Flint, Asche win reelection to EBCLD seats

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After a contentious race, trustees Amy Flint and Jeanine Asche retained their seats for the East Bonner County Library District Board of Trustees against ant-mask challengers Jalon Peters and Kathy Rose.

Flint and Asche held on to win reelection, with Flint garnering 3,639 votes, or 31.18% and Asche garnering 3,530 votes, or 30.24%.

Challengers Kathy Rose claimed 2,345 votes, or 20.09% and Jalon Peters had 2,158 votes, or 18.49 % of the vote.

Flint, who previously served six years on the board and two as chair, had noted her experience on the board and work during the library’s expansion as an asset.

A “lifelong library cardholder,” and retired English professor at North Idaho College, Flint, along with Asche, advocated for herself and her fellow incumbent as the most qualified candidates.

Asche, a master of library science and librarian of 40 years, also served eight years on the board of trustees and has experience as a reference librarian, children’s librarian and outreach and literacy services manager at a 13-branch library, she said.

Asche previously noted her passion for children’s literacy, and intimate understanding of the local library and its services to the community.

While incumbents leaned on their previous years of experience in presenting their case to voters, challengers Rose and Peters railed against the library’s mask requirement, which the board voted April 30 to end in a special meeting.

Although the mask requirement both challengers originally centered their campaign on are set to lift in early June, both Peters and Rose argued that the district’s removal of the mandate was too little, too late.

Peters, a local business owner, has said he believes, beyond his disagreement with the mask requirement, that the library ought to promote “morality and love of country,” and that he wanted to bring conservative values to the library.

Peters also previously noted qualms with online webinars the library hosted on white supremacy and climate change, as well as concerns over the accessibility of public financial records.

Rose, a former business owner and current secretary of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee and former vice president of Bonner County Republican Women, said in a previous interview she was worried about “cancel culture” infiltrating the library.

She also said previously that she wants to see more transparency from the library board and easier access to financial records.