County

The race has become a referendum on Sheriff Phil Jarvis, a retired San Diego cop who is leaving office after one term. Jarvis has endorsed his undersheriff, Elaine Savage, a fourth-generation resident from the Priest River area who spent much of her career with the police force in Irving, Texas, and who has said she will continue many of Jarvis’ administrative policies.

Other candidates say morale has tanked under Jarvis and the changes he has instituted. Democrat Tony Lamanna also has deep roots in the county – the Priest River high school is named after his dad – and feels the current administration has skimped on training, which has led to morale and performance problems, tort claims and lawsuits. Lamanna has chosen longtime patrol Lt. Harvey Thompson, who lost to Savage in the GOP primary, to be his undersheriff. Thompson on Oct. 12, parked a truck loaded with Lamanna campaign signs in Jarvis’ parking slot. Jarvis had placed Thompson on administrative leave Sept. 1.

Adding a wildcard flavor to this broth is James “Bean” Johnston, a former counselor with Rocky Mountain Academy and antiwar protester who is running as an independent. Johnston, a former sheriff’s deputy in Michigan, says deputies in Bonner County are often overly aggressive and need the training and leadership to interact with the populace in a better way.

Boundary County

Greg Sprungl, who served 6 1/2 years as sheriff before losing to George Voyles in the 2000 election, was sworn in last month as an interim replacement when Voyles left early to take a job in Iraq. Sprungl had defeated Voyles by 23 votes in the May primary.

Sprungl has already revived 24-hour patrolling, is fixing problems that led to the state decertifying the county jail and is shaping the 2005 sheriff’s budget. Democratic challenger Kevin McDonald and Geoff Palmer, running as an independent, may be at a disadvantage.