David Condon, who is challenging Spokane Mayor Mary Verner in her bid for reelection, criticized Verner's speech to City Council on Monday for not mentioning new water rates or the "tragic loss of confidence in our police and legal authorities." "Overall, the Mayor told a…
Today, we release the first of several election videos. We'll start with one of the races that didn't have a primary, the Spokane City Council seat representing the South Hill.
The person who has paid for five billboards criticizing the Spokane City Council and Spokane Mayor Mary Verner for their decisions related to water rates plans to remain anonymous. Five billboards about the water rates were erected about a week ago and will stay up…
The Spokane City Council on Monday voted 7-0 to appoint Scott Chesney as its new planning director. The former director of planning and development for El Mirage, Ariz. hasn't even worked a day in his new job and he's already been the focus of a…
Mayoral candidate David Condon has released a new version of a campaign ad attacking Mayor Mary Verner for water rates. Condon said in an email that changes were made based on a truth-test article about the ad that ran in Saturday's Spokesman-Review. A quick review…
Spokane Mayor Mary Verner said last week that a campaign statement on the Otto Zehm matter wasn't meant to pin blame on others. Responding to a news release criticizing her response to the Otto Zehm cases from her election opponent, David Condon, Verner released her…
One of the first mayoral debates between Mayor Mary Verner and her November election opponent David Condon was at its core a focus on style. Condon promised to take charge of the bureaucracy. “It’s a question of leadership,” he said. “The mayor has to be…
Spokane candidates will give their pitch for city office at two debates on Thursday. The League of Women Voters will hold candidate debates for mayor, City Council president and for each of the three City Council seats on the November ballot. The group also will…
The Spokane City Council isn’t giving up on stronger police oversight, at least not for two more weeks. The council voted 6-0 this week to delay action on the possible repeal of the city’s 2010 police ombudsman law to give it time to hire an…
Fresh off the City Council’s vote to raise water rates for next year, Spokane mayoral candidate David Condon released a new commercial this week attacking that decision. The ad so far is running only on YouTube, but he said it likely will hit TV airwaves…
The Spokane City Council on Monday agreed to hire a local attorney to help the city defend itself in a lawsuit filed by a Spokane police detective. The city will pay Milt Rowland, a former assistant city attorney for Spokane, up to $75,000 to assist…
New technology often surfaces in campaigns -- whether it was candidate websites, scientific polling, automated calling, Facebook, Twitter, or plastic yard signs. City Council President hopeful Ben Stuckart and City Councilman Richard Rush appear to be the first local candidates using the latest technology to…
The bleak economic picture in the state likely will make the Spokane City Council’s job balancing the 2012 harder by about a $1 million, the city’s budget director told the council on Thursday. But not all the news at a council budget briefing on was…
Below is Mayor Mary Verner's full response to the statement released earlier in the day by her opponent in the November election, David Condon, followed by Condon's statement. Condon offered harsh criticism of Verner's handling of the Otto Zehm matter. Verner's response was delivered by…
When Mayor Mary Verner made a point last week of explaining the process for selecting the city's Employee of the Month, she not only released the four-page set of rules, but the list of members on the selection committee. Two members have indirect connections to…
A unified regional animal control system won important, though qualified, support tonight from city leaders. The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 to endorse Mayor Mary Verner’s stance on a proposed nine-year county property tax that would pay for a new animal shelter for the Spokane…
City leaders tonight agreed for the second time this year to a deal that keeps Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant open another three years. The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 to approve an operating contract with Wheelabrator, the Waste Management subsidiary that has operated the plant since…
David Condon opened his campaign declaring that Mary Verner was no David Rodgers (the last mayor to win a second term). On Tuesday night, Condon offered some reasons for hope for his campaign, comparing his run to Jim West's 2003 bid for mayor. Condon said…
Today is Washington's primary election. If you want to vote, you must cast your ballot by 8 p.m. by dropping it in a ballot drop box, or in a mailbox that is certain to be collected in time to get postmarked with today's date. Spokane…
Mayor Mary Verner latest campaign newsletter picks a topic fresh in the news: police oversight. Last week, Verner's campaign stressed her support for creating a police ombudsman position at City Hall. The week before, a filing in federal court detailed the position of Assistant Police…
No matter which two candidates emerge from Tuesday's primary for City Council president, it looks like they'll have a lot of fund-raising work left to do, according to the latest filings with the state Public Disclosure Commission. Ben Stuckart and Steve Corker have nearly tapped…
A candidate for Spokane City Council is continuing to decline to show his campaign finance books even after acknowledging Thursday that state law doesn't appear to give him the flexibility to refuse to show them in the week before an election. Chris Bowen, who is…
Spokane voters could get a hint from the Spokane City Council when deciding the fate of a citizens’ initiative on the November ballot. The Spokane City Council will consider on Monday the addition of two nonbinding questions for the November election. The two proposals would…
Tax subsidies will flow to Kendall Yards even if the developer of the 78-acre project does not seek public bids on construction of streets, sewers and other public infrastructure. The Spokane City Council on Monday voted 6-1 to amend the tax-increment financing agreement it has…
What might be the most curious thing about the current City Council debate on water rates is the timing. Here the council is debating what may be the biggest political hot potato of the year even though ballots are sitting on kitchen tables ready to…
