EDITORIAL: Robocalls leave out a lot of info

When voters don't know your candidate, you attack your candidate’s opponent.

Lack of context and outright lies are your primary weapons.

That’s what’s happening with a series of robocalls promoting incumbent precinct committeemen now part of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. The ads give no indication who produced or paid for them.

Here's just one example of what's happening as the May 21 primary election draws near.

Republican voters in Precinct 412 — and everywhere else in Kootenai County, for that matter — know who Jim Hammond is. He has a high-profile public record, and not just because he’s been Coeur d’Alene’s mayor since 2022.

The former teacher and principal who earned his master’s degree at Whitworth, a Christian university in Spokane and has been a Republican. But Hammond is much more than the R denoting his political affiliation.

He stands alone in having served as mayor of Kootenai County’s two largest cities and as city administrator of each. After leading Post Falls from 1996-2006, he served three terms as Republican state senator, from 2006 to 2012. But Jim’s public service has gone much wider and even deeper than that.

He’s been vice president of the Idaho State Board of Education and member of the University of Idaho Board of Regents.

Jim has served in leadership positions with such disparate organizations as the Association of Idaho Cities, United Way of Kootenai County, the economic development agency for Kootenai County known as Jobs Plus, Post Falls Food Bank, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene chambers of commerce, and Post Falls Education Foundation.

He’s been president of the North Idaho Crisis Center board, vice president of the Idaho State Building Authority, and chairman of the Idaho Charter School Commission.

The list goes on and on. Yet the robocalls are saying this about Hammond:

Don’t make the mistake of electing this Democrat again. Vote your real Republican choice, Doug Bacon for precinct committeeman.

Which begs a fair question: Who is Doug Bacon?

It's a question voters throughout the county are asking when mention of the KCRCC's precinct committeemen draws perfect blanks.