COEUR d'ALENE - As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Joe Kunka said he has gained the skills necessary to get the city of Coeur d'Alene back on track.

"Anytime you have council, people threaten to beat people up, and a mayor threaten to beat people up, there is something there that doesn't need to be going on there," Kunka said. "I am an eight-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and I have led people in some pretty adverse situations."

Leadership, he said, is exactly what the city needs right now, and he believes he is the only candidate with those leadership skills.

"I am the only one who hasn't participated in the divisive events in this community. I am the only one who doesn't have any property or personal interests in downtown or anywhere else,' he said. "I am the only one, I think, that actually knows how to lead and manage people, which is exactly what we need right now."

Kunka twice has run an unsuccessful "average Joe campaign" for mayor. He ran against Mayor Sandi Bloem in 2005, where he got 24 percent of the vote, and again against Bloem in 2009, when he garnered a little more than 37 percent of the vote. He spent $200 in the latter campaign, and he doesn't plan to spend anywhere near what his opponents plan to spend in this campaign.

Kunka's critics say he is the spoiler candidate in this race, and the fact that he is unwilling to raise the funds and spend what may be necessary to win just goes to show that he isn't seriously committed to the race.

"Everybody is throwing it at me that this is all about the money. He who spends the most will win this election, but I don't think it's all about the money," he said. "I don't have the time and resources these other two have, but that doesn't make me any less qualified."

Kunka said he plans to spend roughly $3,000 on his campaign. Steve Widmyer has raised a little more than $14,000 and Mary Souza has raised $29,000, according to the latest campaign disclosure statements from candidates.

Most of Kunka's campaign spending will go toward a billboard he purchased on Northwest Boulevard, which amounts to $2,200.

"You won't see any yard signs from me - just the billboard," he said. "There will be no meet-and-greets, and no door knocking."

Instead, he prefers to go out and meet people in their own elements. It's more of a grassroots campaign style, he said.

"I am talking to people as I meet them, when I meet them, where I meet them," he said, adding his sales job affords him the opportunity to meet a lot of people and he says he already knows roughly 25 percent of Coeur d'Alene's residents.

He was invited to interview for a Balance North Idaho endorsement but declined the opportunity because he felt Widmyer, who is a former board member of BNI, already had the endorsement wrapped up.

Kunka did say he would participate in any debate or forum he is invited to, and added that he didn't decline to participate in the Kootenai County Democrats Luncheon last Friday. He simply didn't see the invitation that was in his email.

"People who know me know the best way to communicate with me is by telephone or face-to-face," he said, adding he checks his email sporadically.

As for time, Kunka doesn't have the luxury of stepping away from his career to campaign, but he will make the time to handle his mayoral duties if elected.

"When I win, my priority will be the office of mayor," he said. "My employer and I will work out the time that I can spend with him because that has been a concern of his too."

Kunka left the Marines in 1986 and moved to Big Bear, Calif., where he worked as an executive chef. He moved to Coeur d'Alene with his wife and two children in 1990 after passing through the city to visit family in Great Falls, Mont.

He currently works a salesman, which some of his detractors say doesn't qualify him for the job of mayor.

For instance, Kunka has been told he doesn't have any budgetary experience and he has been asked to run for City Council where he may be able to gain more political support.

"Well, Troy Tymesen (the city's finance director) is there to take care of the budget, or balance the budget. Then the council ratifies the budget," he said. "My job is not to go in and make sure the budget is all balanced. That's not what the mayor does."

He said the mayor's job is to promote and market the city, and to make sure the daily operations are running smoothly. Kunka sees himself as an outgoing "type-A personality" who would rather be out shaking hands and promoting the city than sitting in a boardroom creating policy.

"I am not in search of power," he said, explaining how Coeur d'Alene has a weak-mayor form of government. "The mayor only has power when that office has to break a tie vote."

Kunka said he has been asked by supporters of both campaigns to get out of the race, but he declined to name them, because that would be divisive.

"They said I was going to split the vote, or steal the votes," he said. "If I am going to split or steal the votes that would indicate that you think you already own all of the votes."

Kunka said, if elected, he wants to meet with all of the department heads to get a good feel for how the city operates before making any decisions, and he would establish one day a week to meet with constituents about their issues with the city.

"If you want to come in and personally visit with the mayor, that is what that day is going to be for - personal eye-to-eye contact with your city leaders," he said. "There are roughly 44,000 people in Coeur d'Alene, and I want to meet them all.

"Is that possible? Probably not, but it's a good goal."