Candidates bring hopes to Panhandle

The governor’s race has come to North Idaho with two of the three candidates visiting Coeur d’Alene this week to remind voters they won’t forget one of the fastest-growing areas in the state.

Candidates for the open seat in the 1st U.S. Congressional District also have been making frequent trips to the Panhandle lately, solidifying that campaign season has arrived.

“This early in the campaign no candidate is going to write off any (part) of the state,” Boise State University political science professor Jim Weatherby said. “It’s January. A lot of water could go under the bridge before November.”

Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brady made his first visit to North Idaho in several months Thursday, stopping in Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston to join with sportsmen to denounce his Republican challenger’s initial willingness to sell millions of acres of public lands in the West to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief.

U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, a Republican, recently withdrew his support of the bill, saying he was wrong after Brady and other political opponents condemned him.

The debate has become one of the first battlegrounds between the two candidates duking it out for the state’s top job.

In town Thursday to meet with several community groups, including the Dirne Community Health Center, Otter reiterated his shift on the land sale question but said his initial intentions were good. Responding to Brady’s contention that the change signaled a lack of thoughtful deliberation, Otter bristled.

“Maybe he’s never made a mistake. Being a former newspaper publisher he probably hasn’t,” Otter said. “My question would go to: Has he ever made a mistake he’s admitted to?”

Otter said North Idaho has been an important stronghold for him in the past.

“I’ve always enjoyed tremendous support during and after the campaign,” he said.

Chubbock businessman Dan Adamson, who is challenging Otter in the May Republican primary, hasn’t yet campaigned in North Idaho. His assistant said Thursday he will soon make a trip.

“He will be visiting all of Idaho,” said Carleen Wellard.

Brady, a former eastern Idaho newspaper publisher who ran for governor in 2002 against Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, said Thursday while huddled with about eight sportsmen in front of a space heater at the Fernan Lake boat launch that it’s not about how many times he travels to the Panhandle. Instead, it’s about what he will do for the region – and the entire state – if he’s elected in November. He was quick to remind people he’s not a Boise politician who thinks the capital city is the center of the state.

He’s adamant that Idaho’s public lands be protected and not sold off. Idaho’s beauty and public land are what make it the third fastest-growing state in the country.

Yet he believes in a balance and that public lands should be managed so the timber is harvested to preserve the resource. Brady also talked about his dislike for the state’s right-to-work law, which bans unions from requiring that employees join or pay dues as a condition of employment, and Kempthorne’s stance that the state’s property tax issues should be solved at the local level. He supports increasing the homeowner’s exemption to $100,000 and tying it to the cost of living.

“The state is responsible for setting up the system that created the property tax,” Brady said.

Too much burden has been put on residential property owners, especially in fast-growing resort areas such as Kootenai and Bonner counties, he said.

Candidates vying to replace Otter in Congress also are coming north to kick off their campaigns.

Republican Norm Semanko, executive director of Idaho Water Users, will make his official announcement Monday in Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston.

Idaho State Controller Keith Johnson, a Republican challenger, launched his bid for the office Jan. 20 at the local Pachyderm meeting.

The two are vying against four other candidates in the May Republican primary – state Sen. Skip Brandt of Koosia, Rep. Bill Sali of Kuna, former state Sen. Sheila Sorensen of Boise and Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez.

Coeur d’Alene Democrat Rand C. Lewis will announce his candidacy next week in Moscow.

Lewis will join businessman Cecil Kelly of Coeur d’Alene and Fruitland’s Larry Grant, a former Micron Technology vice president and general counselor.