Northtown Owner Bankrolled River Park Foes Sabey Corp.’S $9,000 Donation Financed Signature-Gathering

The owner of NorthTown Mall paid almost the entire cost of a referendum seeking a public vote on the city of Spokane’s involvement in the River Park Square project.

Seattle-based Sabey Corp. donated $9,000 to Priorities First, a Spokane political action committee pushing the referendum, state Public Disclosure Commission reports show.

Priorities First’s total budget was $9,600.

Sabey Corp. donated $3,000 and Eileen DeArmon, who does public relations for Sabey, gave $6,000 on behalf of Sabey.

The disclosure reports show that Priorities First used the $9,000 to pay a Tacoma company called Washington Initiatives Now to gather signatures.

“We are proud to have provided financial support to … obtain sufficient signatures to place this issue before the voters and to allow those who pay the taxes to determine if this is an appropriate use of their tax dollars,” Sabey spokeswoman Michelle Driano said in a prepared statement.

“The Sabey Corp. made a significant and proper contribution to the campaign,” Driano said. “We were one of dozens of contributors to the effort.”

The remaining $600 in Priorities First’s budget came from smaller donations by 32 individuals - an average of $18.75 per person, the state reports show.

“That initiative process was paid for by Sabey,” said Duane Swinton, attorney for River Park Square. “It doesn’t appear to me that it was quite the grass-roots initiative they made it out to be.”

Driano said it’s important to focus on the number of signatures, not donations.

The referendum collected more than 8,000 signatures and would force a public vote on an emergency ordinance passed Jan. 27 by the council. The ordinance pledged parking meter money to help pay expenses for River Park Square’s parking garage if parking revenues fall short of projections.

City ordinances generally take effect 30 days after they are passed.

That gives opponents time to collect signatures to force a public vote on the action.

Emergency ordinances, however, take effect immediately and prevent the public from using the referendum process.

The referendum is in limbo while a lawsuit challenging the emergency clause of the ordinance moves through Superior Court.

A summary judgment hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled Wednesday.

The $100 million River Park Square project would include a new Nordstrom store, a 24-screen cinema and other shops and restaurants.

River Park Square is owned by Citizens Realty Co. and Lincoln Investment Co., affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., owner of The Spokesman-Review.

Priorities First also sponsored an initiative petition that was declared invalid by the City Council last week. The initiative - which collected 3,200 signatures - also asked for a public vote.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NEW LAWSUIT Another lawsuit has been filed against the city of Spokane over the River Park Square redevelopment project. The City Council overstepped its legal bounds when it declared a petition initiative invalid last week, claims the lawsuit filed by attorney Steve Eugster. Eugster filed the suit on behalf of Priorities First, a political action committee that sponsored the initiative, and Richard Adams and John Talbott. “It is our position that only the court can decide to keep an initiative off the ballot,” Eugster said. City Attorney James Sloane disagrees. In a memo submitted to the council March 28, Sloane said the initiative petition itself is invalid because it tries to interfere with authority given the council by state law. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled April 29 in Spokane County Superior Court. Alison Boggs