Verner launches re-election bid

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner on Thursday held a $40-a-plate campaign kickoff breakfast for her re-election bid. That’s 18 months before Election Day. That might seem early for a city campaign, but history indicates that Spokane mayors have a difficult road to re-election. None has won a second term since David Rodgers in 1973. Verner started raising money for her campaign in October and has gathered $8,000 so far. Besides some of the same folks who donated to her campaign during her first mayoral bid, she’s won backing from Avista Corp., which backed her opponent, Dennis Hession, in 2007.