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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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In brief: Commissioner Todd Mielke applies to be Spokane County CEO

From Staff Reports

Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke said Wednesday he’s put in the paperwork to apply for the job of outgoing Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Marshall Farnell.

“I will put my resume up against anyone,” Mielke said Wednesday afternoon. The three-term GOP commissioner has recused himself from all votes on selecting a committee tasked with picking Farnell’s replacement. Farnell, who has served the county since 1973, oversees a general fund budget of about $150 million and about 2,000 county employees.

Mielke on Wednesday dismissed notions that the selection process was rigged in his favor. Two of the seven people who will pick the next CEO have contributed to Mielke’s campaigns.

“I wanted to compete for this position,” he said. “I want to know if I was truly the top candidate.”

State files suit against SBTickets

The Washington state attorney general’s office filed a consumer protection lawsuit Wednesday against SBTickets, which promised Super Bowl tickets that it never delivered.

SBTickets notified its customers only hours before kickoff that it did not have any tickets. By that time fans had paid a substantial amount of money on airplane tickets and hotel stays. The organization said on its website that its tickets were “100 percent guaranteed,” according to a news release from the attorney general’s office.

The office received 24 complaints about SBTickets involving 60 Super Bowl tickets. The customers had paid between $1,875 and $3,500 per ticket.

SBTickets was a short seller, meaning that it sold tickets that it did not have in hopes that the price of the tickets would fall and they could purchase them cheaply, according to the news release. Instead, ticket prices rose significantly higher.

The lawsuit is asking for SBTickets to reimburse their customers for the tickets, travel and lodging, plus $2,000 in penalties for each violation.

Customers of SBTickets or other ticket brokers that failed to deliver are encouraged to file a complaint by visiting www.atg.wa.gov and clicking on the “Consumer complaint” button or by calling (800) 551-4636 between 10 a.m. and 3 pm. Monday through Friday.