Henderson: Hayes ‘Rigid But Fair’

Betsy Russell passed along these comments about County Clerk Cliff Hayes from Rep. Frank Henderson:

Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, praised Hayes. “He was by the book, he was rigid, but always fair, and just an outstanding manager of people,” Henderson said. “I had talked to him about running for the Legislature.” In fact, Henderson said, he had planned to go see Hayes next week and urge him to run this year. “Cliff Hayes always wanted to run against Bob Nonini,” Henderson said. “I never knew exactly why, but he wanted to take on Bob. … I think he wanted to run against Bob this year, I really think so.” He said, “Cliff has always been highly respected up here. … He would’ve had a very strong background to be in the Legislature.” Henderson noted, however, “He never stopped smoking. He was at least a pack and a half, two packs a day smoker. And he knew the problem, he knew it. But he was hooked on it. It’s too bad we’ve lost a very important public servant and a really genuinely nice guy.”

Thoughts?