Consumer advocate runs for commission

COEUR d’ALENE — Bill Brooks spends a lot of time on the phone with consumers.

He intends to do the same with constituents.

Brooks, a Republican, on Monday announced his candidacy for the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners seat currently held by Marc Eberlein. The Republican primary election is next May 15.

For the past 11 months, Brooks has been fielding dozens of phone calls a day as a volunteer consumer advocate and columnist for the Coeur d’Alene Press and Post Falls Press. He said he’ll take that connection with residents to the commissioners’ office.

“The first thing I’m going to do is start personally returning people’s phone calls,” said the 67-year-old. “All of this data diving and micromanaging from the commissioners is meaningless if we don’t talk to county residents when they have problems. Long range planning, not day-to-day putting out fires, is the key to efficient, well-managed county government.”

Brooks said one of his key goals is reining in county spending.

“I am going to immediately move to freeze property taxes,” he said. “We need to get a handle on spending and start exploring rolling back taxes. Once that’s done, we’ll have the full attention of the politicians, and then we can start pushing them in the right direction.”

Brooks is a former hospital administrator who has lived in Kootenai County since 1999. He’s a broker for his own firm, Bill Brooks Real Estate, and is also an independent insurance adjustor. A University of Illinois graduate, Brooks served in the military as an intelligence analyst and linguist with the Army Security Agency.

Brooks and his wife, Bobbi, live in Coeur d’Alene with their two dogs. They have four children and two grandchildren.

Information: www.BillBrooks4Commissioner.com or call him at 208-699-0506.