Four candidates are running for Kootenai County sheriff, each with a different goal for the office. Sheriff Robert "Bob" Norris, 60, is the Republican incumbent who will face three independent challengers: Dan Wilson, 48, Kyle Woodward, 23, and Justin Nagel, 46.
In May, Norris defeated Republican primary election challenger Mike Bauer, winning 80.8% of the vote, or more than 22,000 votes. Overall turnout in the primary, across the separate ballots for each party, was 30.7% of the total registered voters in Kootenai County, or about 32,000.
The three independent candidates didn't appear in the May primary. Voter turnout is expected to be much higher for the general election because, historically, more voters make it to local polling places to vote in the presidential election.
According to the Idaho secretary of state's campaign data, Norris has received more than $109,000 from 489 campaign contributions and maintained a balance of $75,798.41 as of Sept. 27.
In 2020, Nagel ran for Kootenai County sheriff as a Libertarian, receiving 9.1% of the vote in that general election race, which Norris won. Nagel has no contributions listed for his current campaign as an independent candidate.
Wilson and Woodward are both new challengers. Wilson has raised nearly $35,000 from 221 contributions. Woodward has no reported contributions.
EXPERIENCE
Norris has three decades of law enforcement experience and retired from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 2014. Norris receives $150,282 in disability and retirement benefits annually from the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, according to Transparent California, a public pay and pension database. Norris says his partial disability stems from impacts of the profession.Norris says he originally hadn't planned to run for public office in Idaho. He moved to Kootenai County and joined the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Patrol in 2018. Then in 2020, Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger announced his retirement after two terms. Norris says the search and rescue team asked him to consider running for the office because of his experience as a lieutenant in Los Angeles County.
"We put together a little bit of a campaign team, and I felt like my experiences that I had from my previous organization and from the environment that I came from could help this growing community," Norris says, "because we're starting to see some cracks in our infrastructure that we saw a long time ago down in Southern California."
Wilson is a Spokane County native who previously had a career in carpentry and owns the Spokane-based general contracting business Rockin' D.W. Construction. He spent nine years as a patrol officer with the Liberty Lake Police Department from 2014 to March 2023. He moved to Kootenai County in 2020.
Wilson explains that he decided to challenge Norris because of a 2022 Idaho Legislature town hall, at which Norris complained about funding and budget concerns for the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. Wilson says Norris argued that the state had a surplus of funds that needed to be figured out and distributed.
"He gave them a big old finger-wagging, and then he was done, and I looked at my wife right then and there, and I've served around many very strong sheriffs," Wilson says. "As a chief law enforcement officer at the county, you need somebody that's pretty stable as a leader, and I was so appalled by what I saw. I told my wife, 'If that's the man that's supposed to stand between us and tyranny, we're in a lot of trouble.'"
Nagel was born and raised in Kootenai County and says he's worked as a private investigator for six years in Nevada, Washington and Oregon. His campaign website states that he also developed a career as a carpenter. Nagel says he chose to run again because he is concerned about representation and believes that the sheriff is supposed to represent the people. He says the sheriff's salary is much more than the average resident earns, which leaves those in that position out of touch with the people. The Kootenai County commissioners set the sheriff's salary at $145,516 for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
"You just can't have representation by somebody outside of your income class by three times over your level, not to mention it's supposed to be public service, the pay is grossly overpriced," Nagel says.
Woodward was born in central California and moved to Kootenai County in 2004 with his family when he was a few years old. He attends North Idaho College and is majoring in information technology, with a certification in cybersecurity. He says he decided to run for office because he believes he would provide a younger perspective and wants politicians to focus on the county's residents.
"I'm really tired of politics playing such a big role in what happens in our local community. I want our local politicians to be about us first, and that's my priority," Woodward says.
FENTANYL
The fentanyl crisis is a national issue but impacts local communities, including Kootenai County. Norris says that it's the biggest problem for law enforcement in the county. One challenge is how readily available and cheap fentanyl is. Norris says he would continue to counter the problem through education on the substance and rehabilitation efforts. He says service and medical organizations should be involved in education and collaboration with law enforcement.Woodward says he believes that fentanyl has become a bioweapon and since it is currently a Schedule II substance, it must be updated to a higher schedule at the federal level to address its availability. Woodward says he would focus his energy on targeting dealers in the region to get at the root of the issue.
Nagel says that corruption is part of the problem of the fentanyl crisis. He says he believes that investigations that favor certain people because of who is involved, a lack of follow-up and the loss of paper trails keeps dealers at large.
Wilson says he would address the crisis by educating the public and collaborating with different stakeholders and victims. However, he says he believes the eradication of fentanyl won't happen with current border policies and a pipeline that is distributing fentanyl quicker than law enforcement can respond. He says that triaging the crisis is what the community can do through collaborative effort.
CONTRACTS
Since 2010, the city of Hayden has contracted with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement and, in September 2023, approved a $1 million contract to have 10 deputies dedicated to the city.The Hayden City Council has formed a public safety commission to review reports from the sheriff's office and consider the possibility of creating an independent police department. City residents have expressed concerns about an increased levy to fund the contract with the sheriff's office and say they would like more law enforcement personnel assigned to the city. The levy, approved in 2022, was $543,843 to cover an additional six sheriff's deputies.
Public safety is Woodward's primary concern, and he supports local municipalities having their own police departments. He envisions the sheriff's office helping with SWAT calls and other high-priority requests, but wants to help cities maintain their own police departments to answer low-priority calls.
"If I'm elected, I want to help [municipalities] be able to get started, get rolling, get their first couple deputies, or police officers out there and get them help to serve the community so the sheriff's department can focus on some more underserved areas," Woodward says.
Wilson shares similar views, stating that every municipality has the right to form its own police department. He suggests that the city of Hayden look at contracting with the Coeur d'Alene Police Department or another police department in the county and working with those existing dispatch centers. Wilson says Hayden could rely on those existing resources and not have to create an entirely new law enforcement fleet.
"I think there are ways to do it if the citizens of those cities decide that's where they want to go," Wilson says.
Nagel says he wonders where all the tax money goes and agrees that Hayden should be able to form their own police department and end the contract with the sheriff's office. He says that Hayden is an excellent example of what to do right with fast growth, low crime and less law enforcement.
"Here's Bob Norris going to want that contract: 'Oh, and ... I'm going to staff it with more guys that you're obligated to pay,'" Nagel says. "If I were them, I'd get out of it, too."
Norris says he supports any decision Hayden makes, but he says they can't afford to form their own police department. He explains that Hayden is no longer a rural town. Hayden has many retail spaces and an influx of population, making it difficult to respond to increased calls. Norris says that, on average, Kootenai County police departments have about two officers for every 1,000 people.
"It's not this rural town anymore; it's now an urban town with big residential developments and more coming in, and I can't send a one-person deputy to a family disturbance. I can't send them to a big-box store when there was a disturbance out in the parking lot," Norris says. "It can be done, but it's not safe. So that's the reality." ♦
