The Spokane City Council President race would appear to be a toss up, particularly in many North Spokane precincts where a clear favorite has yet to emerge.
No duh, you might say, considering that winner Dennis Hession got only slightly more than a third of the vote in a four-person field.
But Spin Control does not make such prognostications lightly. Instead, we employ the very best of computer science and data analysis to confirm what you may already suspect: That Spokane voters seem less sure of their selection for the person to run council meetings for the next four years than the person to run the city.
Hey, some days, running the council is a real chore, but the city pretty much runs itself….
  

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Latest vote totals from ballot count on evening of Aug. 18.

Unlike Spokane's mayoral race, which has a clear favorite based on the primary results, the council president race is a more interesting mix of support around the city for the top three candidates.

As things stand now, former Council President and Mayor Dennis Hession would face political newcomer Ben Stuckart in the November general. Councilman Steve Corker is third in the Top Two primary, and will have to make up ground on Stuckart in the later vote counts. (Update: With almost all the ballots counted, it's clear that Corker will not make up that ground.)

But maps (found below or by clicking the links on the names) of the candidates' support, based on the first round of ballot counts, shows the three have different strongholds.

Hession, not surprisingly, ran very strong on the South Hill, where he's lived for years and where his base of support was in previous successful runs for city council and council president. He actually won outright some of the heaviest voting precincts on the hill, as well as the Logan District precinct that incluldes Gonzaga University, and ran strong in the far northwest sections.

Stuckart did well on the South Hill where ever Hession didn't, basically below 29th around Manito Park and east of Rockwood Boulevard. He did OK in some parts of northwest Spokane, but not so well in the northeast.

Corker did better north of Interstate 90, both in his Northwest Spokane Council District 3, and in much of the the northeast, but poorly in much of south Spokane. The problem for Corker, as candidates discover in most Spokane city races, is that doing well in the northeast district doesn't usually help you as much — voter registration and turnout are lower there than other parts of Spokane, so you wind up running behind in a citywide race. 

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Political newcomer Ben Stuckart is currently in second place in the City Council President primary. This map shows his vote percentages in the city's precincts based on the election night tally.

Click to return to story.

No matter which two candidates emerge from Tuesday's primary for City Council president, it looks like they'll have a lot of fund-raising work left to do, according to the latest filings with the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Ben Stuckart and Steve Corker have nearly tapped their campaign chests, and while Dennis Hession had about $6,000 left (at least according to information available this morning), that's not much for a city-wide general election.

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner has won the seal of approval from the Spokane County Democratic Party for a new term.

The party's endorsement committee voted Monday to endorse Verner for mayor, Ben Stuckart for City Council president, Joy Jones for the City Council seat representing Northwest Spokane and incumbent Richard Rush for the seat representing South Spokane, said David Smith, chairman of the party.

Smith said Verner and Rush also won the party's support in 2007.

“She's even more popular among Democrats than she was four years ago,” Smith said.

None of the picks are that surprising, though the decision to endorse Stuckart is somewhat of a snub to City Councilman Steve Corker, a former chairman of the party who is vying for council president.

Smith said Stuckart was the only council president candidate who requested an endorsement. That opened the door for the party to pick Stuckart because the party only backs candidates who request party support, he said. If multiple Democrats had requested an endorsement in the same race, the party would have waited to make a choice.

Spokane County Republican Party Chairman Matthew Pederson said last week that the Republican Party won't make any endorsements, at least prior to the August primary. He added that no city candidates have officially requested GOP backing.

Verner's main challenger, David Condon, has sought to distance himself from the party with large “nonpartisan” labels on his campaign signs. Condon is the former district director for Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

“It is a nonpartisan office,” Condon said this week. “The platform they have wouldn't be a platform I would further at the city level.”

Spokane City Council president candidate Ben Stuckart missed a state deadline for filing a campaign finance report by more than two months.

The mistake was quickly fixed once the Public Disclosure Commission informed Stuckart that he was late, and a penalty is unlikely, said Lori Anderson, PDC spokeswoman.

The state requires candidates to file a “personal financial affairs statement” (calld the F-1 form) within two weeks of raising or spending money on a campaign or declaring a candidacy. Stuckart entered the race March 1. The PDC didn't receive his personal financial disclosure form until June 1, though other required forms were received on time.

Stuckart's campaign manger Jessica Anundson said last week that Stuckart filled out the form in a timely manner and gave it to his first campaign treasurer, Amy Biviano, with other forms. But Biviano didn't “submit it with everything else,” Anundson said.

