SANDPOINT - Bonner County Sheriff Elaine Savage formally announced Monday she is seeking re-election.

“I've got a lot of projects that are started and I think consistency is important,” Savage said of her decision to seek a second term.

Savage, a 53-year-old Republican from Priest River, was elected to office in 2004, following a crowded and contentious race to succeed Phil Jarvis. Savage expects this year's race to be no different, although she is resuming her pledge not to participate in any mud-slinging.

Savage's political foes will not be short of ammunition. Her administration has been dogged by lawsuits from disgruntled former deputies alleging corruption, mismanagement and the nursing of personal vendettas at the sheriff's office.

She acknowledged on Monday the claims will likely be campaign fodder for others, but said she won't be discussing the particulars of the lawsuits while stumping for office.

“As much as I'd like to comment, they are pending litigation,” Savage said, adding that the truth of the matters will come out through court proceedings.

Savage intends to play up her qualifications and experience on the campaign trail. She's been in law enforcement for 26 years and has accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of training.

After stints with the military police and police departments in Texas which began in the mid-1970s, Savage was appointed Priest River's police chief in 1998 and went on to achieve the rank of captain at the sheriff's office. She was tapped as Jarvis' undersheriff in 2002.

Upon taking office, she reorganized the department by getting rid of the ranks of captain and corporal due to the excessive number of supervisors. Savage also reorganized the jail's medical staffing by hiring three full-time registered nurses, which she said has cut costs.

“My medical claims have dropped drastically,” Savage said.

She is backing a $10 million plan to replace the county's juvenile detention center and construct a work release facility, vows to keep up the war on drugs and address the issue of the mentally ill being confined in the jail's general population when it's not appropriate.

Although Savage has been dinged by critics who questioned her lack of presence on patrol beats, she emphasizes she is the department's chief administrator, but one who still takes the myriad pre-dawn phone calls and reports to the scenes of incidents and calamities.

Savage also scrutinizes the department's spending plan daily to make sure it stays within the lines.

“I see this job as being the head of a business and it's a business where the taxpayers give me $5 million a year and expect me to provide all law enforcement services with that,” she said.