Hession cites city’s prosperity during tenure
Forty-nine votes.
That’s the margin that launched Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession’s rapid rise in city politics, clinching the former Parks Board volunteer a seat on the City Council in 2001.
Hession was at his father’s funeral when he got the phone call advising him that he’d taken a narrow lead in the ballot count.
“The closeness of the race gave me a very firsthand appreciation of the importance of every vote,” Hession said recently. Two years later, he won a bid for City Council president, which put him in line for the city’s top job after scandal toppled his predecessor, the once politically powerful Jim West.
Now, Hession is again in the midst of a heated election battle, with his political future at stake.
As he nears the end of what started out as West’s mayoral term and seeks voter support for a four-year term of his own, Hession can look back at a mixed tenure not uncommon among those who have filled the city’s top elected office. No Spokane mayor, after all, has served more than one term since David Rodgers won re-election in 1973.
With Hession and his mayoral opponent, City Councilwoman Mary Verner, sharing similar positions on many issues, his campaign has struggled to find its message. The race could be summed up: Is Hession out of touch with the public and his staff, or is he bringing stability to a city that notoriously has lacked it – especially at City Hall?
What no one can argue is that the city’s perennial budget problems have all but evaporated during Hession’s two years at the helm, an accomplishment his supporters insist is the result of the mayor’s deliberate effort to chart a fiscally responsible course.
Although deficits still are forecast within a few years, record surpluses have helped Hession turn expected dreary city budgets into new jobs for police and firefighters instead.
But even as Forbes magazine praises Spokane for its economic promise, Hession has gained many opponents who say he lacks communication skills, has too often made painfully slow decisions and has relied too heavily on private consultants.
County commissioners have described Hession as unresponsive. City Council members, even some of his supporters, have complained that he’s left them uninformed. City unions say he ignores his employees.
“He’s distanced himself from the employees,” said Joe Cavanaugh, president of the largest union made up of city employees. “He’s not connected.”
Critics say his unpopular move to pull trash pickup from some alleys – announced by posting notes on customers’ doors – represents how he treats the public.
His supporters respond that those concerns fail to take into account the big picture. Hession, they say, may be an unpolished politician, but he’s willing to take political hits for decisions he believes are right.
Pomp and pretension
By most accounts, Hession is a workaholic, arriving at City Hall before 6 a.m. and not going home until 8 p.m. or later and usually putting in weekend hours.
But while he devotes most of his waking hours to the job, Hession hasn’t adjusted to all the pomp that goes along with being mayor. He’s quick to tell some visitors to his office, for instance, that the mayoral seal planted in the carpet is pretentious.
While he may not be a baby-kisser, he doesn’t shy away from shaking hands. On walks between City Hall and a transportation conference at the convention center last month, he stopped several times to greet business and government officials. He fills many weekends and evenings by greeting groups such as a National Square-Dancing Convention committee, which Hession spoke to recently while it scoped out Spokane for a future event.
Hession may be uncomfortable with all the pomp, but he believes his style perfectly fits the office. He is proper in his dress and manners. Step in an elevator with him, and he will let you off first. Enter the room while he’s sitting down, he will stand. When walking downtown, he waves at every passing police car. When passing by the front desk at City Hall, he greets volunteers by name.
At a recent event where community leaders readied a bridge to be painted by kids, Hession helped pull weeds – in a white button-up shirt, gray dress pants and black dress shoes.
“I dress formally because it’s comfortable for me and I do it out of respect,” Hession said. “I believe that this is an important, formal office. I’m the chief executive officer of the city of Spokane and the titular head of this community and I take this very seriously.”
Hession’s tie-wearing days began early. He grew up in Salt Lake City and attended the then all-male Judge Memorial Catholic High School, which required ties and coats.
Hession filled his schedule with extracurricular activities. Among other memberships, he was on the student council and secretary of the Latin Club. He was an athlete too: a pole-vaulter and a starting lineman and kicker on the football team – though his success had more to do with his willingness to spend extra hours training than natural ability, said Richard White, one of the football team’s managers.
“He was an extremely competitive athlete,” said White, who followed Hession to Gonzaga University and stressed that he could not endorse a mayoral candidate because of his current employment as a Spokane County District Court judge. “He would work twice as hard as the person on the line with him.”
These days, Hession doesn’t look like a football lineman at all. He is thin. Very thin. Sometimes he only gets one meal a day, usually late at night.
For breakfast every work day, Hession orders a caramel macchiato from Starbucks across from River Park Square. (A barista usually adorns his paper cup with a special message, like “Have a great day, mayor!”)
Although his wife, Janie, sometimes packs him lunch, he often will skip the meal to work out at the downtown YMCA and run through Riverfront Park and the Gonzaga University campus with friends.
Hession’s father, who later helped run Hession’s first campaign for City Council in 2001, was the business manager of Salt Lake City’s two newspapers, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News.
After graduating from high school in 1968, Hession studied psychology at Gonzaga, where he met Janie. He went on to Gonzaga law school and worked as an attorney until he became mayor.
Their four children all attended Gonzaga Prep and have gone on to Jesuit universities. He and Janie attend the 8:30 a.m. Mass every Sunday at Sacred Heart Parish.
“I don’t wear my religion on my shirt sleeve,” Hession said, “I think having a religious focus as part of your life is a very important thing.”
It’s the economy stupid
Hession’s detractors say the mayor simply inherited the good fortune of his predecessor’s tough decisions. He assumed office after West had cut city jobs during painful budget shortfalls, settled the River Park Square fiasco that shadowed city politics for a decade and won voter support for a tax increase for road paving.
And then, the same year Hession became mayor, sales tax money unexpectedly soared.
“I think Dennis has been incredibly lucky,” said former Councilman Dean Lynch, a campaign volunteer for Verner who lost his seat in a close election to Hession. “His timing has just been incredible.”
The city had a $10.2 million surplus in 2006 and expects another $8 million to $9 million in 2007. The 2008 and 2009 budgets are expected to be balanced without the need for cuts or extra taxes.
Gavin Cooley, who has served as the city’s chief financial officer under three mayors, said Hession deserves credit for his financial management.
While previous officials in good times have squandered surpluses by adding jobs and ongoing expenses. Hession – and the City Council – have protected future budgets.
“I don’t think the city of Spokane has ever been in better financial condition than it is today,” said Cooley.
And that is Hession’s main argument for why he should get another term.
“I hope the citizens will recognize that we have been quite successful at creating both a progressive city and (pursuing) our goal of prosperity for each of our citizens,” Hession said. “I just couldn’t be more optimistic about the future of Spokane.”