Low turnout at candidate forum

by Danielle Switalski
| May 5, 2010 10:18 AM

Only two candidates running for county positions showed up to the open forum on Saturday at Plains High School hosted by the Sanders County Conservatives.

Trout Creek resident Naomi Leisz, who is running for the county attorney position and Ron Olfert, who is running for county commissioner, were the only two candidates to attend the question and answer session.

Prior to Leisz and Olfert taking questions from the public, six candidates running for committee precinct positions around the county were each given three minutes to introduce themselves to the public and give a brief description of their political stance. Lark Chadwick running for committeewoman in precinct five, Judy Woolley and Pat Legard, running for the Plains precinct six, Terry Caldwell running for committeeman of precinct eight, Gerald Cuvillier is running for committeeman of precinct three and Roger Wick, running for committeeman of precinct seven, were the few people running for a committee position to attend the forum.

Plains mayor Michael Brinson acted as moderator for the forum. Aside from Leisz and Olfert, empty seats remained in the middle of the gym that were designated for Beth Rice-Groshong and Carol Turk, both running for county treasurer, Jennine Robbins, the sole candidate running for county clerk and recorder, Nancy Beech and Glen Magera, both running against Olfert for the county commissioner position and Bob Zimmerman, who is running against Leisz for the county attorney position.

Leisz and Olfert were each given five minutes to make an opening statement about themselves and their candidacy.

Leisz began by outlining her credentials saying she received her law degree from Hamline University, fourteen years experience in private practice and her time serving as a public defender. Leisz said her goals should she be elected as county attorney are three-fold. The first is she plans to provide the required legal advice to commissioners and sub-jurisdictions in the county, such as the weed and fire board and the school district should they need it.

“The second goal that I have is to work to form a strong communication with the Sheriff’s Office. I would like to work to build and develop a policy and procedure for handling all criminal cases, misdemeanors and felonies, these cases need to be handled efficiently and aggressively and need to have a working relationship with how we will communicate and work together,” said Leisz.

Her third goal deals with the budget, and although she said she can not make any promises about changes made to the county attorney’s budget, she will be mindful of the budget and scrutinize it closely. Leisz also wanted to remind voters that the county attorney will be selected during the primary election on June 8 as there are only two candidates in the running and their names will both appear on the republican ballot.

Olfert began his opening statement by explaining the reasons he is running for county

commissioner, saying he believes all government is local and changes need to begin on the county level before moving higher up in government.

“Many of us have personally felt the results of loss of our economy and jobs, we use up our savings and investments, but what do we do then? We suffer the pain of reducing our standard of living, the citizens of the county are looking for someone to lead the way to protect them from more government intervention. I have seen coordination take root and move forward slowly, but move forward,” said Olfert.

Olfert cited his history as a business owner, his work in science, technology, education and labor as a source for handling any issues brought upon a county commissioner. In addition, Olfert said he will be fully willing to work cohesively with all of the elected officials in the county.

“I will continue to work with our elected representatives at the state level, our senator and state representatives. I have no qualms expressing your views to the governor and representatives. I am a conservative in all ways, fiscal, social, moral and ethical. It’s a mandate of the county government to protect the rights and freedom of the citizens,” said Olfert.

Various issues were addressed during the question and answer session of the forum.

Olfert discussed the trapping ban initiative, which he strongly opposes, the use of our natural resources to create jobs throughout the county and encourage tourism.

Leisz further discussed her role as county attorney and attacking each case on an individual basis with timely prosecutions to the best of her ability.