Two Waha residents compete for county panel spot

Two Waha residents are vying for an open seat on the Nez Perce County Commission for District 3.

Republican Joe Gish, 62, and Democrat Pete Gertonson, 72, are running for the open seat left by Doug Zenner. Hannah Liedkie is running unopposed for the District 1 seat currently held by Don Beck. Beck and Zenner aren’t seeking reelection.

Gertonson says he is running for the position because he wants to see more people involved in politics. As a Democrat he is giving voters an opportunity to choose rather than having the race be uncontested.

If elected, Gertonson said he’ll govern with common sense, humility and work with others to get the job done.

“The way I like to do things is get a consensus from people. I don’t walk into any situation thinking I have all the answers,” Gertonson said. “So it’s not my way or the highway. That doesn’t do anybody any good.”

Gish wanted to run for county commissioner because of his work on the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport Board. He said that it took 3 to 4 years for the airport to improve and get back on track with flights to Seattle and Denver. He felt like his job at the airport board was done and it was time to move on. He found out that Nez Perce County Commissioner Doug Zenner was retiring and he was in his district.

“I never in my life thought I would be running for an office like that,” Gish said.

He believes he has the administrative and executive experience for the job after working for Boeing and being an officer in the Navy.

Property taxes are a big issue for both candidates. Both candidates say homeowners are paying a larger share of property taxes compared to commercial properties.

Gertonson wants to fix the issue by creating an index for the homeowners exemption allowing it to rise or fall based on the market. Then he would want to raise the exemption rate from $125,000 to around $225,000. He thinks that could also help local homeowners and local businesses because people would have more discretionary income.

“The county commissioners, … their hands are tied from the Legislature but there are things you can step outside the box and do,” Gertonson said.

For example, lobbying with Idaho county associations for change at the Legislature.

Gish has already started work on helping with property taxes in Nez Perce County. He has authored a bill that he wants to put to the Legislature that would change the statute so the homeowners exemption would be set at $125,000 or an amount set by the local county commissioners. He said that markets are different in different counties, so it would help commissioners better respond to the needs of the area, and counties would be able to balance it within their communities.

“Even if I don’t win the election, I’m going to push this bill so that whoever is in there has that tool,” Gish said. “I’m not doing it just because of the campaign, I’m going to do that regardless.”

Gish also wants the state to help farmers markets become free enterprise zones where people can sell their produce without income taxes, which could help with local food distribution.

Other concerns for Gish are fentanyl and migrants. He said that because fentanyl is so deadly he wants to make sure the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office has the resources to prosecute fentanyl trafficking cases. He also wants to address migrants coming to communities across the border and change ordinances to prevent that in Nez Perce County.

Some of the other issues Gertonson wants to tackle are road maintenance and employee retention.

Gertonson wants to make sure that Nez Perce County gets its fair share of infrastructure improvement from the state to improve roads and update equipment. He also said that the county has high employee turnover as people are hired, trained and then go somewhere to earn more money. He wants to help with employee retention and salaries so people who are trained here, stay here. He said the people who work for the county are professional and have a good work ethnic but some he’s talked with said they don’t feel appreciated.

Both candidates have long ties to the community and have served on other boards and organizations.

Gish graduated from Lapwai and attended the University of Idaho before transferring to Texas A&M, where he earned his degree in computer science graduating in 1987. He worked for Bell Northern Research, a telecommunications company that later became Northern Telecom, programming digital telephone switches.

Then he joined the U.S. Navy in 1989. He was in active duty and flew in Desert Storm and was a reserve officer. After he left the Navy, he stayed in the naval reserves and worked at Boeing for 15 years. He retired at 55 and then became an airline pilot — now he flies for DeAtley. He returned to Lewiston in 2017. He is married with two sons.

Gertonson attended school in Lewiston, graduating from Lewiston High School in 1971.

Gertonson worked for the postal service and graduated from Lewis-Clark State College in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in general science and a minor in geographical information systems. He’s lived in Lewiston since 1957, and he is married and has two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Gertonson has served as the Waha Water District chairperson for the past 30 years. He was an executive board member of the Washington State Association of Letter Carriers for seven years, and he’s held positions with the Idaho State Democratic party and is currently the chairperson of the Nez Perce County Democrats

Gish currently serves on the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport Board and the Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency. He will have to resign from both boards if he is elected. He would have a conflict of interest at the airport board because it’s supposed to be independent from the county and city, and the URA already has a seat for a county commissioner. He was also the president of the Lewiston SMART campaign for the city of Lewiston to switch to a strong mayor form of government from the city manager.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.