Citing the need for more transparency and accountability, Stu Crismore is taking another run at becoming a Lincoln County Commissioner.

Crismore ran in the 2022 Republican primary against incumbent Brent Teske for the District 1 seat that serves the greater Libby area. Teske won by just 140 votes then as Teske collected 2,160 to Crismore’s 2020 votes.

Crismore will face Teske again in the June 2 primary election. A third candidate, Jeff Koskela, also registered March 4 to run for the seat.

Four years ago, Crismore said county residents deserved a choice, but this time he’s much more motivated to be elected.

“We need better accountability, accessibility and transparency,” Crismore told The Western News. “As a public official, if you can’t conduct business in the open, you shouldn’t be doing it. 

The Lincoln County native and life-long resident still lives in the Happy’s Inn area where he grew up. He is 1975 graduate of Libby High School.

“County residents should feel 100% confident in talking to their elected representatives,” Crismore said. “We’re here to serve the people.”

Crismore is the chairman of the Fisher River Valley Fire Rescue Board of Directors.

He spoke at length of the ongoing situation involving the Lincoln County Port Authority.

“The dynamics are crazy there,” Crismore said. “In so many cases, it’s been poorly run. I don’t oppose selling the land, but I think properly run, it can be beneficial,” he said. “There have been major missed opportunities. There are times we’ve greased the skids for businesses to come here when we didn’t need to.”

Crismore questioned the sell of Port Authority land to local businessman Chris Noble.

“I don’t know if the best value was received for the sale of that land. Any time public land is sold, it should be done publicly. That’s not being a good steward of that property. It’s imperative that things are done in the public eye.”

Crismore also wants to see more happen when it comes to forest management.

“The 60 to 70 million board feet from the (Kootenai National) Forest is a nice start and the agreements, such as Good Neighbor, are really important, but I think more could be happening,” Crismore said. “With the development occurring in many places in the county, we need to be able to fire safe these places as well as provide more jobs.”

He also shared his varied experiences as why he should be a commissioner.

“I’ve been active in my community since a young age as a Boy Scout and I became politically involved in high school when I worked on candidate’s campaigns,” Crismore said.

Crismore said he served one term on the Libby City Council in the early 2000s, but business responsibilities while doing road building for the Bonneville Power Administration and reclamation work in North Dakota, took him out of town too frequently to continue.

Crismore said he currently serves as president on the Sally Sauer Heart Fund Board of Directors, chairman of the board for the Fisher River Valley Fire Rescue, is a member of Hoo-Hoo International, a fraternal organization of lumbermen, and has been a member of the Libby Christian Church since 1964.

Absentee ballots are scheduled to be mailed Friday, May 8. Late voter registration for the primary begins Tuesday, May 5.

For more election information, go to https://lincolncountymt.gov/ or call the office at 283-2302 or 283-2304.