Does experience matter?

I am first of all writing to thank all of you who voted for me in the June Primaries in my run for county coroner.

I want to ask the question to all, “Does experience matter?” Evidently to many it does not. Now I’m the first to agree that support of a friend is all nice and fuzzy, but if they have no experience or understanding of the job, my personal support goes to the person qualified. Regardless of my friendship that’s the way I was raised and taught. You vote for the best qualified.

We have two ladies running for the office of Sanders County Coroner. One is the current coroner and the other a citizen of the county. Our current coroner has 16 plus years of experience as a nurse, having worked in trauma and other fields of nursing, as well as years as a deputy coroner and 4 years as County Coroner. I think you could say “she has experience”.   The other candidate has none, when it comes to experience in the field of death or death investigation as to the cause and manner of death.

Now to some you may say it doesn’t matter about experience, the laws of the state say all you need is a high school diploma and 40 hours of coroner school to be “qualified” to run for office. This may be true to “qualify” in the eyes of the state to run, but in the reality of the job, the skills needed and experience gained add many, many bonuses to being able to run an office, budget and personnel of Coroner.

Experience is vital. Here are some things to think about and then I will leave it your own conscience.  We all rely upon the knowledge, judgment and experience of a qualified Coroner. I say everyone, not just the families of a deceased, because we are all tax payers in this county. If our coroner were to investigate a death and make a mistake as to the cause or manner of death and a lawsuit was filed by the family, who do you think pays for that lawsuit? Not the Coroner. The county commissioners will front the blame because they have to raise our taxes to cover the suit and they will take the wrath of the county at election time.

Experience is far more important than the “minimum” standards set by state law. If you think otherwise I would ask, would you want a cardiologist assist you with heart problems or a proctologist?  They both have medical degrees!

Experience matters, once again I’m grateful to all that supported me in June.  Now I ask that all who supported me, support Robert Smith, and experience, knowledge and leadership will continue in the Sanders County Coroner’s Office.

Get out and vote. If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain.