C1 MY TURN: Candidates, take this vetting test

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

Whether Groucho Marx said it or not, this summation has never been more valid than right now.

How has politics become more important than good government? I never read anything about politics in The Constitution or The Bill of Rights. Those documents speak to America as one country and how to run it for We The People. Not for them the politicians.

Our two main political parties have become nothing but self-serving bureaucracies that drag out a war between themselves, leaving battlefield casualties strewn across America. We’re a hateful, angry nation because of it.

Their inability to somehow find common ground cheats every one of us. Making a nation great isn’t done by getting the populous to hate each other. It’s not your fellow Americans who are dragging us down, it’s politics.

And now politics has weaseled its way into what had previously been non-political local affairs. Somehow Kootenai County got a wannabe political big-shot who hasn’t lived here long enough to wear out a pair of shoes but thinks his opinion is of relevance. And he’s trying to tell you who to vote for. He says they are the best candidates. And they are, for himself. And they then become suspect for our community.

His main criteria for selection was based on which candidates would be the most valuable to him and his party (and, no doubt, his desire to advance in his party). He doesn’t want qualified people, he wants “company men.” They would exist because of their party and exist to serve their party. Meaning they really don’t care so much for their community as they do for their politics.

I don’t want a dang politician to have any positions in my hometown — it’s bad enough in the county — nor in my locally elected health, education and highway positions. I want local governing bodies to be run by citizens of our community, people who by deed and word have invested their lives into the area they wish to represent. Knowledgeable people; people who will serve the community and not be mastered by political overtones.

Let’s take the politics out of our local elections. Let’s remove any political vetting process. This isn’t Washington, D.C., this is Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Let’s have a realistic candidate-vetting process. One that shows how knowledgeable and capable for the position a candidate is. Something non-political.

Something like this:

ATTENTION ALL CANDIDATES running in the upcoming local City (you too Post Falls, Hayden and Dalton), Education and Highway elections. Tell us who you are. Take the survey below. Read the categories and give yourself points based on your honest answers.

1) One point for each year you have lived inside the boundaries of the district in which you are running.

2) One point for each year you have been a standing member of a civic, community or charitable organization. Multiple organizations are fine, but you can’t count any professional, political or religious organizations.

3) One extra point for each year in question 2 that you did while living in the district in which you are running.

4) One point for each year you have spent as a chair, president, vice president, secretary, treasurer or executive board member of a civic, community or charitable organization. Multiple organizations are fine, but you can’t count any professional, political or religious organizations.

5) One extra point for each year in question 4 that you did while living in the district in which you are running.

6) One point for each year you have served on any appointed or elected position in any governmental capacity.

7) One extra point for each year in question 6 that you did while living in the district in which you are running.

Bonus questions for education, health and highway position candidates only.

8) One point for each year you have worked in the field of your candidacy.

9) One extra point for each of the years in question 8 that were performed while living or working in the district in which you are running.

Be honest, count your numbers, show your math and give us voters your score. Deadline: Oct. 12.

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Dave Walker is a lifetime Coeur d'Alene resident and former member of the Coeur d’Alene City Council.