Clerk race focuses on election procedures

A recent lawsuit challenging Coeur d’Alene’s November 2009 City Council election is at the forefront of the race for Kootenai County clerk.

Kootenai County 1st District Judge Charles Hosack recently ruled in favor of the city and an incumbent councilman in a lawsuit that also challenged the way the county ran the election. The ruling praised the county’s operation of the election but also found four votes illegal due to residency issues, though that did not change the election’s outcome.

Republican Cliff Hayes is challenging 15-year incumbent Democrat Dan English for the position of clerk, which oversees the elections office, county assistance, District Court, auditor and recorder. Hayes said the lawsuit shook voter confidence and he’d like to restore trust. After 22 years as Post Falls’ police chief, Hayes believes he has the administrative ability to do that.

“I don’t want this to come out as if I’m tearing Dan apart, but I think the laws need to be followed and I have done that for quite a while,” Hayes said.

English, however, said while the lawsuit revealed some areas where the elections office could improve, the election was conducted in good faith and the law was followed to the best of his staff’s ability. State and local elections law includes numerous procedural requirements, he said.

“I’m very mindful that it’s been controversial,” English said. “Far more important than who gets elected is that the voters have confidence in their election system and … in the actions of their elections officials. I feel I’ve earned their respect and trust. (Elections) ought to be about choices and they ought to be based on factors like experience and track record, and I’m certainly happy to stand on mine.”

English’s background includes time on the Coeur d’Alene School Board and City Council, in addition to founding and running Anchor House/Idaho Youth Ranch Boys Home. He said he’s proudest overall of the operation of his elections office; of legislation he helped pass creating a fund that will allow all recorded documents to be placed online; and of a voluntary higher standard met by the auditor’s office that can result in better interest rates for the county in bonding.

Hayes said if he’s elected, he’d like to put every check the county writes on a website and identify what it’s for and who spent it so residents can see how their money is spent. “The big word nowadays is transparency,” Hayes said.

He said he’d also place an emphasis on training elections workers in the law. He said one issue the lawsuit raised was the problem of people registering at their business, not their residence. He would like to put together a volunteer committee to double-check addresses. “That is thousands (of people), so it’s going to take some time, but you can get started with a good volunteer group,” he said.

English said the clerk’s job already requires regular and systematic training for elections workers through the secretary of state’s office and for others of his staff through the state court system and the Association of Counties. The job is much more multifaceted than just overseeing elections, he said. In the next four-year term, he said, issues will include a transition to oversee elections for every county taxing district, as dictated by state law; installing software in the recorder’s office to allow the county to put documents online; and seeking money-saving solutions in the county assistance department, which is a large and growing expense.

Hayes said he has the administrative ability to run the clerk’s office. In addition to more than two decades as police chief, he served as acting city administrator of Post Falls on three separate occasions for more than two years total, he said. He said if he wins he plans to serve only one term as clerk, which he said should be enough to review operations and make any needed changes.

“You are not going to run every office at the county clerk’s,” Hayes said. “You are going to administer over the people there.”