Edinger: opponent Schindelbeck injecting partisanship into race

COEUR d'ALENE — Ron Edinger released a statement Tuesday calling out his Coeur d'Alene City Council race opponent for a campaign mailer labeling him a Democrat.

He also complained that opponent Toby Schindelbeck, a Republican, was bringing party politics into the nonpartisan race. The city elections are Nov. 3.

"Toby's opponent is a 45-year career politician and a registered Democrat," Schindelbeck's recent mailer claimed.

Edinger said in the statement that he and his wife, Nancy, are both registered Republicans.

That registration, he said, permits them to vote for people like Idaho state Rep. Luke Malek and Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh, both Republicans.

"I find it disappointing that my opponent, who recently moved to Coeur d'Alene, has such little knowledge, appreciation and respect for this long-held Idaho value of not interjecting partisanship into the city election," Edinger said in his statement emailed to the media.

Edinger was first elected to the city council in 1968, serving until he was elected mayor in November 1973. He was mayor through 1978. He was again elected to the city council in 1980, and has continued since then.

In the May 2014 primary elections, Malek beat Schindelbeck by 180 votes to hold onto his seat in the Idaho Legislature. Malek didn't have a challenger in the November 2014 general election.

"There was a misprint on about 300 (mailers) and I corrected that," Schindelbeck said Tuesday.

He said he plans to hand-deliver corrected versions on Saturday.

"We'll correct it in person," he said.

He said he knows Edinger is a registered Republican, and he didn't intend to introduce partisan politics into the race.

A volunteer did the writing on the mailer, he said.

"I should have proofread it better," he said. "It just slipped through. I'm not happy about it at all — it's being corrected."