Candidates face off in virtual forum

COEUR d’ALENE — Candidates in four contested county races squared off Monday night in a live Virtual Town Hall Forum.

Presented by The Press and North Idaho Chambers of Commerce, the forum included candidates for coroner, clerk, assessor and commissioner.

The program featured four pre-written questions, submitted by Press readers and Chamber partners. The questions were relevant to specific political races and related to stated platforms.

Watch a recording of the forum at cdapress.com under the “Meet the Candidates” tab.

CORONER

Dr. Duke Johnson and Dr. Mark Manteuffel are vying to be Kootenai County’s next coroner.

Manteuffel worked in emergency medicine for 26 years at Kootenai Health. He said he’s long been interested in the role of coroner but knew he couldn’t pursue it until he retired.

He believes his experience as an emergency department physician has prepared him for the role.

“It’s not that different than what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years,” he said.

Manteuffel said the coroner’s role is critical, not just to the police with whom the coroner works closely but to the loved ones left behind.

“It’s important that victims’ families know and believe that we have investigated thoroughly,” he said.

Johnson began his career working in an emergency room in Southern California, but said he later found his calling in preventative medicine.

While teaching preventative medicine, Johnson said he gave advice during two pandemics, including the SARS outbreak in 2003.

“I’ve got that background in both trauma and advice during pandemics, which I think is important in light of the hour that we’re in,” Johnson said.

He said his experience in both data analysis and preventative medicine make him uniquely qualified for the office of coroner.

“That’s one of the most critical things I can bring to the office and to protect the people of Kootenai County,” he said.

CLERK

Election integrity was at the center of the discussion between the candidates for Kootenai County Clerk.

Jennifer Locke has been chief deputy clerk for five years, serving under current Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon.

Her opponent, Mike Bauer, is a former sheriff’s captain with more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement.

In a county with around 104,000 registered voters, Bauer said he believes that the perception of fair and secure elections is as important as the reality.

“I think we have an honest system here,” he said.

Still, he said it’s important to understand the concerns of some people who have doubts about election integrity in Kootenai County.

“These are things that I think would let the public know that we care,” he said.

If elected, Bauer said he wants to institute a voter fraud hotline and increase public education about Idaho’s voting laws and requirements.

In the wake of a Kootenai County poll worker facing charges of electioneering, Locke said the elections office has adjusted its training for volunteers.

“I take it very seriously,” she said, adding that she’ll dedicate one person in the auditor’s office to field questions about electioneering on Election Day.

In addition to overseeing elections, the clerk is also the auditor, recorder, clerk of the Board of County Commissioners and District Court and serves as the county’s chief budget officer. More than 100 deputy clerks work under the clerk.

Locke said she’s committed to helping fund the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

To that end, Locke said she’ll ask her department to cut at least $275,000 from county assistance, which provides limited and temporary assistance to county residents for the payment of some expenses, in order to provide more funding to KCSO.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure our county is running smoothly and efficiently,” she said.

ASSESSOR

Ongoing tensions at the Assessor’s Office were palpable during the conversation between Kootenai County Assessor Béla Kovacs and challenger Bob Scott.

Scott, a nine-year Assessor’s Office employee, said he decided to run because he saw no other way to effect change in the department.

“We need a huge change to save this office,” he said. “The fact that people rose up against (Kovacs) speaks volumes. That’s never happened before.”

More than 30 Assessor’s Office employees issued a vote of no confidence in Kovacs this month, calling on him to end his campaign.

In letters submitted to The Press, employees cited Kovacs’ inexperience and alleged disrespect for staff as reasons for their lack of support.

Kovacs, who acknowledged the environment in the assessor’s office is “unstable,” said he’s running in order to finish the work he started.

County commissioners voted unanimously in May 2020 to appoint Kovacs from among three candidates to the office of assessor, after the death of his predecessor, Rich Houser.

Kovacs pointed to areas that he believes need attention, such as inconsistencies in how appraisals are done and inadequate computer systems.

“There need to be administrative tools in place,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have that. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack to try to find information.”

Kovacs said the best way to address the concerns of Kootenai County residents is to provide them with “lean, efficient and effective operations.” He believes his desire to do just that has led to some of the challenges he’s faced so far.

“I have asked some challenging questions and sometimes that makes people feel uncomfortable,” he said. “I want the employees to know I will work and reach out with them.”

Scott said Kootenai County residents frequently ask how he can fix the reported low morale in the Assessor’s Office.

He said the solution is to elect him.

“What’s broken?” Scott said. “I’ll tell you what’s broken. It’s the spirit of the people in our office.”

DISTRICT 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONER

Though Monday’s forum was not a debate, incumbent Chris Fillios and challenger Bruce Mattare traded barbs and scrutinized each other’s past during the Monday night forum.

One point of contention was BlueHippo Funding, LCC, an installment credit company based in Maryland that allegedly preyed on consumers with bad credit.

The Baltimore Sun reported in February 2004 that Joseph K. Rensin founded BlueHippo, with Mattare as senior vice president.

The company claimed to sell computers and other electronics. Customers paid hundreds of dollars upfront before receiving the equipment, then made monthly payments until the items were paid for. But many customers said they never got their items or their money back.

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission filed a memorandum in federal court reporting that BlueHippo sent “at most one computer” despite taking in more than $15 million from customers. The company filed bankruptcy the same year and was ultimately fined about $13 million.

Mattare said he left BlueHippo in May 2004, just 14 months after it was founded, and later assisted regulators and FTC enforcement actions.

“All (Fillios) can do is plant seeds of doubt about me,” he said.

Fillios suggested Mattare traded information in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

“(Mattare) helped engineer the programs that basically took advantage of of vulnerable populations — people who were credit-challenged and the elderly,” he said. “He is unfit for public office, much less the office of county commissioner.”

Mattare said Fillios lacks transparency, pointing to how one of the three people Fillios appointed to the Optional Forms of Government Study Commission last year was his 2020 campaign treasurer.

Each commissioner named three individuals and one alternate to serve on the commission.

The group originally recommended that the county’s officials remain elected and that the Board of County Commissioners expand from three full-time commissioners to five part-time commissioners, though a last-minute reversal likely killed any chance of Kootenai County voters getting the final say.

Mattare — who served as an alternate, appointed by Commissioner Leslie Duncan — said he doesn’t support putting potential changes to a public vote, in part because a similar recommendation previously failed.

“We actually put this before the voters in 2012 and they voted it down,” Mattare said.

Fillios said denying voters the ability to decide is a disservice to them.

“Why shouldn’t people have the right to choose their form of government?” he said.

Since Fillios came into office about five years ago, he said the county has remained debt free and made strides on managing growth.

Fillios said he’s working to retain county employees, including law enforcement, and preserve rural lands. Under his direction, Fillios said, the county has invested in Lake Coeur d’Alene’s health for the first time.

“We will live and die by the health of that lake,” he said.

If elected, Mattare said he’ll increase transparency by communicating with Kootenai County residents through his blog.

“You’re going to get an advocate for you, the voter,” he said.