Well, in case you’ve forgotten, we’ve got an off-year general election coming up, and it’ll be pretty slim, a “nonpartisan” event for residents of the Flathead municipalities.
Yay, right? Not really. In concept, nonpartisan elections should be a good thing. Picking judges for our courts, which in turn should be objective, should be nonpartisan. Similarly, the tasks falling upon local, municipal or county elected officials should be pretty straightforward and nonideological – in small communities like ours, focused primarily on police, fire/ambulance, water-sewer, parks and potholes.
Nonetheless, even “nonpartisans” have core political values of “good” and “bad” – and those values do in fact run the range from conservative to progressive, tightwad to spendthrift, from L to R to D to G?
What about your candidate? Sorry, there’s no letter by their name to help you categorize them. What little “news” we’ll get will be nothing but carefully rehearsed platitudes on the “issues” or the usual “what a great person” letters. It seems picking “nonpartisan” candidates is mostly a guessing game – but even guesses are better than nothing. Here are mine:
In Columbia Falls, the top three vote-getters out of five will be elected.
Challenger Steve Hughes is a retired Columbia Falls police detective and city planning board member. No overt politics aside from being a former government employee.
Incumbents Doug Karper and John Piper are both long-timers and pretty low-profile. I read them as “old Columbia Falls” interested mostly in the nuts, bolts and pennies of city business.
Challenger Clay Lundgren is an avid bicyclist from Bend, Oregon, a logging town turned tourist trap. He wants to apply any future resort tax in a seasonal manner – from April to October. So, he likes taxes paid by others. I guess.
Two-term incumbent councilor Darin V. Fisher? From Ohio, he co-owns Backslope Brewing with spouse Carla, first moving here thanks to his Forest Service job. Backslope is a member of Business for Montana’s Outdoors (a “green business” group), however. I’d say solid D, mixed with plenty of G.
In Kalispell, incumbent Kari Gabriel is unopposed in Ward 1, so she’s back in. Ward 2 newcomer Sam Nunnally is unopposed, a longtime Posse member, erstwhile Pachyderm member (Republican), so he’s in too. The fun one is Sid Daoud in Ward 4, again new, unopposed, and Libertarian. I’m looking forward to what freedoms he champions after he’s sworn in. Longer yellow lights, maybe?
Kalispell’s only “race” is in Ward 3, incumbent car salesman and T-shirt entrepreneur Rod Kuntz against challenger Ryan Hunter. Kuntz was pretty vocal about the county commissioners “girdling” Kalispell’s political turf regarding two-laning and “Streetscaping” Main Street in Kalispell, but otherwise doesn’t read partisan.
Challenger Ryan Hunter has a degree in Urban and Regional Planning, works for the Flathead Land Trust and is endorsed as “environmental champion” by the Montana Conservation Voters. Firm progressive D with a big snort of G.
Finally, in Whitefish, there are five bidders for three seats. Challenger Ben Davis, a general contractor and homebuilder from Florida, seems interested in getting some “affordable housing” actually built in Whitefish. Might be an R.
Rebecca Norton is a hand therapist and member of “Climate Solutions,” a loud supporter of Whitefish during the “doughnut war.” Solid G.
Harry (Hap) Peters is a retired executive. He openly questioned building a new City Hall when water and sewer utilities are in need of an upgrade. He could be a useful fiscal devil’s advocate in Whitefish as a possible R.
Teacher Steve Qunell ran for county commission as a Democrat against Jim Dupont in 2008, and for state Senate against Bruce Tutvedt in 2004. Now chairs Whitefish’s planning board. Definite D-NIMBY.
Frank Sweeney had his house cherry-stemmed into Whitefish city limits so he could be on council. Hard D-NIMBY.
Don’t agree with my guesses? Well, good news. The Flathead County Election Department website contains a downloadable Excel file listing all the city candidates, including phone, address and e-mail. If you wish, ask “your” candidates directly – L, R, D, G or a mix? Will you get honest answers? Your guess is as good as mine.