Our View: Just say ‘no’

For months, this newspaper’s editorial board has endorsed dozens of candidates after weighing their qualifications for offices in Washington and Idaho.

Today, we urge you not to vote for three men Tuesday. They are: ultraconservative Bud Mueller, a former Bonner County commissioner who is trying to reclaim that office; J.D. “Andy” Anderson, a constitutionalist and former Stevens County commissioner who is running for sheriff there; and Stan Hess, who is an erstwhile associate of former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke and running for the North Idaho College Board of Trustees.

Mueller’s siren song of smaller government and less regulation appeals to many in Bonner County. But he showed during his previous stint as a commissioner in the late 1990s that his version of smaller government is an extreme one. He and fellow commissioner Larry Allen dismantled the county building department and fired the county’s road superintendent and solid waste supervisor. Mueller’s scorched-earth approach to county government prompted lawsuits and payouts. Allen, who has since died, prevented Mueller from wreaking further havoc by coming to his senses and breaking publicly with his political mentor.

Now, Mueller’s up to his old tricks. If elected, particularly in tandem with fellow Republican Lewis Rich, he plans to ax the county’s emergency medical system and, perhaps, the planning and zoning department. He’s advocating this craziness at a time when Bonner County is growing rapidly and in desperate need of visionary planning. Mueller’s antics during his previous term, from 1998 to 2001, helped gain the county a reputation from the Southern Poverty Law Center as a haven for extremists. Bonner County voters can avert another disaster by voting for Democrat Todd Crossett in this race and writing in Commissioner Karl Dye’s name in his three-way race with Rich for the other commission seat.

Anderson, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary in Stevens County, simply isn’t qualified to be sheriff on several levels. He lacks law enforcement experience. He was one of the speakers at an August 1994 meeting in Wenatchee that featured Militia of Montana founder John Trochmann. He spent three months in jail after being arrested in December 2000 and convicted for obstructing an officer and failure to identify himself when stopped for driving with an expired registration. Earlier this fall he still insisted, incorrectly, that a misdemeanor “is not a jailable offense.” A person with Anderson’s background who can’t distinguish between a misdemeanor and an infraction has no business leading a sheriff’s office. Democratic incumbent Craig Thayer deserves re-election.

Hess is involved in a five-way NIC trustee race. The Southern Poverty Law Center ranks him among the 100 most prolific white supremacists in the country, although he denies being a racist. He showed his true colors when he shouted down U.S. Sen. Larry Craig earlier this fall in Coeur d’Alene during a discussion about immigration policies. He also called veteran human rights activist Tony Stewart a “Bolshevik” as he stomped out of a town hall meeting. The best of the remaining four candidates are businessman Jim Coleman and Gonzaga University official Dennis Conners.