PRESS ENDORSEMENT: Three for NIC who show up for you

You’ll soon elect a U.S. senator.

A slew of state legislative seats is on the Nov. 8 slate.

But the most important decision you’re facing in the general election is the selection of three people for North Idaho College’s Board of Trustees. For many, these will be difficult choices because they’re nonpartisan positions. There will be no R or D to guide them.

The Press editorial board urges you to vote for these three conservatives: Brad Corkill, Pete Broschet and Tarie Zimmerman. A recent photo in the newspaper offers a snapshot worth at least a thousand explanatory words.

In that photo, Zimmerman, Corkill and Broschet are seated at a long table, separated by three vacant seats. Those empty slots should have been filled with the other trustee candidates in a highly anticipated Chamber of Commerce forum, but the three absentees all said they were unavailable to participate.

Think about that for a moment. If candidates for any position, let alone one so near and dear to the community, aren’t available to tell you who they are and what they think, how well do you think they’ll represent you?

We’ll tell you now: They won’t. But Broschet, Corkill and Zimmerman will.

Handlers of the three no-shows have suggested that the deck was stacked against them, one going so far as to assert that the three who did show up were fed questions in advance. That’s a lie, one of many in this campaign.

All six candidates were given the same set of instructions for the Chamber forum, including length of time for introductions and the number of questions that would be asked. Corkill, Broschet and Zimmerman came prepared for far more than six questions, which is what you would expect of a legitimate candidate facing voters live and in person.

But the forum allegations are an excuse, a distraction meant to undermine the legitimacy of an event produced only for broad public benefit. The three no-shows clearly don’t want to answer hard questions — which is exactly what we’ve seen from current NIC trustees Todd Banducci and Greg McKenzie the past couple years.

And because of Banducci’s and McKenzie’s leadership malpractice, far more hard questions will need to be answered by conscientious trustees going forward.

Of utmost importance is the election of all three public-minded candidates: Corkill, Broschet and Zimmerman. If even one of them loses, the majority of the board will again be bent on destroying NIC’s accreditation and reputation. As a community, we can’t let that happen.

Please support Zimmerman, Corkill and Broschet for NIC trustee. It’s no overstatement to declare that the college’s very existence may depend upon your choices Nov. 8.