Spokane7
55°
July 31, 2011 in Opinion
Editorial: Narrow council race to Waite, McKereghan
The race to replace Bob Apple on the Spokane City Council has drawn an eclectic mix of business owners, community activists and experienced campaigners. The northeast Spokane seat has drawn a half-dozen candidates at a time when the city faces enormous budget problems.
Gary Pollard pilots the Riverside Neighborhood Council and has served on many municipal committees. He clearly cares about the city, but his focus on what’s good for neighborhoods might be too narrow for the overall challenges that lie ahead. Chris Bowen declines to say what he does for a living and offers odd, unworkable solutions to budget challenges.
Luke Tolley, who is the marketing organizer for SustainableWorks, is an energetic cheerleader for Hillyard and is passionate about public service. He acknowledges the gap between the city’s revenues and expenses and the need to rein in labor costs, but an endorsement from the Spokane Labor Council could make it difficult for him to be wholly impartial.
Mike Fagan is well-known as the mascot weasel that used to stalk former Rep. George Nethercutt over the term-limits issue. He works for Tim Eyman on small-government voter initiatives. As a member of the Spokane Patriots, he views the federal government and the United Nations as threats to municipal sovereignty and pushed for the city to pass charter amendments that address these phantom concerns. Smaller government has its appeal, but there are candidates who can more effectively carry that banner without the fringe-politics distractions. His dogmatic views and distaste for compromise demonstrate that he would not be a collaborative problem-solver.
Donna McKereghan owns a Web design company and is a former member of the Washington state Legislative Ethics Board. She also was president of the Logan Neighborhood Council. She has been active in city issues for many years and helped the city devise its ethics ordinance. Her strength is her breadth of knowledge and experience in civic matters, but she is against any effort to lobby the Legislature for a change in binding arbitration for public safety workers. Current labor law makes it more difficult to gain wage concessions based on a community’s ability to pay.
John Waite is the longtime owner of a downtown comics/game store who touts his independence from political party influence. He is a focused problem-solver who has a realistic grasp of the city’s finances, including the daunting labor costs. As a business owner, he understands that City Hall departments need to be helpers, not impediments, to commerce.
Waite worries that partisanship is creeping back into City Hall and blocking progress. He shows a willingness to listen patiently to complaints from across the political spectrum, but he makes it clear that government actions must be grounded in practicality.
This race features passionate candidates with an array of views, but McKereghan and Waite are the top two choices and should advance to the general election.
To respond to this editorial online, go to www.spokesman.com and click on Opinion under the Topics menu.
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ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 31 at 6:42 a.m.
Donna McKereghan is a wonderful energetic person, who is conversant with and an advocate in the arena of low income, marginalized and homeless people. I know her personally, and if I lived in Hillyard, as I did growing up in the late 40’s and 50’s She would have my vote. I would strongly advocate for her to be in the final contest by winning big in the Primary. John Olsen/ House of Charity Volunteer
mikefagan on July 31 at 11:38 a.m.
I want to thank the spokesman review editorial board for their wonderful endorsement commentary of the Northeast city council candidates on Sunday, 31 July. The comments made regarding me were appreciated and serves as validation that I am a man of principle, and have courage of conviction. The board also eloquently pointed out that I am not afraid to hold elected officials feet to the fire, and that I have a love for my home town of Spokane in keeping outside entities from coming into “our city” and influencing “our local politics”.
The editorial board followed the recommendations of the progressive (or socialist) coalition in endorsing Waite & McKerrigan which is fine. I think that this serves as validation that the spokesman review desires to keep things in Spokane status quo with more taxes and more regulation. This should serve as a wake up call to all residents of our wonderful city. I for one, am all about smaller, less intrusive government and lower taxes. Those of you reading this need to think real hard as to what kind of future you want for Spokane.
Vote for Mike Fagan because “prosperity solves poverty”.
Dazzeetrader11 on July 31 at 3:36 p.m.
Besides not being Mike Fagan, what’s the matter with Luke Tolley? Works hard, represents NE well. Seems like an energetic man who has his district’s interests in mind.
Seems like a productive realist. Conservative too..isn’t he?
DickAdams on July 31 at 9:44 p.m.
Again, the Spokesman Review shows its colors regarding the below the belt comments about Mike Fagan. As far as I`m concerned, I could not vote for anyone else. Go get um, Mike.
Fetch on July 31 at 9:44 p.m.
Yea, this is the reviews endorsements. Waite and McKereghan know nothing about the Constitution. For city council Fagan is the best bet. And by the way, Hession signed us up for agenda 21 without any vote of the people. Now he wants back in.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on August 01 at 5:57 a.m.
How the low income folks that live and love in that district could possibly vote against their own interests, with Tea Party Motivation is beyond my ability to comprehend…. John
Jeffrey_Grey on August 01 at 6:49 a.m.
I don’t know Ms. McKereghan so I can’t speak to her qualifications. On the other hand, John Waite has been a friend of mine for several decades. To say that he “knows nothing about the Constitution” proves conclusively that Fetch knows nothing about John.
John would be an excellent choice to represent the constituents of his district. He is a moderate centrist with a genuinely pragmatic outlook, untainted by slavish, lock-step devotion to any agenda other than the best interest of those he represents.
fhstorey on August 01 at 4:21 p.m.
Mascot weasel? Sounds like name calling to me. I have little knowledge about Mr. Fagans’ qualifications or lack thereof for this position but Spokesman Review does little to enhance its’ image when it conducts itself in this manner, It invites similar response to its’ own seeming lack of objectivity when thus engaged.