Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Plenty of choices on August ballot

Spokane city voters will face a full ballot in the August primary, as the municipal office races filled with some candidates who are familiar to the voters and others making their first runs for office.

The city’s northwest council district will have the most choices, with six candidates vying for a seat that became open when appointee Rob Crow filed for council president.

Steve Corker, a former councilman, entered the race late Friday, saying he thought his experience would be helpful as the city still struggles with fitting together an executive and legislative system that involves a strong mayor and a separate council.

“I still care about the people, and I think I can make a difference,” said Corker, 65. He is now semi-retired and has more time than when he served on the council from 1999-2003. He teaches two classes at Gonzaga University, and his part-time work as a consultant no longer involves much travel.

Lewis Griffin, 66, is a double retiree, from the Air Force and from the city of Liberty Lake, where he was city administrator. He was a finalist last year when the council took applications for the open seat.

Griffin said he wants to get involved with plans to improve Albi Stadium and wants more public involvement in those changes, too. He’s also a proponent of something he calls “smart growth” for the way the city develops.

“You’re not going to stop growth, so you’ve got to do it smartly, for the developers as well as the city as well as the citizens,” he said.

Jeremy Huston, 29, who manages an insurance office and tends bar, said he joined the race because “I see a lot of things that could be done differently.”

He’d like the city to lower its gambling tax to be equal with the county and has questions about tax increment financing proposals for the planned Kendall Yards project.

“I want to see a return on the money,” Huston said.

Rodney Price, 43, a mortgage banker for Inland Northwest Bank, said he was urged by friends and colleagues to enter the race and felt he was in the position to “put up or shut up.”

Active in the Boy Scouts and Indian Trail school activities, Price said he thinks the city needs more “good safe places for kids to have activities,” and the city should do more to create a business-friendly environment. He thinks the city may need to cut back on some other services to provide for increases in police and fire protection.

Those four candidates join Dan Peck and John Waite on the ballot in that council district.

In the northeast district, incumbent Councilman Bob Apple, as expected, filed for re-election. But he faces a wide array of challengers.

Luke Tolley, 28, whose family owns a golf cart dealership north of the Esmeralda Golf Course, said he’s been involved in the Hillyard neighborhood for years and wants to expand his civic involvement.

He said he’ll be stressing public safety, economic revitalization and more open city government. “I’m hoping to be more of a diplomat than a politician,” he said.

Gary Pollard, 63, is the chairman of the Riverside Neighborhood Council and a retired government employee, who said the city is looking at a difficult financial year ahead, but it shouldn’t continue the additional levy on property taxes – at least not now.

“The city gave the voters their word, and they need to keep their word, for at least some amount of time,” Pollard said.

He said the city needs to attack a growing gang problem at its roots, by going after crime in the neighborhood. While it’s his first run for office, he’s no stranger to the kind of work a councilman does: “I’ve been on a heck of a lot of government committees in the last nine years.”

Apple, Tolley and Pollard will be on the primary ballot with Robert Stokes Jr. and Donna McKereghan.

Voters in Spokane’s South District also have five choices in the primary.

Larry Splater, 57, a real estate appraiser for the county assessor’s office and a hospice volunteer, said he planned to get into the race when he thought incumbent Brad Stark was running unopposed. Even though there was another candidate by Friday, he decided to run anyway.

One of his key issues is growth and development: “I’d like to see a little more commercial (development) on the South Hill.”

Karen Cannon, 39, a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a degree in government studies, said she cares about the city and believes “I could do as well as anybody else.”

Cannon, who works at Domini’s Sandwiches, said she’s concerned about crumbling streets and crime: “I’m worried about the meth problem in Spokane, and I don’t think anybody seems to talk about it.”

George McGrath, 70, was the last candidate through the door of the elections office before it closed. McGrath is a familiar face to those who watch Monday night City Council meetings, where he’s been a regular in the audience – and at the microphone – for the last 18 or so years.

McGrath said he’s concerned about public safety, swimming pools and bringing family-wage jobs to Spokane. He said his filing was “very much a last-minute decision,” and he was urged to run by people who want a candidate with conservative values.

Already on the ballot were Stark and Richard Rush.

In citywide races, Councilwoman Mary Verner, as expected, filed for mayor Friday. She joins Robert Kroboth, Michael Noder, Councilman Al French and incumbent Dennis Hession in the race for the city’s chief executive.

The council president race is the only city of Spokane contest that didn’t get any larger. It already had three candidates: Barbara Lampert, Rob Crow and incumbent Joe Shogan.