[Vision2020] BOCC/Assessor

[Barrett Schroeder]

I attended the interviews for Assessor last night and the 
Commissioners had good questions for the three candidates, 
including several detailed questions on appraising property, 
and questions about experience and how they would deal 
with problems that would arise in the job.

My impressions of the three candidates (in the order they
were interviewed, which was drawn by lots):

Khaliela Wright clearly had the best answers to the detailed
questions about appraising property.

Pat Vaughan emphasized working with and managing people.

Rich Levengood talked about his knowledge of public policy and 
experience working with property tax issues in other positions.


I know that electing local officials is very important to the voters.
My hope is that we can maintain the level of professionalism
we've enjoyed in the Latah County Courthouse, and avoid
too much "politics."  I went to Steve Fiscus' going away party, 
and he mentioned that there are counties where the various 
elected officials don't get along, and it is unpleasant for everyone.

The three candidates have two things in common:  they are active 
Democrats, and they have no experience in appraising property. 
When Steve Fiscus was appointed many years ago, he was 
working in the office.  The current #2 in the Assessor's office ran 
for Treasurer as a Republican once, so she was not likely to be 
nominated by the Democrat Party.  In 15-16 years in office, Steve 
never had a Republican challenger.

The concern is whether the process of setting assessed values 
will become politicized.

I haven't discussed the three candidates with the Commissioners,
and I don't intend to, but they welcome input from the public 
before their decision on Monday. The fastest way to reach them 
is their shared email  bocc at latah.id.us or you can find other 
information at:

	http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/BOCC_Main.htm


Barrett Schroeder
Chairman, Latah County Republicans

> ----------
> From: 	Barrett Schroeder[SMTP:Barrett at hideandfur.com]
> Sent: 	Friday, April 29, 2005 2:20 PM
> To: 	'vision2020 at moscow.com' 
> Subject: 	RE: [Vision2020] BOCC/Assessor
> 
> The nominees for Assessor were chosen by the 
> Democrat Central Committee Thursday evening 
> and they are:
> 
> Rich Levengood
> Pat Vaughan
> Khaliela Wright
> 
> None of the nominees currently works in the Assessor's
> office. Pat Vaughan was a candidate for Commissioner 
> in the Democrat Primary last year. 
> 
> The names were alphabetical in the Commissioners' 
> press release (text below), so I don't know if the Democrats 
> expressed any preferences.  I also don't know how
> many people came forward for the job. The last time
> Republicans had to do this (for Commissioner) we had
> about 20 people apply and submitted 3 names to the
> Governor. Before that we had just 2 applicants for Latah
> County Treasurer.
> 
> Barrett
> 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Tom Hansen [SMTP:thansen at moscow.com]
> > Sent:	Wednesday, April 27, 2005 4:55 PM
> > To:	'Art Deco'; 'Vision 2020'; 
> > Subject:	RE: [Vision2020] BOCC/Assessor
> > 
> > 	Wayne -
> > 
> > 	 Is there any way we can obtain a list of the candidates for County
> > Assessor?
> > 
> > 	 Thanks,
> > 
> > 	 Tom Hansen
> >