Councilman enters commission race
Post Falls City Councilman Todd Tondee is running for the Kootenai County Board of County Commissioners, touting his small-business background, open mind and ability to ask questions and get answers.
Leaning against the counter Tuesday at his Big Cheese Pizza shop in Post Falls, Tondee said it’s time for a change, and that’s why he’s running against Commission Chairman Gus Johnson in the May Republican primary.
Tondee was just one of several candidates, including Commissioner Katie Brodie, to launch their campaigns Tuesday.
Elected to the City Council in 2003, Tondee said he now has the experience and desire to serve the county.
He believes in changing the style of county government to have a county administrator handling day-to-day business while the three-member commission acts more like a board of directors.
Tondee also wants to participate in rewriting the county’s comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of all land-use decisions. He said the commission shouldn’t have waited 11 years, during the county’s record growth, to update the plan that ultimately dictates how the county will grow and look in the coming decades.
Other priorities are protecting the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer and ensuring residents aren’t taxed out of their homes.
And when the county sells a resident’s property to pay a tax debt, Tondee said the county should only take the amount owed and return the rest of the profit to the owner. He said the government probably needs the extra revenue, but that it’s dishonest.
“It’s not the county’s money,” he said to the dozen supporters crammed into the pizza shop. “It’s the person who put sweat and equity into the home.”
Brodie, who was initially elected to the county commission in 2004, is seeking a second term. She said she will continue work to reduce the tax burden on county residents. She wants to attract clean commercial business and industry to the county, find a solution to the overcrowded jail and oversee the rewriting of the county’s comprehensive plan.
Several other local candidates have announced recently:
“Rich Piazza, a former county employee who is trying for a third time to win a commission seat, is challenging Brodie in the May Republican primary.
“Post Falls City Administrator Jim Hammond is running for the state Senate. He hopes to replace Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, who is retiring after three terms.
Hammond said his experience with local government and schools will bring knowledge to the Legislature. He’s a former Post Falls mayor, school principal and member of the Idaho state Board of Education.
Hammond plans to announce in the next two weeks, after conferring with the mayor and City Council, whether he will keep his job as city administrator, which he has had since 1996.
“Democrat Chuck Thomas, a retired Coeur d’Alene firefighter, also is in the race.
“Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Wallace, is vying for a fifth term. She said District 2 has a unique blend of residents with challenges such as the loss of natural resource jobs and the distance they live from necessary services. Shepherd said she would like to continue helping people solve these problems.
“First District Judge John Mitchell announced Tuesday his re-election bid. He spent 16 years as a local attorney and was appointed to the bench by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne four and a half years ago.
He described himself as hardworking, innovative, efficient and “fair and firm in sentencing.”
Mitchell helped create the county’s first Mental Health Drug Court – an alternative to prison for criminals struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
“Local attorney Rami Amaro is running against Mitchell and will formally announce her candidacy Saturday. She declined Tuesday to give any specifics, but her Web site – amaroforjudge.com – states that she has been practicing law for 10 years and is a judicial conservative whose philosophy is to follow the law, not make the law. She believes that judges should not use the court as a back door for social and public policy changes.