Eureka candidate forum attracts strong attendance

Two weeks after her opponent lambasted her behavior and bemoaned her absence at a candidate forum in Libby, incumbent Justice of the Peace Stormy Langston had her chance to respond Saturday in Eureka. Langston addressed statements made by fellow incumbent Jay Sheffield, while Sheffield parried questions written by audience members.

“I didn’t see that one coming,” Sheffield said sarcastically after the moderator announced that the first question was directed at him. Sheffield said after the forum that he was not made aware that the event was organized by a group of Langston supporters. The event at the County Fairgrounds was paid for with leftover money raised to pay for Langston’s lawsuit against the county following county commissioners’ decision to eliminate the justice court annex in Eureka due to budgetary constraints.

“My office works extremely closely with the county attorney,” Sheffield said in response to the night’s opening question. “As far as my interaction personally with the county attorney, I don’t have any. It’s somewhat adversarial in that I have to treat the county attorney as any other defense attorney.”

The event, which featured a free pig roast, attracted every municipal candidate seeking election in Lincoln County. Langston cited a prior engagement in Troy when missing September’s candidate forum. County commissioner candidate Mark Peck, the other local candidate to miss Libby’s forum, had been ill.

Many of the candidates continued to harp on the highlights of their platform, however a few questions revealed new opinions.

Cookie Haidle, a litigant in Langston’s case against the county, asked Sheffield to explain what he would have done had he been in Langston’s position following the announced closure of her north Lincoln County annex.

“If I could not form a strong enough argument for the preservation of the location to the commissioners, then I would think maybe it is time to rethink my position on the matter,” Sheffield said. “I would not have sued the county.”

Sheffield has repeatedly criticized Langston during the campaign for her lawsuits against the county. Langston responded Saturday.

“Let me clarify some things,” Langston said. “You are supposed to petition your district judge to intercede with the commissioners. Judge Wheelis opted not to follow that, and he advised me to file a civil suit. That’s why those two were filed. The replacement clerk cost the county no money. The windows cost the county exactly what I was asking for them to take out of my budget, which they took out of my budget. As far as stonewalling commissioners for statistics, all the statistics are public. They are all on the Supreme Court website. Nobody is being stonewalled. I have an email, if you would like to see it, that says the commissioners see no need to meet with you.”

Sheffield accused Langston of stonewalling county commissioners during meetings addressing the consolidation of justice of the peace positions.

Asked if he was willing to entertain reopening the justice of the peace location in Eureka, county commissioner candidate Mark Peck said he thought “the whole analysis process that got us to that point was inadequate. I think it will be at least a year and a half before we can bring it up again because it has to fall on an election cycle. I think we need to review it, and if it is not working I am open to doing whatever it takes to get it fixed. If that is reinstating it or making an adjustment — I think we need to pay close attention to the impact it has on the folks up here in the next year.”

Fellow commissioner candidate Russ Bache said he took umbrage with county commissioners’ lack of a plan for how to handle justice court cases in Eureka once the office is closed.

Sheriff candidate Bill Clark said he opposes the idea that the county could solve its drug issue by getting on board with the growing legalization movement.

“Some people think that if we legalize it, it will make things better,” Clark said. “If that’s true, why don’t we legalize bank robbery? We’ll solve the bank robbery problem. There won’t be any more bank robbery problems because it’s legal. It doesn’t work.”

Clark also addressed concerns about his health. Clark retired on disability from his job as chief of police in Newport, Wash. in 2003. Clark said previous concerns with his heart beat and blood pressure have since been eased due to proper medication, rest and exercise.

House Dist. 2 incumbent Mike Cuffe said he saved Lincoln County $600,000 by allocating state funds to help pay for the county’s grizzly bear study in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem.

Incumbent Sheriff Roby Bowe said he has now spent 30 days in the Bob Marshall Wilderness working with his backpacking business. Asked about the cost of the satellite phone calls he uses to communicate with sheriff’s office employees when he is away, Bowe said his business pays for all the calls.