Pizza And Politics In Bonner County

Last night we attended Pizza and Politics in Bonner County, held at the Sandpoint Community Hall. Wendy Jaquet and George Sayler each gave overviews of what's happening in the Idaho House. I liked Wendy's three main points of preserving the Idaho way of life, standing up for the middle class, and seeking transparency in government. Wendy spoke about residential sales price disclosure, working in an obstructionist legislature, financial disclosure, her work on the energy committee, and more. George also spoke about the obstructionist legislature, the failure to pass bills supporting licensing of day care centers, criminal checks on those who work with children, education and the future of Idaho's children. With an open question period, it soon became obvious that Wendy and George are very much in tune with Idaho voters, but constantly thwarted by wingnut Republicans and big business money and thus, despite their constant hard work, they can only move forward in small steps because, bottom line, we need more Democrats in the Idaho congress.

Several other local elected officials and candidates all showed up for the event, as described in no particular order: Larry Grant, candidate for national Congressional District 1 gave his usual thoughtful, articulate, and meaningful presentation of issues near and dear to the people of Idaho; Jeanne Buell, IDP Vice-Chair expressed how happy and proud she was to attend these north Idaho events and to see how involved and committed everyone is; Boundary County's candidate for Legislative District 1 seat, Tom Hollingsworth, gave a brief presentation of his reasons for running, emphasizing issues important to the people of this district; Todd Crossett, Bonner County Commissioner, spoke eloquently about his entrance into the political arena and thanked Larry Grant for his help and support; Shelley Landry, northern representative of the DNC in Idaho, spoke about the Neighborhood Leader program and received a positive reception in the number of people who then volunteered to be Neighborhood leaders; Marie Scott, Bonner County Clerk, spoke of the travails of being a clerk in a state that puts more and more monetary responsibilities and constraints on the county clerk's office. Many others also attended, including people from both Kootenai and Boundary counties, including state legislative district chairs, county Democratic central committee members, at least one high school student, and others. The evening was friendly, included much information, and gave the separate counties a chance to just hang out together.


Larry orates while Wendy and George look on in approval.

Watch these faces of potential candidates: Steve Elgar and Dan Sheckler with fiancée, Lisa.

Larry with Tamara Poelstra.


The far north contingency: Alice, Fred and Tom Hollingsworth.