Bingham, Fillios prevail in commission races

COEUR d'ALENE — In the four-way race for the Kootenai County Commission seat for District 3, Bob Bingham won in Tuesday's primary election.

Bingham had 3,342 votes, edging Leslie Duncan's 3,272. Duane Rasmussen finished third with 2,681 votes and Fred Meckel had 2,168.

All four candidates are Republicans.

Bingham, who founded the North West Property Owners Alliance, a grassroots nonprofit focused on property and privacy rights, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. He is retired from the construction and energy industries.

Duncan, a political newcomer, said she tried to meet as many people as she could during the campaign. She led the race until the final results were posted.

"I'd like to think that people saw my commitment to the community and skill level to be the chairperson of the Aquifer Protection District," she said at a gathering at Compel Community Church in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday night.

Duncan owns Falcon Enterprises, a sports TV production company, with her husband. She has a degree in criminal justice.

Bingham will face Independent Russ McLain in November's general election. No Democrats filed for the seat.

The deadline to file as a write-in candidate in the November general election is Oct. 11.

Dan Green, the current seat holder for District 3, decided to not seek re-election.

District 3 includes the north-central part of Kootenai County.

Rasmussen said he believed some of the other candidates had "single-issue appeal," whereas he tried to emphasize he's interested in addressing a broader spectrum of topics. He also hoped voters consider his education as an attorney.

"I thought that I could offer something that the other candidates couldn't because of my experience," Rasmussen said. "Commissioners write ordinances, decide on cases in a judicial capacity and are involved with administration. I've done all three with governmental entities."

Rasmussen said he filed for candidacy on the last possible day because he wanted to see who all was running first.

"I saw the experience of the others and thought I had more to offer," he said. "If someone was more qualified than me, I wouldn't have filed myself."

Rasmussen formerly worked for the Oklahoma Tax Commission as a litigation lawyer and worked for two attorney generals in that state. He has been involved the local Republican Central Committee.

Meckel, a mental health therapist and a member of the Idaho Army National Guard, has served on the Rathdrum City Council for the past eight years. He was recently elected to a third term and elected the council president.

As of May 1, Duncan reported the most contributions among District 3 candidates with $5,700. Bingham reported $3,581.93 in contributions, Meckel $250 and Rasmussen $1,417.

In the other commissioner race, Kootenai County will have a new commissioner to serve District 2. Chris Fillios defeated incumbent and fellow Republican David Stewart 6,584 (57 percent) to 5,054 during the primary election.

No Democrats filed for the seat. The deadline to file as a write-in candidate in the November general election is Oct. 11.

District 2 includes the southern part of the county, areas around Lake Coeur d'Alene and most of Coeur d'Alene.

Stewart could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. He has served as a commissioner since January last year.

Fillios, an associate broker for Tomlinson Sothebys and an East Side Highway District commissioner, ran against Jai Nelson and Rick Currie for the commission in 2010.

He said he was "fairly optimistic, but not overly optimistic" on Election Day about unseating Stewart.

"I think we did the best we can with campaign signs, at forums, with mailings … ," said Fillios, who attended a party at The Fedora Pub and Grille. "We took a broad-based approach (during the campaign)."

Fillios said that with a low voter turnout expected, anything could've happened with the outcome.

"I had a suspicion that the turnout would be low because the Presidential primary occurred just over a month ago," he said.

Fillios said he knew going into the election that it can be difficult to unseat an incumbent who has name recognition, but he's not exactly an unknown either, having run before and still serving on the highway district.

"Name recognition is typically a major factor, but with that comes positives and negatives," he said. "I had some name recognition from the previous campaign."

Stewart formerly worked in construction as a general contractor in residential and commercial real estate development.

Fillios said he also believes his high technology management experience was helpful.

"I've managed people, projects and budgets," he said.

As of May 1, Fillios had outpaced all other county commissioner candidates with financial contributions. He reported $12,662 in contributions, while Stewart had $5,885.50.