Keith Hutcheson, former Coeur d'Alene Tribal Police chief (left), and sheriff's Major Ben Wolfinger mull a question at the candidates forum for the Kootenai County Republican sheriff's nomination at Coeur d'Alene Library Wednesday night. I consider these two the most qualified of five-man field.

Observations:

• Wolfinger wasn't a hit with several Constitutionalists in the crowd when he described the sheriff's office as a "paramilitary organization."
• Foster was the only one to answer question re: who he'd vote for if he wasn't running -- Hutcheson.
• Green answered question re: how long he's lived in Kootenai County carefully, stating that he has owned land here for awhile.
• Wolfinger is the only candidate who said the county needs to build a new jail.
• Green didn't score points with some when he said the county might be arresting too many people at a time when 77 percent of the inmates in the county jail are there for felonies.
• Wolfinger posed the $64,000 question to Johnson when he asked how Johnson's candidacy had credibility since he has no police background but does have a criminal record as a result of a guilty plea last year for heroin possession. Johnson was also involved in a downtown Coeur d'Alene incident in which he shot two men from Moses Lake.