[Vision2020] Our View: Just Say No

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (November 3, 2006) Spokesman Review -

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Our View: Just say 'no'

Here's three candidates voters should avoid

Elections - Endorsements
 

November 3, 2006

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.

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Seeya at the polls, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Politicians are like diapers.  They should be changed frequently and for
the same reason."

- Robin Williams