Dawn Retzlaff for County Commissioner
Let's make this a Republican sweep
The Idaho Republican Party was shocked four years ago when the Democrats took control of the Ada County Board of Commissioners. Diana Lachiondo and Kendra Kenyon swept in with the 2018 blue wave. There were several unforeseen consequences to this election. When the Covid-19 lockdowns began in earnest in spring of 2020, the Democrats controlled Ada County by a 2-1 margin. They canceled the Western Idaho Fair and they allowed the Central District Board of Health to impose a mask mandate on the entire county.
Two seats were open in the fall of 2020. The lone Republican seat was open, and Democrat Diana Lachiondo faced a reelection campaign after her two year term. (The Ada County Commissioners serve staggered two and four year terms so that two seats are elected every two years.) Rod Beck easily won a crowded primary for District 2 and then defeated Democrat Bill Rutherford by 8%. More surprising was when Ryan Davidson, former chairman of the Ada County Republican Party, defeated Ms. Lachiondo by just over six thousand votes despite being massively outspent.
The new Republican-controlled Board of Commissioners moved quickly. They appointed former Congressman Raúl Labrador to a position on the CDH board, which promptly rescinded the mask mandate. They later appointed Dr. Ryan Cole, famous nationwide for his skepticism of the official line on Covid-19, to the physician’s spot on the board. Beck and Davidson then made sure that Ada County celebrated the fair in 2021.
Rod Beck is up for reelection this year, and with no opposition in the primary he will face former Eagle Mayor Stan Ridgeway in November. Kendra Kenyon will not seek reelection in District 3, which means Republicans have an excellent chance to completely sweep the board. The question is, which Republican is best positioned to win back this seat?
Three candidates entered the race this year: Former Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman, former state representative Tom Dayley, and former LAPD detective Dawn Reztlaff.
For Sharon Ullman, this is her fifth race for county commissioner. She first won election in 2000, serving a single term. She ran again in 2008, serving another term before losing in the Republican primary to Dave Case. She tried to make a comeback in 2016 and again in 2018, when she defeated Mr. Case in a rematch but lost to Kendra Kenyon in the general election.
Ms. Ullman’s website details her accomplishments during her two terms as commissioner. If reelected she promises to reduce taxes and protect the 2nd Amendment, as do all Republicans, but also to lobby the legislature to link the homestead exemption to housing prices, eliminate the position of Chief of Staff in county government, and use a zero-based budgeting system for county departments.
All of these proposals sound fine to me. My concern, however, is that Ms. Ullman has been in and out of government for a long time. Is it time for a new perspective, or does her experience give her an advantage? I worry that voters in the general election, when comparing Ullman to Democrat Patricia Nilsson, will vote for a new face, and we will lose this chance to win District 3.
I enjoyed speaking to Tom Dayley at the Ada County GOP candidate forum last month. His resume is amazing: Mr. Dayley served in the US Air Force, spent three and a half terms in the Idaho State Legislature, headed the Idaho Farm Bureau, served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Donald Trump, and so much more. He had some fascinating stories to tell, and I hope to run into him again someday just to hear a few more.
Mr. Dayley wants to bring his vast experience to the board of commissioners, sharing his lifetime of wisdom with Mr. Beck and Mr. Davidson. His top priorities are reforming property taxes to make sure residents are not priced out of their homes, bring more citizen input to planning and zoning, and to make sure public safety remains well funded.
I appreciate that Mr. Dayley wants to continue serving his community. However, to put it bluntly, I think voters in Ada County are going to be looking for someone younger. Dayley has had an incredible career, and I believe he has a lot of wisdom to offer, but the day-to-day work of running the county might not be the best way to share it.
Dawn Retzlaff came to Idaho after a thirty year career in law enforcement, serving the last fifteen years as an LAPD homicide detective. According to her website, her top priorities are low taxes, protecting the 2nd Amendment, and supporting public safety. Obviously, that is the same thing that every candidate around here likes to say. I was concerned that Ms. Retzlaff might be short on specifics, so I was pleased to have had a long conversation with her at the lieutenant governor’s rally last week.
I came away impressed with Retzlaff’s ideas. She disagreed with Ms. Ullman’s plan to eliminate the Chief of Staff, for example, and gave me solid reasons why. She explained that her time in the LAPD gave her a lot of experience with risk management, a subject with which the board of commissioners must constantly grapple. She also has some specific ideas about how to combat the growing problem of homelessness in our community, and believes that shelters that do not engage in treatment of drug problems only exacerbate the situation.
Ms. Retzlaff seems to have caught a popular wave as well. While Mr. Dayley has two donors besides himself, and Ms. Ullman just one, Retzlaff has over sixty. She seems to have one of those unquantifiable qualities that attract voters, which will be important when she faces the Democrat in November. I believe that the fresh perspective Retzlaff brings comes from a deep well of experience.
I have nothing negative to say about Sharon Ullman or Tom Dayley. However, I believe that Dawn Retzlaff not only brings a new vision to the county, but is best positioned to defeat the Democrats in the general election. It is therefore my pleasure to endorse her for County Commissioner, District 3.