OPINION: Candidate recommendations

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) held a special meeting on Tuesday to review the candidates for the November election and then to vote by secret ballot on which candidates the KCRCC would recommend.  

Many organizations, groups and associations endorse candidates for office. These groups typically are composed of individuals who are bound together by something they have in common. They may be Realtors or doctors or firefighters or other groups who seek to promote candidates they believe would be well suited to the office.  

How these groups decide which candidates to endorse varies widely. Some have a board that decides. Others may have a vote of the membership. In some cases the method is not known and the endorsement comes in the form of a declaration from leadership.  

When considering the validity of any particular endorsement you should consider both the membership and method. The membership will indicate any particular bias of special interest concern. The method will tell you if the endorsement is true to the membership.  

The KCRCC is made up of Precinct Committeemen who are elected every two years by the residents from each of the 73 precincts in Kootenai County. This last May, 70 of the 73 precinct committeeman seats were competitively challenged. This means that the elected precinct committeemen were selected by the Republican voters to represent their precinct on the Republican Central Committee. Because there is one committeeman for each of the 73 precincts the KCRCC is a valid cross section of the entire Kootenai County, from Athol to Worley and Harrison to State Line.  

All candidates who are running for office are invited to participate in the rating process. Most chose to participate while some do not. The first step is for the candidate to fill out a questionnaire. Next the candidate is invited to come before the Vetting Committee for an interview. The Vetting Committee is composed of about a dozen members with two thirds being precinct committeemen and one third other respected individuals from the community. A professional background check is also performed to uncover legal or financial issues. 

Next the Precinct Committeemen are encouraged to attend candidate forums and other events so that they can get firsthand experience with the candidates. The KCRCC also arranges a meet and greet specifically for the committeemen to question the candidates one on one.  

Finally the voting members of the KCRCC have a special meeting to hear the Vetting Committee chairman give a report on each of the participating candidates followed by discussion and finally a secret ballot vote. These rating meetings usually last between three to four hours. Tuesday’s meeting was five and a half hours. Since the May election the KCRCC has 32 new members who were experiencing their first special meeting to rate the candidates. Extra time was needed to answer questions, review the procedures and discuss the rules.   

Each committeeman is provided a worksheet listing all the candidates so they can take notes during reports and discussions. The candidates include the Republicans who won their primary races and the candidates for positions that do not require primaries.  

During Tuesday’s meeting the committee decided that the 18 Republican candidates who had won their primaries would be recommended. The committee also decided that it would make no recommendations regarding the magistrate retention votes because there was not an established method in place to evaluate these positions. Also the committee decided it would make no recommendations regarding the Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland School District Levies.  

The committee did discuss at length the NIC trustee zone 3, 4 and 5 races as well as the Kootenai and Shoshone Soil and Water district trustee races. Also discussed were the Northern Lakes Fire District Levy and the Timberlake Fire District Levy.  

After discussions ended ballots were distributed to the 69 members present. After marking their ballots the committeemen turned them in to the secretary who noted that each present member had voted.  

Two tabulators were appointed and approved by the members. The ballots were placed face down on the tabulation table, shuffled and then turned over to the tabulators who examined the ballots one at a time and transferred the votes onto a tabulation sheet. All committeemen present were welcome to observe the tabulation.  

Once the votes were totaled the tabulators signed the tabulation sheet and the chairman read the results aloud to the assembly who then voted to accept the results. The committeemen were invited to examine to totals and take pictures to post on social media. A photo of the results was posted on the KCRCC Facebook page within minutes of acceptance.  

For the NIC races, William Lyons, Greg Mckenzie and Michael Angeletta received 74% of the votes.

For the Kootenai and Shoshone Soil and Water district Wesley Evans, Walter Jon Groth, Paul Mahlow and Richard Meyer earned the committee’s recommendation.

The committee also recommends a YES vote on both the Northern Lakes and Timberlake Fire District Levies and a NO vote on Proposition 1, the Ranked Choice Voting initiative.  

Hundreds of man hours of effort went into making these recommendations.  

There will be candidate forums and other events where you can get to know the candidates. The KCRCC strongly encourages the voters to take advantage of these opportunities to be better informed about their choices in this election. 

It’s just common sense.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.