Three in battle to succeed Kellogg

One of the most watched races in North Idaho concerns who will replace Legislative grande dame Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls.

The vice chairman of the powerful House Revenue and Taxation Committee is retiring at age 85, after 22 years in the Idaho House.

Three candidates are vying for the chance to represent District 5, which includes all of Post Falls.

Longtime local Republican leader Bob Nonini is challenging Democrat David Larsen, a retired math teacher, and Constitution Party candidate Rose Johnson, whose focus is judicial reform.

On Nov. 2, voters also will pick the representative for Seat B, the other House race in this district. Running are Democrat Lyndon Harriman, a middle school teacher who is giving the House another shot after losing in 2002, and former Kootenai County Commissioner and Post Falls Mayor Frank Henderson, a Republican.

Henderson defeated incumbent Rep. Charles Eberle, R-Post Falls, in the May primary.

Nonini is endorsed by Kellogg and claims he understands the issues better than his two opponents because of his extensive experience working on campaigns and raising money.

His top priorities are protecting the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer and the Spokane River. He’s for local control, not the federal government telling Idaho how to protect its natural resources. He also is opposed to any tax increases and insists Idaho’s 1 percent sales tax must sunset as promised in July, despite how pressed the state is for cash.

Nonini isn’t supportive of the proposal to expand the local option tax, which allows Kootenai County to charge an extra half-cent sales tax to pay for the jail expansion. There’s an advisory vote on the ballot asking county voters whether they would support expanding the current law to allow the local-option tax to pay for things other than jails.

Nonini said if voters show support for the expansion then he may consider supporting it.

As an insurance and investment business owner, Nonini said he is pro-business.

Larsen, a retired high school math teacher who is instructing part-time at North Idaho College, is running for his first public office because he’s tired of the Republican-dominated Legislature.

“There’s a lack of anything changing,” Larsen said. “You see the same complaints and concerns and nothing seems to get done. It’s time for new blood.”

Larsen said he gets strength from being a political newcomer and doesn’t have future political aspirations like Nonini.

He, along with other local Democrats, are pushing a bill, or at least a concept, that would defer property tax increases for residents who have lived in their home at least 10 years. When the property would sell or the owner dies, then the deferred taxes would have to be repaid. He supports expanding the local-option sales tax.

He also wants the Legislature to review the current tax exemptions, many of which he said are inequitable. For example, he said the ski resorts don’t have to pay sales tax on a new snow groomer but a golf course, which also is part of the tourism industry, must pay sales tax if it buys a mower.

His other top priorities are education funding and protecting North Idaho water rights.

The Legislature has “ducked” its responsibility for fully-funding schools, Larsen said. He said the state should provide matching dollars to construct and maintain school buildings.

Johnson is known for trying to get the “Jail for Judges” initiative on the 2002 ballot but her group didn’t get enough signatures for the measure that would have made judges more accountable by opening up the disciplinary process to public scrutiny. Win or lose, she plans to start in December gathering enough names to get the initiative on the 2006 ballot. She maintains that Idaho courts currently have the power to violate people’s rights.

“The problem is our judiciary,” Johnson said. “Due process has become a cliché with no meaning.”

Pro life, pro God and pro guns are Johnson’s philosophy as a Constitution Party candidate.

She said government accountability is lacking and her party wants to repeal all laws that control or interfere with private industry, unless the law infringes on private property rights. Johnson also believes that women need to arm themselves and learn how to use a gun if the need arises.

None of the candidates for Seat A have served in public office.

Nonini was arrested in 1983 for possession of cocaine. The charge was dismissed, and Nonini said he has a clean record. Earlier news accounts, based on information from the National Crime Information Center, said that he was arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver – a more serious charge.

Nonini said he recently got the Idaho State Police to correct those records by removing the intent to deliver charge and they now show a misdemeanor that has been dismissed. The Spokesman-Review has not yet received those records from the ISP, which it has requested under Idaho’s open records statute.

In the late 1980s, Nonini acted as a confidential informant in a major undercover drug operation. Nonini said dismissal of the drug charge was not connected to his decision to become an informant.

When Nonini’s arrest was reported in 2001, the Idaho Republican Party chairman defended Nonini. The former party chairman, Trent Clark, filed a libel lawsuit against The Spokesman-Review regarding its coverage of Nonini’s arrest, alleging he had been misquoted. The lawsuit still is pending, and the newspaper stands by its reporting.

District 5, Seat B

In the race for Seat B, Henderson said his local government experience is what sets him apart from Harriman, who has never served in public office.

But that’s exactly what Harriman said makes him the best candidate. He said education in Idaho is suffering because of the Republican-dominated leadership.

“I have felt consistently that my voice, and the voices of people like me, has not been heard,” said Harriman, who has taught science at Canfield Middle School for 27 years.

He said the state needs to fund schools, including technology and supplies, and to reduce class sizes.

Health care is his other worry, especially since his wife recently battled cancer and he has had no health insurance for two nephews he is raising. He said Idaho needs to look at allowing people and businesses to pool together so they can get better rates on health insurance premiums.

Idaho too often turns back millions in federal dollars because it doesn’t want to provide the 20 percent match money, which Harriman said has meant less insurance for poor children and less Medicare and Medicaid coverage.

He also supports the concept of deferring increases in property taxes. When it comes to sales tax he wants to stop taxing groceries and shift that to services such as haircuts, which he said alone could bring about $11.5 million to state coffers.

Henderson, at age 81, still plays tennis, mows his own lawn and said he has the energy and experience to make a difference in Boise.

Henderson, who was a founding member and former director of Jobs Plus and former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune, already has one bill nearly written to present to the Legislature whether he is elected or not.

The bill, which has been approved by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, would allow counties to charge inmates for pharmaceuticals, doctor visits and other housing costs while they are in jail. The measure wouldn’t apply to indigent inmates and would have a $500 limit on what the county could collect.

Henderson said it could save Kootenai County thousands of dollars a month and reduce taxpayers’ burden.

“Unless we do something like this the taxpayer will continue to be a victim of crime,” Henderson said.

He also supports the concept of freezing property tax values for homeowners who have lived in their house more than 10 years. Yet he said lawmakers have many details to work out on that type of plan.

His other idea is to level out the huge annual increases in the assessed value on people’s property, especially in resort areas like Kootenai County. He wants to have county assessor average the annual increases in valuation over five years, limiting the annual spikes. He said this method already is used with timber land where the value of the stumpage is averaged over five years.