Endorsing Joe Brenneman for another term as a Flathead County Commissioner is an easy call. By temperament, experience, judgment, and accomplishment, he is by far the best choice for the job. It would be foolish to replace him with a tyro.
Brenneman, a traditional lunch bucket and clean water Democrat, was elected to the Flathead County Commission in 2004 with the help of traditional good government Republicans, who campaigned for him and against the GOP’s candidate, Denise Cofer, a militant ideologue. In the deep red Flathead, his 137-vote victory was a fluke.
Six years later, we need another such fluke. The local economy is depressed, with the unemployment rate north of ten percent — yet thanks to Brenneman’s leadership and attention to detail, county government is not in trouble. Roads continue to be plowed and paved, departments are open five days a week, water quality has not been sacrificed on the altar of laissez-faire development, and even a new 911 center was approved by the voters during George Bush’s economic catastrophe in the fall of 2008. Brenneman’s tenure defines the difference between governing and just holding an elected office.
Brenneman’s opponent in the Democratic primary on 8 June, Noel Gorton (I cannot find a campaign website for her), is disgruntled with county government, but offers no credentials on a par with Brenneman’s. She does have one good idea, adding two commissioners to the board (I would add four), but we can make that change without depriving ourselves of Brenneman’s experience, knowledge, and leadership.