Candidate Profile—Drew Pettis County Commission Candidate
I live in Malad with my lovely bride, Catherine and 2 of our 6 children (ages 10 & 15). We have found Oneida County to be the perfect place to raise our children and they are flourishing here. We love everything about this area.
Here are my driving principles:
True Constitutional and Fiscal Conservativism. Government (including those who serve in government) is the servant of its citizens, not the master.
Liberty is a gift from our Creator and it is the responsibility of proper government to protect and sustain that liberty, especially at the local level.
An obligation to properly fund Law Enforcement and Emergency Responders. Additionally, I believe that if a crime is committed in Oneida County or Malad City, and that crime is required to be reported to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, it should be prosecuted. I’m committed to retention of county employees, particularly the sheriff’s office. There is little advantage to training new recruits and then losing them to neighboring communities.
No government overreach. Government should NEVER determine winners and losers. And government should NEVER be involved in Social Engineering.
Accessible and Open meetings – made possible through scheduling open meetings after work hours or perhaps live broadcasting them and/or making those broadcasts available to interested citizens. I find nothing invigorating in reading the minutes of a government meeting, every citizen should have access to attend or view commissioner meetings and be able to have their responses heard.
Why choose Drew 4 You:
1. Remove unconstitutional laws.
The Oneida County Development Code (passed into law on July of 2022) contains at least 2 unconstitutional ordinances. I presented this information to the commission in October 2022 and they chose to do nothing about it. Here is a high level of what I presented:
1. First Amendment violation – The right of the people to gather.
The current development code prohibits gatherings (social and religious) of 1000 people or more without permission from the County Commission (Article H – 4H-2 “permission” Article H – 4H-3B )
2. Fifth Amendment violation – aThe Takings Clause.
The current development code requires builders/developers to allocate 10% of the land development as “Common Open Space”? This is equivalent to taking property from builder/developer. (Article C – 3C-6)
2. Establish/maintain county autonomy.
If all our county leaders do is incorporate the policies and procedures recommended by the State of Idaho or the Idaho Association of Counties, why do we need a board? Who do our commissioners represent? Oneida County citizens? Or third parties?
3. Revenue neutral county sponsored events and services.
County sponsored events should be revenue neutral. We know how much revenue is received by public events and the associated expenses of those events. They should, within reason, be offsetting. The cost of permits should represent the actual cost to the county of the permit and exercise of the county stewardship (inspections, etc.).
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please text or call: (208)317-4136 or email:
[email protected]