July 24, 2010 in City

County assessor’s race has 6 candidates

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Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker has more challengers than a bear has fleas – and he picked up one of them, appraiser Vicki Horton, in his own den.

The den used to belong to another of Baker’s five opponents, former Assessor Sadie Charlene Cooney.

Other challengers are Lori Wick, a county grant specialist and former deputy auditor; real estate broker Gina McKenzie; and software engineer Andrew Jackson.

Generally, the challengers fault Baker for allegedly failing to add some new construction to the tax rolls, alienating staff members and reducing public access to the office.

Baker responds that he has greatly reduced a stack of inherited problems, including untaxed construction. He says he has improved public access with a website that gives details on every property in the county.

A 2008 tax appraisal performance study by the state House of Representatives’ Office of Program Research lists Spokane County as one of 12 top-performing counties.

Even Baker’s challengers give his website high marks. But his belt-sander approach to problems has generated controversy since he took office in January 2005.

Baker was criticized for removing visitor chairs from what he said was supposed to have been a private work area, for installing an unpopular telephone answering system, for tightening enforcement of restrictions on timber and agriculture tax exemptions and, this year, for a six-year, $560,000 contract for aerial photography that allows appraisers to locate and measure new buildings.

A disputed whistleblower complaint by a former appraiser contended a large number of new buildings weren’t promptly assessed.

Several of Baker’s challengers, including Horton and Cooney, fault the way Baker manages his staff.

Cooney also is no stranger to criticism.

In 1998, the state auditor issued a scathing analysis of her performance. And in 2002, a judge fined her $3,000 for a second campaign-law violation: using county equipment and employees in a re-election campaign.

The county paid more than $180,000 to fight and settle a legal claim that Cooney retaliated against employees who didn’t support her 1998 campaign.

“I just hope people have forgiven me so we can move on,” Cooney said.

Former state Rep. Duane Sommers defeated Cooney in 2002. He resigned after two years, and Baker was appointed to replace him.

Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  kaywrightmcg2003 on July 24 at 1:44 a.m.

  So your story reguarding the Assessor’s campaign is about inept Assessor’s?? No mention of the other candidates ( Horton also works in the mis-managed Assessor’s Office) that the TAX Payers would like to learn more about?? Shocking!!
  Ralph is inept. Sadie Cooney…unbelievable to even think we TAX Payers will forgive 180,000.00 of OUR Money.
  Gina McKenzie, a realtor, filed as an indigent.. really? seriously? Did the Spokesman check if she owns property?
  Are you still with me?
  Andrew Jackson ( love the name) and Lori Wick are the 2 in this race that we all should check out ~ perhaps our only local newspaper would have mentioned them. ( makes one wonder if the Cowles Company/Corp is getting a little extra property tax break? Just saying..)
  Thanks for narrowing the field down for me.

• 

  Ron_the_Cop on July 25 at 12:55 p.m.

  Curt Bailey,

  It’s a case of anyone except Tucker and perhaps Cooney. You are quite correct re the Cowles Co receiving favorable treatment. See the investigative work of retired Sheriff Tony Bamonte re Cowles Co owned property:

  http://tinyurl.com/2454jjf

  For more listened to these interviews on Mike Fagan’s & George McGrath’s the radio show, The RIGHT Spokane Perspective:

  http://tinyurl.com/2g5od5y

• 

  worthasecondlook on July 25 at 7:10 p.m.

  Not sure how being an auditor has anything to do with property appraisal and managing a 43 billion dollar business with 220,000 accounts like baker has shown he can do for years. Computer programmers are great and so are engineers but they are not business managers or that wouldn’t be different educations for them. If you want a great phone answering system then vote for jackson, if you want an audit of the assessor’s office then vote for wick. If you want the whole office to continue operating at the top of the state’s rating system then re-elect ralph baker who is responsible for putting us on the map as an example of how other assessor’s office should strive to be. I guess is comes down to what you want the assessor’s office to do for you. I want it to assess properties for tax purposes. Don’t really care about a handful or people who work over there who have heartburn over having to be accountable for their work. Anyone who makes people work is going to encounter some opposition in any environment. Happens in my job, too.

• 

  spokomojo on August 12 at 9:48 a.m.

  Hey Eienstein - That’s kinda the whole point isn’t it? Making people work? As in “Oh, yeah, don’t forget to count that pesky $22 million dollars in lost tax revenue” that was left off the books. (I guess the aerial photos were taken on a REAL cloudy day.) Baker turned his back on two whistlerblowers. I don’t care what else he did in that job - he let down his constituents!

  Think I’ll try Lori Wick - an independent with experience in the assessors office.

• 

  maddiewalker on August 14 at 9:10 a.m.

  This is what bugs me, too:

  “Baker turned his back on two whistlerblowers”

  Then he made the whistleblower work under the woman that she ‘whistleblowed” on. (Yes, I know that’s not a word).
  Just not right. I’ll vote for one of the 2 the Spokesman didn’t talk about.