Chambers won't seek District 3 seat

POST FALLS - John Chambers won't take the legislative baton from Rep. Frank Henderson after all.

Chambers, the semi-retired Ground Force Manufacturing executive who was endorsed by Henderson to seek his District 3 House seat, learned over the weekend that he might reside just outside the district. He confirmed that in a meeting Monday morning with Kootenai County Elections manager Carrie Phillips, then spoke Monday night with Henderson about the error.

"This was a true mistake - I truly thought I was in his district," Chambers told The Press on Tuesday. "My apologies to everybody over this."

Earlier this session, Chambers sat in for Henderson for three weeks while Henderson was recovering from a broken hip. Henderson said the only legislation Chambers officially worked on as his substitute involved a review of administrative rules.

"He was one vote out of a dozen, with no objections," Henderson said. "No harm, no foul."

While Chambers felt terrible about what happened, Henderson said it's not a big deal.

"It was an honest mistake that caused no harm so we'll just put it behind us," Henderson said.

Chambers said Tuesday he has no plans to seek office this time around.

"All I saw was the need for people to bring some business thought down to the Legislature," he said. "That's what I was looking at: What can I do for my district? I certainly wasn't planning to do it for the money or for the title."