Rumors of a high-ranking Spokane city official trying to organize the ouster of the city's downtown business organization's president boiled over into the Spokane Journal of Business today. 

Jan Quintrall, head of the city's Business and Development Services, denies in the story trying to remove Mark Richard, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, from his post. City Council President Ben Stuckart said in the article that a member of DSP's executive board told him that Quintrall threatened to pull the city's funding to the downtown organization unless Richards was fired, something Quintrall also denied in the article.

She did, however, acknowledge her influence at the business organization.

"I'm DSP's largest customer, I'm their largest funder, I'm contract manager, and now I'm a BID board member," Quintrall told the paper, which is owned by the same company that owns the Spokesman-Review, though the papers share no editorial responsibilities whatsoever.

Quintrall also told the paper that she was trying to "coach" Richard, who was elected to the Spokane County Board of Commissioners twice as a Republican before being named head of the business group.

"We had him spread too thin, and we have him trying to be everything to everyone. I was trying to be a friend and a coach to Mark. He had too many hats to wear - we have to figure this out," she said.

Quintrall's no stranger to headlines. Most recently, she's been in the news due to her role in the forced resignation of Scott Chesney, the city's planning director whose direct supervisor was Quintrall. After Chesney's abrupt dismissal, many prominent developers in Spokane lined up in his support. In the Journal's article, Quintrall acknowledged that the move stirred strong emotions.

"I think everyone is mad at me. No really, it's just a handful that is really mad at me," she said. 

Finally, she dismissed the article's content as mere gossip.

"Rumors abound," she said. 

Read the whole article here, subscription required.

---

---