Kootenai GOP brings partisan politics otherwise sleepy election for conservation district

The election for the Kootenai-Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District is getting muddy.

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee is backing two new candidates over the conservation district’s incumbent chair and vice chair – a move critics say is politicizing a nonpartisan race and is part of the official party’s goal to control every elected board in the county, even minor ones.

Six candidates are running for four seats. Voters across Kootenai and Shoshone counties can vote for four of them.

Most officials in deep red Kootenai County are already Republican. But are they the right kind of Republican?

The North Idaho Republicans, a group of traditional conservatives who have been pushing back against what they see as KCRCC’s extreme candidates, endorsed the four incumbents who are running for re-election: Laurin Scarcello, Linda Ely, Walter Jon Groth and Wesley Evans.

KCRCC’s slate forms a Venn diagram with the North Idaho Republicans: both endorsed Groth and Evans. But the KCRCC is also supporting Paul Mahlow and Richard Meyer, who are both Republican precinct committeemen.

The Shoshone County Republican Central Committee followed KCRCC’s endorsements.

Sandy Patano, a founding member of the North Idaho Republicans, said the overlap could be because the KCRCC couldn’t find enough of their own candidates to run.

“Historically, this was boring stuff for a lot of people,” said Scarcello, who is chair of the board. “It was hard to find people to serve.”

This humdrum nonregulatory board oversees various conservation programs and provides education and assistance to landowners to encourage best land management practices. Their biggest project is operating four watercraft inspection stations to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species.

They manage a budget of about $750,000 from federal, state and county funding, Scarcello said. Otherwise, the board has little authority.

But Scarcello sees the conservation district as playing an important role in responding to environmental threats from pollutants and loss of farmland to the Rathdrum Aquifer, the primary source of drinking water in Spokane and Kootenai counties.

“More than ever, we need a viable soil and water district,” Scarcello said.

That’s why some found it alarming that one of the candidates seemed to admit on a KCRCC questionnaire that he lacks qualification.

“I was asked to runoff this position,” Paul Mahlow wrote. “Beyond diligence and a work ethic I am not sure of my qualifications.”

Mahlow didn’t say who asked him to run or why. Nor did he respond to requests for an interview. He previously ran unsuccessfully, with KCRCC’s endorsement, for the boards of Kootenai Health and Coeur d’Alene Public Schools.

Scarcello said KCRCC’s influence has been growing since Chairman Brent Regan took control of the party 10 years ago.

One of KCRCC’s candidates elected in 2020 resigned after less than a year, Scarcello said, when he realized he was in over his head.

“I think he just found out he was a poor fit and that it was kind of boring,” Scarcello said.

The KCRCC also endorsed Scarcello and Evans in that election. In 2022, all three of KCRCC’s candidates won.

Scarcello, who owns a cattle ranch in Twin Lakes that has been in his family since 1910, said he is running again to retain experience on the board. He is also a board member of the Kootenai-Shoshone Farm Bureau, Kootenai County’s Noxious Weed Advisory Board and Aquifer Protection Board.

He doesn’t know what KCRCC’s motivations are except possibly to send their candidates up a political ladder.

“I represent the natural resources of Idaho, not the politics of Kootenai County,” Scarcello said.

Patano said the North Idaho Republicans are worried the KCRCC could derail other boards like they have with North Idaho College, which is facing possible loss of accreditation under the governance of a KCRCC-majority board of trustees.

“Frankly, we weren’t going to get engaged in this race,” Patano said. “We want good candidates who have expertise and knowledge about how to manage natural resources.”

The four incumbents have experience serving and seem to have a genuine commitment to managing resources, Patano said.

Richard Meyer, a food scientist with experience on agriculture boards in Washington and Idaho, said he doesn’t see the race as political.

“I think it should depend on who has the best skill set, not the affiliation,” Meyer said.

Meyer serves on the Kootenai County Natural Resources Advisory Board, which sometimes interacts with the conservation district.

Meyer resigned from the board of Kootenai Joint School District shortly after his election in 2019, in protest of the majority’s decision to buy out the remainder of the superintendent’s contract. He ran for the position again in 2021, but lost.

He was one of 37 applicants for three vacant North Idaho College trustee positions in 2022.

Meyer denied having higher political ambitions beyond the conservation district. He said he doesn’t have a problem with the current leadership. Rather, he is running because he likes the challenge and thinks his background would be an asset.

He is concerned about water quality and erosion on the banks of Lake Coeur d’Alene. And he would like to survey the public so the board can find out about issues of which they might not be aware.

Dan Sheckler, a KCRCC precinct committeeman who was endorsed for that position by the North Idaho Republicans, has criticized what he says is a lack of transparency in KCRCC’s rating and vetting process.

Regan said committeemen are not allowed to discuss what happens in executive session where they vote on the voter guide.

After the KCRCC distributed campaign literature in his Coeur d’Alene precinct that implied his endorsement of KCRCC’s preferred North Idaho College candidates by attaching his name to the flier, Sheckler hand-delivered to his precinct a list of his own endorsements that differed from the KCRCC.

That included his endorsements of the incumbent members of the conservation district, pointing to their experience and history of public service.

While Meyer may have experience, Sheckler said he and Mahlow lack deep connections to the community, which makes it difficult to evaluate their character and judgment. Meyer said he bought his land in Harrison in 1979, but he has moved around during his career, living in six different states.

“I don’t want to undermine the success of Republican candidates by endorsing candidates in nonpartisan races that will create a backlash from voters,” Sheckler said. Meanwhile, Sheckler endorsed all candidates who won the Republican primary election including the county commissioner and sheriff races.

Wesley Evans, who owns a cattle ranch near Worley and was endorsed by both sides, disagreed that the race is politicized.

“I believe in conservation, taking care of God’s creation,” Evans said. “Whether I am Republican or Democrat, that doesn’t matter. We are nonpartisan.”

While on the board, Evans has promoted no-till farming and spearheaded the purchase through a grant of a no-till drill. The drill is available for landowners to rent.

Vice chair of the board Linda Ely was elected to the board in 2016. She has also served on the Noxious Weeds Advisory Board for many years.

Walter Jon Groth, the only Shoshone County resident running, is an electrician in the Silver Valley and manager of the Kingston-Cataldo Sewer District. He was appointed to the conservation district in 2022.