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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control

Bomb suspect arrest surpised Tucker

OLYMPIA -- News that the FBI was making an arrest in the MLK Day bomb plot came as a surprise here yesterday -- not just to legislators who have been ensconced in the capital for two months but to Spokane County's top law official.

Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker was in Olympia for "Law and Justice Day", a day set aside for the state's prosecuting attorneys to lobby their legislators. He was enroute from one Spokane-area senator's office to another's Wednesday morning about the time FBI agents (and some media) were closing in on Kevin Harpham's home near Addy.

Bumping into Tucker on the sidewalk, I decided to see if I could pick up a tidbit of news to feed back to Spokane. So, I asked,  the FBI is picking up someone in MLK parade bomb attempt?

They are? he replied, surprised. When told that was the word coming out of Spokane, he seemed pleased, but still surprised, and asked if I had any  more details. The FBI, he said, always keeps things close to the vest.

A short time later, I happened upon Rep. Timm Ormsby, a Spokane Democrat who's district includes the downtown route of the parade, and mentioned the feds were making an arrest, again hoping for some little nugget of news. His brother, Mike Ormsby, is, after all, the U.S. attorney in Spokane.

Rep. Ormsby was surprised, too, and asked who and where. US Atty. Ormsby doesn't talk about the cases, he said.



The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.