EDMONDSON: Ex-sheriff backs her

Mr. Pfahler, you ask “Sheriff – Who dares to lead?” As a retired Sheriff of Kootenai County I will try to answer your question. When facing an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe we should look to and trust in our elected officials and medical professionals for leadership. .Kootenai County has been blessed by a number of true leaders during this difficult time. Let me tell you about one of them. The one you want the public to believe did nothing.

Kim Edmondson is a Captain with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Management. She was immediately involved as the Operations Section Chief during the first week when the Incident Command Center was initiated. She worked to get that section set-up in addition to planning and coordinating resources for other law enforcement partners. This direct involvement is about leadership.

The Incident Command team sent a consistent message to the community from the very onset of this event; calling for all of us to look to their messaging as the sole source of accurate information in order to keep us all calm and appropriately advised. To do anything more would have drawn attention away from that sole source of information. Respecting that direction is about leadership.

Kim is the only candidate with “boots on the ground” and she has served our county for over 28 years. I think it was wise that she chose not to politicize her involvement because a consistent and accurate message to the community is much more important. It’s not about politics; it is about leadership.

I support Kim Edmondson for Sheriff.

PIERCE CLEGG

Kootenai County Sheriff, Retired

Hayden