For the second day in a row, Shar Lichty has released a scathing statement against Spokane Mayor David Condon, who she is challenging in November's election.

Yesterday, she took Condon to task on the issue of police oversight. Today, it's about his budget proposal, which he released Monday.

“Last year Mayor Condon released his Line Item Budget in early October, this budget created controversy relating to pay increases for himself and his top administrators. For him to delay the release of said budget this year as he is running for re-election seems to be a political ploy,” Lichty said. “It is easy to wrap a program budget up in a pretty propaganda package to pacify the public. A budget at any governmental level is a moral document. The public has the right to know where Mayor Condon’s morals lie-with his and his top administrators’ salaries or with properly staffing our fire and police departments.”

In last year's budget, the 14 people in Condon's cabinet received pay increases that averaged to about 2 percent of their pay. When the news first broke about the pay raises, most members of the City Council voiced strong opposition, though the raises were eventually retained after Council President Ben Stuckart saw performance reviews conducted by the city's personnel department. 

What Lichty's statement failed to address, however, was the 164 people in city government who earn more than $100,000. Lichty also didn't mention that 90 percent of people who work for the city earn more than median income in Spokane. 

Instead, she took aim at Condon and his administrators, though his top brass are not the highest paid at City Hall. That designation goes primarily toward union-protected positions in the fire and police departments. The progressive-minded Lichty likely wouldn't take on unions, as more than half of Lichty's ten largest contributions come from unions. Firefighter Union Local 29 and the Police Guild are not among Lichty's contributors.