COEUR d'ALENE - For the first time, two local political action committees have squared off to influence the non-partisan taxing district races that will be held in Kootenai County on May 21.

Both groups are endorsing and campaigning for their candidates in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene school district elections, and the Kootenai Hospital Board of Trustees election.

It all started when the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans, which manages the Victory Fund PAC, announced they would be supporting Republican candidates for all the local taxing district elections this year.

"We can try and finesse this all we want," said Jeff Ward, founder or the Reagan Republicans. "But the reality is, this is an old-fashioned partisan election - it always has been."

That sentiment was prompted the formation of the new Balance North Idaho PAC, which brands itself as a non-partisan political action committee that will support "qualified" candidates, regardless of which political party they belong to.

"These races have nothing to with how left leaning or right leaning the candidates are," said Eden Irgens, co-founder of Balance North Idaho. "These races have everything to do with our kids' education and the way our hospital is run."

North Idaho Political Action Committee, branded as the "reasonable Republicans," is normally active in local partisan races, but its board made a conscious choice not to get involved in the traditionally non-partisan taxing district races.

"We decided that we are not going to do non-partisan races, period," said Brad Corkill, chairman of the NIPAC. "To put it pure and simple, by definition these are non-partisan races. I know there are some who don't necessarily believe that, but that is the way we see it."

The Reagan Republicans passionately disagree.

Ward said there are clearly two different slates of candidates in this election. While the official Democratic and Republican parties are not directly involved, he said the partisanship in this race is very real.

"The Reagan Republicans are a proxy for the Republican candidates," he said. "Balance in the proxy for the Democrats."

Ward said the battle between the PACs really began when four conservatives were seated on the Coeur d'Alene School Board last year.

"There was a clear and definite change in the makeup of that board," Ward said. "Balance was formed in an attempt to take back the school board."

That, he said, makes the election partisan in his book. He believes the smaller non-partisan elections are more important in some ways than the state legislative races.

"The parties tend to focus on the state legislative races, but these smaller elections - in some ways - have more of an impact on your everyday life," he said. "Every one of these candidates know how important this race is. It's important enough to get them out there knocking on doors."

Irgens said the Reagan Republicans have a knack for creating their own reality, and rallying their supporters to spread misinformation to get people elected.

"Ward does a very good job positioning himself in these races," Irgens said. "Even though a lot of what they say is untrue."

She pointed to a forgone tax issue that the Reagan Republicans latched on to as a campaign issue to run for seats on the hospital district board.

Ward's group announced last month that they were running for seats on the hospital board because the hospital had essentially banked $13.7 million worth of taxing authority that they could use at their discretion without a public vote.

The state tax commission came out later saying the hospital had only banked about $61,000 worth of taxing authority, and that the board had actually saved taxpayers $13.7 million over several years because the board hasn't used its taxing authority for decades.

That is the main reason Balance North Idaho was formed, Irgens said.

From an economic development standpoint, her group is concerned about the reputation our community is receiving, largely due to the involvement of the Reagan Republicans in past non-partisan races.

"We have business leaders in this community, who are fearful that our schools will fall apart, and we are concerned about the direction of our hospital as it transitions into Obamacare," she said. "We are so fearful of what will happen to our community if these guys are allowed to go unchecked.

"We want to avoid having one entity with a voice campaigning for these seats."

She said businesses looking to relocate to Kootenai County pay attention to the community's image, and its educational assets. Likewise, her group is concerned about existing businesses that may decide to relocate because of the deterioration of those assets.

On the other hand, Ward explained his group is concerned about these races going unchallenged just because they are non-partisan. He said Republicans have every right to challenge these seats.

"The idea that these races are small potatoes is absurd," Ward said. "These small races are dealing with some really serious issues. Combined they control over $600 million when you total it all up."

He said by politicizing these races his group is drawing more attention to the issues than ever before and it is forcing the candidates to run campaigns like never before.

Both groups say they will be spend between $5,000 to $10,000 on the May 21 election, and both groups have been engaged in a wide array of campaign activity.

But when it come right down to it, Ward said these race won't be won by who spent the most money because there is likely to be a very low turnout. He predicts the most active candidates will win.

"Every vote counts in this election. Every vote will be valuable," he said. "In the end, shoe leather is more valuable than money in this race."

Ward said that gives his group the advantage because low turnout in a conservative leaning community will produce more votes for Republican candidates.

"Balance wants to bring balance back by moving their candidates to the left," he said.

Irgens said that simply is not true. She points to her group's endorsement and support of Jim Pierce, who is running for a hospital district seat. He is a Reagan Republican board member, who was also endorsed by the Reagan Republicans.

She said Pierce has the qualifications that Balance North Idaho was looking for in that race. They did not consider his party affiliation in any way.

"The truth is, Ward has to create partisan races out of these non-partisan races, or he doesn't have an income," she said, pointing out that Ward also owns Strategry, which is a private political consulting firm that benefits from politicizing these races.

"If he allows these races to remain non-partisan, he has no job," she said. "So he has to keep pounding the drum or he goes out of business."