“We thought it was filed until the PDC called us,” she said.

But Biviano, who said she left the Stuckart campaign to work on Spokane Mayor Mary Verner's reelection bid, said this week that she sent the form on time and that if there was a problem, it occurred after she sent the forms.

“The campaign did follow the rules,” said Biviano, former chairwoman of the Spokane County Democratic Party. “It sounds like it was lost.”

Anderson, of the PDC, said she couldn't completely rule out the possibility of the PDC making a mistake with the form, but said it is unlikely. Paperwork is scanned into the system as soon as it arrives. The only possibility is that it was mislabeled when it was scanned. But each document and label is doublechecked by a second employee, she said.

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner filled out the paperwork and paid her $1,693.58 filing fee on Monday morning to officially enter the race to keep her job.

Today is the first day candidates can file to put their name on the ballot.

Handing the check to Voter Services Supervisor Kit Anderson, Verner said: “It's an investment in my grandchildren's future.” 

Afterward she spoke to supporters and reporters in the parking lot.

Also filing this morning were Ben Stuckart and Steve Corker for City Council president, Mike Padden for the Spokane Valley state Senate seat representing district 4, Mike Allen for the council seat representing south Spokane, Gary Pollard and John Waite for the seat representing northwest Spokane, and Paul Lecoq, Rod Roduner and Deana Brower for the Spokane Public Schools board.

The Spokane County Elections Office keeps an updated list for all the candidates who have filed for each office here.

(Photo caption: Mayor Mary Verner writes a check for $1,693.58 to pay her filing fee on Monday, June 6, 2011 to run for office.)

The field of candidates  to replace council President Joe Shogan remains just two.

In recent weeks, City Councilman Jon Snyder and former City Councilman Brad Stark considered entering the race for council president, but both say they likely will stay out of the contest.

“I looked at it, and it's a definitely winnable race,” Stark said.

But Stark, who served four years on the council and lost his seat to Richard Rush in 2007, said he decided his focus should remain on his job and family: “I don't foresee myself running.”

Snyder, like Stark, said he was approached by supporters to consider a run.

“I came to the conclusion very quickly that this is not an opportune time,” Snyder said.

That leaves the race for now between Ben Stuckart, executive director for Communities in Schools of Spokane County, and City Councilman Steve Corker.

Former City Councilman Steve Eugster filed paperwork with the state Public Disclosure Commission in 2009 indicating he would run for council president this year, but Eugster said late last year that he had changed his mind about running.

City Councilman Steve Corker has a challenger to his bid to become Spokane City Council president.

Ben Stuckart, executive director for Communities in Schools of Spokane County, said this week that he will run for the office.

Stuckart's announcement isn't much of surprise. He confirmed last month that he was strongly considering a run.

Former City Councilman Steve Eugster filed paperwork with the state Public Disclosure Commission in 2009 indicating he would run for council president this year, but Eugster said late last year that he had changed his mind about running.

So here's a review so far of the 2011 Spokane races:

Mayor:

Mary Verner: Running

Christopher W. Fenton: Running

David Condon: Seriously considering a run

Nadine Woodward: Not ruling out a run, though not seriously considering it

City Council president:

Steve Corker: Running

Ben Stuckart: Running

Steve Eugster: Not running

City Council seat representing northwest Spokane:

Steve Salvatori: Running

City Council seat representing northeast Spokane:

Donna McKereghan: Running

John Waite: Running

City Council seat representing south Spokane:

Richard Rush: Running

Mike Allen: Running

A battle may be shaping up to take over for City Council President Joe Shogan.

Ben Stuckart, executive director for Communities in Schools of Spokane County, said Wednesday that he is “strongly considering” a run for Spokane City Council president.

City Councilman Steve Corker announced last year that he is a candidate to replace Shogan, who is not running again.

Last year, Stuckart was the spokesman for the unsuccessful campaign for the Children's Investment Fund,  a proposed property tax for youth programs aimed at lowering the dropout rate.

Stuckart, 39, said he will make a decision about running by March 1. He is the former regional manager for TicketsWest and was hired in 2007 to start the Communities in Schools' Spokane office. Stuckart lives in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood on the South Hill.

(Photo information: Ben Stuckart, director of Communities in Schools, stands in his small office in Spokane Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010. By Jesse Tinsley.)