CdA candidates mum on election plans

Coeur d’Alene voters might finally get a glimpse Monday at who is running for City Council in the November election because that’s the first day candidates can officially file.

Yet it appears that most candidates, including the three incumbents, will wait until the Sept. 7 deadline.

“I don’t know,” Councilwoman Dixie Reid said when asked Friday if she’s running for re-election after serving 26 years on the council. “I’ll probably take until the seventh to decide.”

Councilman Ron Edinger, a former mayor, only offered up a tad more detail.

“I don’t know, but right now I’m pretty sure I’m going to run again,” Edinger said.

Councilman Al Hassell wasn’t available for comment Friday, but most observers seem to think he will enter the race.

Even though the three incumbents aren’t talking, they do expect a spirited campaign season in the wake of recent questions raised about the city’s urban renewal agency, Lake City Development Corp.

They also expect that the Internet and local blogs might have a larger role in the campaign than ever before.

Coeur d’Alene resident Dan Gookin is helping lead a small but vocal group questioning how the public agency is spending its money and accusing it of subsidizing wealthy developers. It also questions how the city helped fund the Kroc Community Center.

The main question whether tax dollars should fund private development.

The group has been attending meetings and asking questions in addition to active participation on blogs.

Gookin, who unsuccessfully ran for the Idaho Senate as a Libertarian in 2002, is tight-lipped about whether he will challenge one of the incumbents.

“If I was, you would probably hear about it in the next two weeks,” Gookin said.

Coeur d’Alene council candidates must pick a seat to run for even though it’s a citywide election. That means Gookin would have to choose to challenge Edinger, Hassell or Reid.

He predicts it will be an interesting race, especially if the “anti-incumbent attitude” is still lingering from when voters last year ousted Kootenai County Commissioners Gus Johnson and Katie Brodie.

“I’m hearing people are upset and want changes to the seemingly unanimous votes, consent and no-questions-asked attitude” of the current council, Gookin said.

Reid said it’s difficult for residents to find negatives with a city that is opening a new library, community center and riverfront park.

“I’ve got no time for all the negativity,” Reid said.

She blames all the recent negativity on the “anti-LCDC” group.

Reid, who is a member of the LCDC board, said there are no legitimate problems or wrongdoing.

“We have followed the letter of the law,” she said. “We have lawyers that watch our backs all the time. We don’t want to do anything wrong. We are here to serve the people.”

Former Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission member Susie Snedaker didn’t return a call Friday, but City Clerk Susan Weathers confirmed that Snedaker picked up a candidate packet.

Snedaker challenged Councilwoman Deanne Goodlander in 2005.

Jim Brannon, the local Habitat for Humanity executive director who ran for City Council in 1999, has also picked up a packet. Brannon didn’t return a call Friday.

Gary Ingram, a former Republican legislator, picked up three packets.

Weathers said state law doesn’t require people to disclose who they are or why they are picking up a candidate packet. That keeps the mystery until the 5 p.m. deadline Sept. 7.

Gookin was the first person, whether he runs for office or not, to tout the Nov. 6 council election on the Internet. In July, he posted a Google video called “Dissent is not allowed in Coeur d’Alene” after he was troubled by what he called “disrespectful behavior” of Reid and Councilman Mike Kennedy toward the public during a council meeting.

The clip shows Reid shaking her finger at a woman speaking during the public comment section and Kennedy questioning another speaker about their level of education.

Gookin said the “attacks” on taxpayers motivated him to make the video, yet he doesn’t think it or similar Internet creations will have much sway in the election.

He compared it to the old-fashioned political scandal sheets that were once handed out on street corners during elections. The only difference, he said, is the venue and that it’s delivered instantaneously.

The city also has embraced the Internet, but not for posting campaign jabs.

Instead, Weathers said, the city is encouraging voters to submit candidate questions on the city’s Web site at www.coeurdaleneidaho.org. Candidates will answer the inquiries during an Oct. 11 debate televised on Cable Channel 19.

Weathers said the candidates won’t get the questions in advance so they can’t prepare answers.

“It’s a great opportunity for our citizens to get to know the candidates and ask them the questions that they want to ask,” she said.