Timing of vote on council seat up in the air

Maneuvering by Spokane City Council members has again made the timing of the selection of a new council member unclear.

In the contentious discussion about who is picked to fill Mayor Mary Verner’s former seat, council members are debating whether the selection will be made this year – with Councilman Brad Stark as part of the process – or next year, after Councilman-elect Richard Rush takes over Stark’s seat.

At stake is which one of the 26 applicants for the job is selected. In the recent election, Stark received significant financial backing from business leaders and developers. Rush received more support from neighborhood and environmental interests.

Late last month, Councilman Al French won support for the council to “take action” on the selection on Dec. 17.

Since then, Councilman Brad Stark has said that he won’t vote for a new member – a pledge he now says he might break if there’s a deadlock.

Councilman Bob Apple said Wednesday that he and Council President Joe Shogan have asked that all applicants be interviewed for the job. Any applicant that has support from two council members must be interviewed under the selection rules approved last month.

Scheduling all 26 candidates before Monday could cause more chaos in the selection process and make it difficult to select a new member that day.

Apple said he needs time to interview all the candidates because the process has been rushed.

“I want to be fair with everybody,” he said.

At Monday’s meeting, French noted that the length of the selection process that ended in the appointment of Rob Crow in 2006 was about the same as what’s being used to fill Verner’s seat.

“To say that I have another agenda is just not consistent with the facts,” French said. “All I’m trying to do is adhere to what the council rules say and what the charter says.”

At the time Stark pledged not to vote, he said his goal was to move the vote into next year, allowing Rush to help make the selection.

“I decided this morning, after much thought, prayer and seeking wisdom, that I will not participate in the interview and voting portions of selecting Mary Verner’s replacement on the council,” he wrote in an e-mail last week announcing his decision. “I will still be involved in the initial screening of applicants but will then allow for Richard Rush to take my place in all further deliberations.”

The council needs four votes to push the issue to 2008 or to make a selection Monday.

Stark said this week that unless Shogan persuades four council members to vote for a postponement, he would fully participate in the selection so his district would have a voice in the selection of its other representative. Both Stark’s seat and the empty one cover south Spokane.

“The question is does Joe have the leadership to move the vote into next year,” Stark said. “It’s going to be up to Joe to muster up the leadership.”

Shogan said the timing of the vote is up to the full council, not just him.

“I don’t have a bull whip. I’m not a dictator,” Shogan said. “If Brad wants to go against what he says, that’s his problem.”

At Monday’s meeting, members squabbled on several budget issues as Shogan tried to prove that the 2008 budget could be completed without a seventh member. French has argued that a selection might be needed this year to break any ties on the budget.

Most budget work was completed Monday, but there are a few details yet to be worked out today and next Monday.

Shogan says there’s no need to rush the selection anymore.

“Ask Al French, call him up,” Shogan said. “Ask him what the rush is now.”

On Monday, French said none of the people who applied for a seat was recruited by him, but that many were recruited by Rush.

“So if you want to accuse somebody of manipulating the process I would suggest to you that I’m not the one,” said French, who has called the list of applicants “impressive.”

Rush said he heard about an effort to encourage people to apply as a way of slowing down the selection until next year, but that he did not participate in that effort. The people he asked to consider for the opening were people he hoped would take it seriously, he said.

Rush said voters spoke in November and that he would best represent their voice in the selection process. Selecting a new member before he is sworn in would only “create cynicism in the electorate and distrust in the government,” he said.