Veteran politician, newcomers face off

Northwest Spokane’s council race features one veteran campaigner and four political newcomers, but all five candidates face the same challenge: The apathy of the summer doldrums.

“People are polite at the door, but they’re just kind of like ‘Let me get on with what I’m doing,’ ” said former Councilman Steve Corker. “There’s more apathy or less interest than I’ve seen in my whole political life.”

Corker, 65, served a term on the council from 2000 through 2003 and is touting his experience as a major plus for returning. The semi-retired public relations specialist who now teaches at Gonzaga University also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003 and for District 3’s other council seat in 2005.

With no incumbent in the race – council appointee Rob Crow filed for the council president position, then dropped out of that race too late to get off the ballot – Corker probably is the most familiar name to voters.

Joining him on the ballot is an array of council hopefuls taking their first shot at elective politics, although some have experience in other levels government, either in Spokane or elsewhere.

Lewis Griffin, 70, retired from the Air Force then served as city administrator of Colfax and later Liberty Lake. He’s concerned that the city isn’t following the Comprehensive Plan, and wants to see more “smart growth.”

John Waite, 42, is the owner of Merlyn’s Science Fiction and Fantasy store in downtown and the vice chairman of the Cable Advisory Board, and has operated a citizen activist Web site, makegovwork.org, for several years. He wants the city to get a handle on its budget but adds “there are no easy answers.”

Dan Peck, 50, is a retired Qwest Communications employee who’s now president of Spokane North and Mead Little Leagues and was active in discussions about the sports complex plans for the area around Albi Stadium. While he doesn’t have time in government, he says, “experience is not as important as good old common sense.”

Jeremy Huston, 29, is the office manager for a family-owned insurance business and the manager of the Moezy Inn Tavern. He also has no government experience but notes that he’s lived in Spokane’s North Side his entire life and has a fairly simple philosophy that citizens “should get a decent return for their money.”

The district, which covers the city west of Division Street and north of the Spokane River, is home to a couple of issues that have occupied much of the city’s attention in recent years: Joe Albi Stadium and a nearby sports complex proposal, and the proposed Kendall Yards development.

“I hear a lot about Albi, but I’m finding that a lot of people don’t know the complex was set up for alcohol sales,” said Peck, who has been critical of the sports complex proposal for its lack of baseball fields and for a plan to allow alcohol sales at softball games.

Huston says what he hears most from voters is a demand to fix up Albi so it can “make some money” through more sporting events and concerts. He doesn’t think there would be a problem with properly regulated alcohol sales at softball games, any more than there are problems at Spokane Indians games or Pig Out in the Park.

“As long as they’re complying with Washington State Liquor Control Board laws, I don’t see why we should not make money off it,” Huston said.

Griffin said he thinks the city has made up for previous missteps over Albi – at one point the council considered a proposal to sell the stadium and some surrounding land – but supports current plans for a sports complex. He favors a large bond issue that would improve Albi, build more ball fields and an aquatics center, because it would spread benefits around the city and have a better chance of passing.

All candidates say they support the concept of Kendall Yards, a proposed $1 billion residential and commercial development on 78 acres between the river and the West Central neighborhood. But they differ on the city’s participation in it through tax increment financing.

“We’re way too generous when we negotiate with these developers,” said Waite, who believes it’s a great project that can proceed without city help.

Peck said the city may have “gone overboard a bit” with a tax increment financing plan that benefits developer Marshall Chesrown for 25 years and would like the city to require the development have a public park overlooking the river. “But all of us would like to see the plan come to fruition.”

Griffin sees the development as a good deal, and tax increment financing the right way to go, for both the city and the developer. “That property would just be sitting empty” without the city’s help, he said.

The people most interested in Kendall Yards seem to be residents of the nearby West Central neighborhood, who have concerns about rising property taxes, Corker said. “From everyone else, the main thing I hear is ‘When is it going to start?’ ” he said.

Whoever gets through the primary faces the prospect of being on a November ballot with a controversial tax measure. The City Council is considering whether to extend a boost to the property tax, known as the levy lid lift, which voters approved two years ago as a temporary measure to help with police, fire and other city services.

Mayor Dennis Hession has said he doesn’t believe an extension is necessary, but with perennial concerns about crime and police protection, some council members, as well as some candidates, aren’t so sure.

Even though he doesn’t generally support higher taxes, Waite said he’d vote to extend the levy as a way to get what he calls “preventive policing” on the streets. With more officers, the department should be able to reduce overtime and rein in costs, he said.

Peck said the tax extension might have a chance if the city spells out how it would be used and sets aside money to bring back Crime Check and beef up investigation of property crimes. “If you had a specific, rational reason for people, I think it would pass.”

Huston is reluctant to ask voters for an extension of what was billed as a temporary measure. “If you make a promise, you keep a promise.”

Corker would support the extension, and believes it was a mistake for city officials to have been so emphatic two years ago that the budget problems would be fixed quickly.

“I don’t think I would’ve made that commitment,” he said. “But since they did, I think you say we’re making progress with sales tax revenues, but we’re not there yet.”

Griffin said he’s undecided: “There’s not enough information to make a decision. If it’s necessary, I’ll support it.”

Most candidates say they’ve fielded some questions from voters about police oversight, particularly after the arrests of 17 protesters in Riverfront Park on July 4, and think the city needs to set up some independent system of checks and balances on law enforcement.

“Oversight is always a good idea,” said Peck. “We need someone who is not always siding with the police or always going against them.”

Waite agreed: “I do not like the argument that the police can self-regulate.”

Griffin said it doesn’t matter whether it’s a single ombudsman or a citizens panel with strong oversight powers. “Either one would work if they had the authority to do things.”

Corker leans toward an ombudsman because the city’s former citizens panel was so ineffective. If the police union balks at changing its contract to allow that type of oversight, he said the city might only need to tell them that any further loss of credibility will endanger things like their community policing programs.

Huston said while an ombudsman “is not a real bad idea,” he thinks the department could solve most problems by simply being more forthcoming. “They’re doing a better job with (new Chief Anne) Kirkpatrick,” he said.

With most candidates running low-budget and largely self-financed campaigns, they are struggling to differentiate themselves in voters’ minds before the primary, which for the first time will be held in August instead of September. Ballots will arrive in mailboxes at the beginning of August, and must be mailed back by Aug. 21.

“Spokane is very much a summertime town,” Waite said. “It’s kind of a weird deal.”

Peck agreed: “A lot of people have their minds on the lake or vacation. I wonder how many people are going to leave (the ballot) sitting on their table, go on vacation and come home to find the election is over.”