Lowry Signs Coroner Bill Law Lets Voters Replace Amend With Appointed Examiner
Gov. Mike Lowry cleared the way Tuesday for Spokane County voters to swap their coroner for a medical examiner, and a county commissioner wants the issue on the ballot this fall.
Lowry came to Spokane to sign the bill giving counties with at least 250,000 people the option of ditching their elected coroners in favor of appointed - and more expensive - medical examiners.
Controversy surrounding Spokane County Coroner Dexter Amend helped speed the bill through the Legislature with little resistance. The measure sailed through the House on a 94-0 vote, and passed the Senate 35-14.
“This is a very important part of effective law enforcement,” the governor said. “To tell the truth, I don’t think we can afford not to have it.”
The law doesn’t go into effect for another three months, but a Spokane County attorney already has drafted an ordinance making the change at the request of Commissioner Steve Hasson.
“It’s just another measure of our county growing up,” said Hasson. “I think the voters will vote for this.”
The issue will go on the ballot only if commissioners agree it should. Commissioners John Roskelley and Phil Harris didn’t return telephone calls for comment.
Even if voters agree to dump the coroner system, Amend would still serve the remaining three years of his term.
Critics say a medical examiner system, which calls for a highly trained forensic pathologist, costs too much and strips power from the voters.
Commissioners would appoint the doctor and have authority to fire him or her.
“There’s been a movement to remove authority from the electorate by having more boards, more bureaucrats, more appointments with greater power,” said Pam Roach, a West Side senator who voted against the bill.
“This would be a step in that direction.”
Sen. Margarita Prentice, a Seattle Democrat, criticized the bill as “a quick fix” custom-made for Spokane County voters who want Amend out.
“This issue should be resolved by the people of Spokane. They should not turn to Olympia for that kind of remedy,” she said. “Spokane residents had darn well better grow up and figure out a resolution.”
Estimates aren’t available on how much a medical examiner system would cost Spokane County residents.
A medical examiner would probably make at least twice as much as Amend, who earns $48,658 a year. There’d also be assistants and probably the cost of an increased number of autopsies.
Amend, a retired urologist, has come under fire from police and his own pathologists, who say he doesn’t do enough autopsies. Amend has said he’s trying to save the county money.
Six lawsuits and legal claims totalling $4.2 million have been filed against him during his 14 months in office, mostly by people angry at how he handled the deaths of relatives.
Sen. John Moyer, who co-sponsored the bill, said it’s a relief for Spokane doctors who have pushed for a medical examiner system for years.
Too many well-meaning coroners just aren’t trained in death investigations, which are becoming more complicated, he said.
“We have all kinds of different poisons and narcotics,” Moyer said. “We have people who have become skilled at killing other people, and we need a person who’s able to delve into that and look at it with a forensic eye.”
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