Candidates draw distinctions

PUD, county commission, judicial candidates field questions

NEWPORT – Candidates for county commission, PUD commission and a Tri County Superior Court Judgeship answered questions during a candidates’ forum at Newport High School Wednesday night, Sept. 18.

All four candidates for the two county commission positions, the two Pend Oreille Public Utility District candidates and two Superior Court Judge candidates participated.

The forum was put on by The Newport Miner, with owner/ publisher Michelle Nedved asking questions.

The questions were amalgamations of reader and staff questions. The forum was broadcast online and on the radio by NHS student radio station KUBS.

There were differences between candidates.

Minnich, Gentle clash

Probably the sharpest exchange occurred when District 1 county commission challenger Steve Minnich said incumbent county commissioner John Gentle had at the least an appearance of conflict of interest when he voted to select the Port of Pend Oreille to be the designated economic development agency for the county. Gentle’s wife, Kim Gentle, is an elected Port commissioner.

The question was whether county commissioners made the right decision when they selected the Port over the Tri County Economic Development District (TEDD).

Gentle said he voted for the Port because it had the support of the majority of the local Economic Development Council members, which had representatives from agencies throughout the county.

“We just don’t have the control when we hand our dollars to another county, another entity,” he said. “That traditionally hasn’t gone well for Pend Oreille County.”

Minnich said Gentle should not have voted on the issue because Gentle’s wife, Kim Gentle, is an elected Port commissioner. Minnich said that every single person he has spoken to has said that would be a definite conflict of interest.

“I don’t know how we can get away with that,” Minnich said. “So, there it is right in your face. This is why I ran.”

Minnich said that he would have voted for TEDD because of its proven record.

Gentle replied that he had checked with an attorney about whether he had a conflict.

“You could have saved yourself some embarrassment if you had talked to legal counsel on this one, I certainly did,” Gentle said. He said he checked with the county’s legal department, Prosecutor Dolly Hunt’s Office, multiple times and was told that for there to be a conflict of interest, he or his wife would have to benefit financially from the decision. “We do not get one penny from that contract,” Gentle said.

Minnich said that the law prohibited the appearance of a conflict of interest, as well as actual conflict of interest.

“There’s obviously the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Minnich said. “John should have recused himself from this vote.”

Alleged conflict aside, Gentle said that he supported awarding the contract and the associated sales tax rebates to the Port.

Incumbent commissioner Brian Smiley, who is running for reelection in District 3, said he wanted the Port for economic development.

“I support the decision,” Smiley said. “It was the recommendation of a broad spectrum of this community.”

He said commissioners would have to have a compelling reason to go against that consensus.

Kevin Young is running against Smiley for county commissioner. He said the money could have been spent more efficiently if it had been kept in local hands.

Judicial candidates Lisa Malpass and N. Smith “Smitty” Hagopian had different views on alternative sentencing such as using electronic home monitoring instead of jail sentences for felons.

Hagopian, who is a Stevens County deputy prosecutor, said it was used frequently. He said it is an alternative way of restricting people.

“Does it punish people enough?” he asked. “That’s a matter for the Legislature to tell the judge. The judge is given information, the judge follows the law.”

The judge has discretion, but if both sides agree on the sentence, the judge usually, not always, goes along with the deal. He said if you don’t have predictability in the judge going along with an agreed resolution, you don’t really have any consistency in how to resolve cases.

Malpass, a private attorney, said she disagreed. She pointed to a Wapato case where a defendant was released on a $1,000 bond only to murder another domestic violence survivor within 24 hours. She said judges shouldn’t automatically go along with plea deals.

“I do have a harder stance,” Malpass said. “I think sentencing and higher bonds are more appropriate.”

Merkle Standard electric rates, conditions?

Merkle Standard, the crypto currency producing company at the old Ponderay Newsprint plant, came up in a question to Pend Oreille Public Utility District candidates. Incumbent Joe Onley and challenger Troy Moody were asked if the PUD should have more favorable, less favorable or the same rates and conditions for electric service to the crypto operation.

Moody said no, the company shouldn’t get more favorable rates and conditions at the expense of ratepayers.

“Because I think the ratepayer is more important than a company that has just come in recently, from out of state, from out of our area,” Moody said. He said he does like the PUD catering to Merkle-Standard, as they were a part of the community.

Onley said electric contracts with Merkle Standard’s were tougher at first, in keeping the ratepayer in mind as the PUD and the crypto producer finalize their fourth contract.

“We make them put up letters of credit for differing amounts,” Onley said.

But Onley says the PUD may have been too tough on them at first. The conditions are “evolving,” he said. “I think the evolving of the contracts has kind of loosened up,” he said. “Maybe we were being a little too tough on credit ratings and this, that and the other.”

The candidates answered more questions than this. KUBS, the school’s student radio station, plans to show the entire forum on YouTube.