HEARN: Politics aren't his purpose

My kids are grown and out of the house; I'm retired and on fixed income. So, speaking selfishly about schools … if families don’t want to move here my property value tanks and I'm broke. If my property values go down I can’t move and my grandkids won’t live here. People like me whose kids are grown and gone, or who have no kids or who homeschool, need public schools as  much as we need roads or fire engines.

I used to love seeing board members at every game, concert or graduation, even when they didn’t have any kids in that school. Now it seems some current school board members, probably with good intentions, are just more interested in politics and political rallies. That's fine, but not the priority we need on school board.

I’ve known Tom Hearn, his wife and kids for 20 years. Tom has been a friend and confidant even when he and I have respectfully disagreed. He’s been trusted by the legal community as a person with a gentle heart but who can be quietly hard-as-nails about law and morality. He knows what it takes to get a full education and turn it into a business and a career serving the community. Tom Hearn has political views, as any citizen should, but I know those are secondary to how much he has agonized about the schools and about kids and families. Like me, Tom knows how much good schools mean to my pocketbook.

I encourage my neighbors to take school board elections seriously. Unlike presidential elections, these votes stay right here and change our lives directly and personally. And I hope you will hear me, from the heart when I say how strongly I admire and endorse my personal and professional friend, Tom Hearn.

MIKE BULLARD

Coeur d’Alene