Commission candidates brandish credentials

POST FALLS — Kootenai County Commissioner Marc Eberlein touted his knowledge of county issues on Friday, but challenger Bill Brooks argued it won't take him long to get there with his management background.

The Republican candidates for the District 1 seat in the May 15 Republican primary squared off before about 35 people attending the Panhandle Pachyderm Club meeting at Red Lion Templin's Hotel.

"One of the things I can do well is learn faster than about anyone else I know," said Brooks, a consumer advocate.

A disabled veteran and former hospital administrator, Brooks 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.

Eberlein, a business owner-entrepreneur, said he thought he knew county government when he first ran, but once he dug in it was more complex and he had to call his opponent to apologize for misstatements he'd made in his campaign.

"You think you know what's going on, but you don't have a clue," he said, adding that commissioners attend a wide range of meetings both within county government and outside it.

Both candidates consider themselves Constitutional conservatives who are not afraid to take a stand.

Brooks said he made a lot of money while working in public broadcasting, but abruptly resigned when government money started to infiltrate the business.

"I stand by my convictions," he said.

Eberlein countered that his often-dissenting voting record on the budget and other proposals indicates that government needs to be cut and spending reeled in.

"I have the political fortitude to stand up when everybody is against me," he said, adding that he believes funding for the sheriff's office in particular is excessive.

Eberlein voted against the other two commissioners on this year's budget that included a tax increase. Clerk Jim Brannon asked Brooks if he would have also voted it down, and Brooks said yes.

"But what I would have done differently is worked long and hard on (Commissioner) Chris Fillios," Brooks said, referring to swaying the three-member vote. "I believe I can be very persuasive and, if I would have had him on my side of the equation, we would have succeeded. That's a function of leadership. Persuasion takes talent and leadership."

Brooks said salaries and services need to be looked at carefully when shaping the budget.

"In every organization — whether it's the county or private — a particular function is worth a particular amount of money," he said. "Government tends to be sloppy, and we end up paying the freight."

Brooks said he believes he has the integrity and accessibility to be a county leader. He said he's gotten as many as 67 calls in one day in response to his consumer column in The Press — he lists the number at the bottom of the column — and he answers the phone from early morning to late at night.

"I point people to where they can get a solution," he said.

With transitional housing, a hot-button issue in the county, Brooks said the homeless and transitional needs of the area should be defined before a solution is sought. He said the opposite is occurring.

Eberlein said he believes allowing transitional housing only in areas such as high density and commercial, which equate to only a small portion of the land in the county, is wrong.

"Right now we're setting them (transitional housing proponents) up for disaster," he said, adding that he's also a firm believer in private property rights when making decisions on proposals.