City Council Candidates Committed To Serve Thompson Wants To Reach Out To The Have-Nots

It’s late morning on a sidewalk in downtown Spokane. Steve Thompson tells a 16-year-old girl to get help, to get back to school, to get off the street.

“I don’t want to pick up the paper some morning and see they’ve pulled your body from the river,” says Thompson to the girl.

Thompson was waiting for a restaurant to open when the girl struck up a conversation. She had plenty to say: She wants to be addressed by her street name, Little Fawn. She lives under a bridge. Her mom is in prison.

There are people and places who can help her, Thompson says. She doesn’t buy it. She won’t go to the police because there are warrants for her arrest, she says. She looks off in the distance at other suggestions.

Thompson instructs a reporter to give the girl his card. Go to the newspaper office; people there will know where she can get help, he tells her.

After 15 minutes of talking, the conversation ends with the girl asking for a cigarette. Thompson doesn’t give her one.

“I feel for those kinds of people. I really hope she seeks help,” Thompson says later.

The 16-year-old is a have-not, one of the people candidate Thompson says he wants to champion on the Spokane City Council.

She would fall under No. 6 of the 10 principles Thompson promises to uphold if elected: Protect the unprotected.

It’s a list with a lot of “shalls.” Shall not be silent (No. 7); Shall not be co-opted (No. 8); Shall keep and share hope (No. 10). No. 1 on the list is: Do what is just. That’s followed by: Be honest.

Thompson is a follower of Ross Perot. He likes the plain-speaking Texas billionaire who was “credible” and “interjected common sense into an arena that was lacking common sense” during the 1992 presidential election.

Today Thompson is an officer in the local chapter of the Reform Party that was born of Perot’s foray into national politics. He’s got the fervor of the faithful.

His favorite books are written by Perot. His favorite TV program is a PBS series about campaign finance reform. He calls himself an activist for the “common people” and promises to run a no-frills campaign on less than $2,000.

He’s raised $505 so far, of which $60 came from his barber, his barber’s girlfriend, his barber’s girlfriend’s son, and a customer of his barber. His biggest contribution was $75 from Stan Emert, state chairman of the Reform Party in Seattle.

His rival, incumbent Phyllis Holmes, has $10,661 in her campaign treasury. Her campaign co-chair is Neal Fosseen, a retired banker and former Spokane mayor, who has given Holmes $400 for the race.

That kind of connection bugs Thompson.

“The public perceive Spokane is in control of a small group of downtown interests,” he said. “Without question they abuse their power from from time to time.”

One of those abuses was manifested in the council’s unanimous vote to pledge the city’s parking meter money for costs associated with the River Park Square parking garage. The money will only be used if the garage’s revenues fall short.

The council made the pledge through an emergency ordinance, which removed the public’s ability to vote on the project. At the time, there was a petition to put the issue to a public vote.

“The council was determined to push the River Park Square redevelopment through regardless of what the public wanted,” Thompson said. “It was an abuse of power, to the benefit of the developer.”

The $100 million redevelopment of the shopping center includes a new Nordstrom store, a multi-screen movie theater, expanded parking and numerous shops and restaurants. Supporters say the project will create jobs, generate sales tax revenue and pump millions of dollars into the local economy.

There is an old quote that fits River Park Square, Thompson said: “Politics is the art of turning influence into affluence.”

Friends say Thompson is as far from being an influence-for-affluence politician as there is.

“I know he’s not running for his own aggrandizement,” said Frank Malone, a Spokane attorney whose been active in the Democratic Party.

“He’s worked hard on a lot of causes I don’t agree with, but he represents a non-big party point of view. He believes in citizen democracy and citizen participation,” Malone said.

“He’d bring the watchdog role (to the council),” Malone said. “He’s an honest guy who follows through on his work and I think that would transfer on to the council.”

Thompson can get excited talking politics, but he’s definitely got a soft side. He likes the sounds of bullfrogs - he’s got two in a front-yard pond. He loves to fly-fish in clear, clean rivers - northwest Montana being a favorite spot. He always lets the fish go.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

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