Kootenai County Precinct 52

Nevada has it's Area 51 with strange mysterious things alluded to. Kootenai County has it's counterpart in Area ... er, Precinct 52, where strange and mysterious things are happening. It all started when Bjorn Handeen moved to that precinct from Minnesota where he was associated with fringe political groups. He joined the Constitution Party in 2003 and moved to Kootenai County at the same time as several other Constitutionalists and Libertarians also relocated here, 2007.

Apparently Idaho was considered the new battleground to save the world through super patriots taking control. Well, they have. In 2010 the local Republican Central Committee was caught off guard while these fringe players walked the precincts looking for support as precinct committeeman. Most voters are interested in county, state and federal elections but seldom pay any attention to precinct committeemen.

That little box at the end of the ballot usually has a name few recognize and many skip over it. I know I have been guilty of that myself. It is however, the vital heart of the party. It endorses candidates, raises funds for campaigns and most importantly, names replacements for all offices vacated during a term. An example of that is our new county Clerk. The previously voted in clerk suddenly died leaving a vacancy.

Our law requires that the party to which the predecessor belonged to must submit three names to the county commissioners from which they picked from. Three guesses. All were of the same extremist ilk.
Several of us looked for someone that would actually be qualified to serve. None in our opinion did. They were more interested in control than quality government.

A vast majority of traditional Republicans or what is becoming more in use, "Reasonable Republicans," suddenly realized that the central committee had been hijacked by these newcomers from other states that took time only to remove their coats before embarking upon changing things around so thy would have control. They did and it worked.

Word on the street is that nobody would run against the entrenched recent republicans/constitutionalists. We don't know the why, but do know that he was unopposed at filing deadline.

Some of the well known goals of these people, repeal of the 17th amendment to the US constitution. For those  of you that have forgotten, at the beginning of our nation, with distances being great and transportation slow, The state legislatures picked the senators, which is where the term "Statesman" came from. Back in the early 1900's it was decided that all of these problems were in the past. A bill was passed by congress and ratified by the states for the people to have the vote instead of congress where in many cases, Tamany Hall in New York, many other areas had corrupt legislatures, too easy to buy off in picking the senate.

Now these charitable people want you to vote for people that will take away your right to elect senators.

Another issue is what is called "Nullification." In a nut shell, (no pun intended) is to take the right of the federal government to apply federal law to the states. You may remember that last time that happened. South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began. Then there is a wish for the return of the gold standard.

By this time if you have read this far the thought comes to mind, "where are their minds. They are out chasing their tail with issues that have not a chance of succeeding. As elected officials instead of doing the people's business, they are chasing a pipe dream. Handeen has even accused our party as having Stockholm Syndrome, or loving your captors.

Comes now a woman, who lives in precinct 52. she, Susan Manthey is the mother of three including a 21 year old Marine corporal. She, hearing from her son at Camp Pendleton, was urged by her son to participate. Filing had closed, but Susan couldn't live with representation by a 17th amendment repeal, gold standard and nullification advocate.  Party members were contacted and a write-in candidacy was born. Her name is Susan Manthey. If you live in Hayden Lake are area and are in precinct 52, this is important and you can make a difference. She will appear on the ballot as a write-in. Be sure that in addition to her name, check the box too. MANTHEY.