Third Democrat Files In 3rd District Former Social Service Director Has Up-Close Look At Social Ills

A former social service executive said she will run for the Legislature as a “been there, done that” candidate.

Val Smith, a retired director for Lutheran Social Services, announced her campaign Tuesday as a Democrat for the state House of Representatives in Spokane’s 3rd District.

She said her experience as a foster child, a single parent, a welfare mother and minimum wage-earner would help her address economic and welfare issues confronting the state.

Smith is a former high school dropout who later went back to school to earn a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in social work. Last February, she retired as the director of Child Welfare Programs from Lutheran Social Services.

“The gridlock was doing me in,” she said at her campaign announcement at the Ridpath Hotel. “We’re constantly doing triage with children.”

Smith criticized both political parties for “throwing rocks at each other,” rather than finding compromises on tough issues.

“We’re going to find answers in the middle,” she said. “I believe in groupthink.”

To address problems with welfare, Smith said the state should target recipients who are likely to be successful and get them into programs with on-the-job training. Welfare recipients also need to have adequate child care available to them, she said.

She doesn’t believe in a two-year limit for all welfare recipients, as some Republicans have proposed.

“Most people stay on (welfare) less than two years anyway,” Smith said. Some recipients with physical or mental disabilities can’t be cut off after two years, she added.

Smith, 58, is married with eight children and six grandchildren. She becomes the third Democrat to announce a campaign for the seat being vacated by state Rep. Dennis Dellwo.

Spokane attorney Lonnie Sparks and Jeff Gombosky, director of a neighborhood project at the Northeast Community Center, are also running.

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