ELECTION: City needs Gookin and Wood

In 2011, Dan Gookin joined the Coeur d’Alene City Council and has been a voice to reckon with ever since. He is a fiscal hawk, a deep thinker, and a small government bulldog. His goal of representing all the citizens of our city has not waivered.

I do not always agree with his compass. Letting ugly shipping containers land in residential side yards is an eyesore, but property rights always outweigh visual detritus for Dan. He has stood his ground and often turned his seatmates to his fiscal restraint and singular viewpoints through his dissents.

He is front row center at every recent NIC Board meeting. He has taken a stand to defend the right of NIC to survive and thrive. He has called out the current Board at NIC for their flagrant misuse of public funds and expenditures of runaway proportions. His position as a precinct captain at KCRCC is now just rotten meat.

A recent invitation to the “Gookin Roast” at the Republican Women’s Lunch was a test of his mettle. He did not leave the meeting; he was booed out of it. Time to step back from this Republican in name only crowd and head over to more inviting political groups that are not on a warpath. Dan is not on all the boards like the city, traffic, KMPO, etc., to make friends. We need people like Dan Gookin and Christie Wood who do not bend to opposition or ugly name calling. Democracy means listening ladies, not grabbing the microphone to silence free speech.

LYNN M. FLEMING

Coeur d’Alene