Washington has killer election websites when they work. “There is no state in the country that has this sophisticated an election-night reporting system,” state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
Washington has killer election websites when they work.
“There is no state in the country that has this sophisticated an election-night reporting system,” state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
An anonymous e-mail that began circulating this week falsely accuses Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager of cheating on her taxes. Her election opponent, former Spokane City Councilman Al French, denied any knowledge of the e-mail Thursday afternoon.
County Commissioner Bonnie Mager and her general election challenger, former Spokane City Councilman Al French, peppered each other Tuesday with allegations of unethical conduct. As in a similar exchange earlier this month, French fired first and Mager blasted back.
A security breach in the Spokane County election office was precipitated by delivery of thousands of ballot envelopes with Auditor Vicky Dalton’s name on them. Republicans have complained that Dalton, a Democrat, is electioneering when she places her name on mail-in ballot envelopes.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton accepted several election suggestions from Republican critics this week, but not enough to suit her general election opponent, Leonard Christian. “You’re being a pain in the ass,” Christian told Dalton during a meeting Wednesday to review a long list of suggestions he and the Spokane County Republican Party submitted.
A Spokane County Jail inmate claims in a federal lawsuit that he was beaten without warning by a cell extraction team and later tortured with blows to his genitals. One problem: As Nicolas Garcia’s recent lawsuit notes, the Sept. 21, 2009, incident was filmed by a Discovery Channel television crew.
An effort to prevent political use of information about their daily duties seems to have backfired on Spokane County District Court judges. Instead, they handed critics an opportunity to accuse them of being secretive.
A Republican complaint to the state Public Disclosure Commission accuses Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton of electioneering by printing her name prominently on ballot envelopes. Dalton dismisses the complaint out of hand, but the Disclosure Commission doesn’t.
Democratic Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton says she’ll implement some good ideas from her Republican critics. Dalton made the announcement Friday at a meeting of the county Canvassing Board, which is established by state law to review and certify elections.
A Spokane County Jail officer was properly fired last year for discourteous behavior and excessive force against an inmate, according to an arbitrator’s ruling. Any force used by Deputy Wayne S. Green, 42, would have been excessive because there was no reason for it, arbitrator Luella Nelson ruled Thursday.
A local greenhouse operator wants Spokane County to allow bigger hothouses in rural zones so more temperature-sensitive crops can be grown locally. “There is a genuine public interest in obtaining fresh organically grown crops,” Lima Greenhouses says in its request to eliminate greenhouses from building size restrictions.
Spokane County’s urban growth areas have enough land to serve the metropolitan area for the next 20 years, according to a study that will be discussed tonight. Planning officials will conduct an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. as part of a lengthy process to make sure the growth areas are adequate.
County Commissioner Bonnie Mager said Friday that her election challenger, Al French, was hypocritical when he accused her of wanting to make tax increases easier. “I think somebody who actually authored a new tax is a little out of line to try to throw mud at me for just wanting the county to have what he already enjoyed in the city,” Mager said.
A 2 ½-hour Sheriff’s Office budget meeting Tuesday produced more heat than light. Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and County Commission Chairman Mark Richard each accused the other of “insulting” comments.
A state rewrite of Spokane County’s shoreline regulations is a “prime example” of state agencies “out of control,” Commissioner Mark Richard said Tuesday. With Washington’s budget on life support, the Department of Ecology should focus on “core issues” instead of meddling in “local business,” Richard said.
A Spokane-based Army Reserve unit’s ranks had grown when 22 soldiers returned Friday from a year in Kuwait. There were five infants among the 70 family members who welcomed home members of the 643rd Automated Cargo Documentation Detachment.
The “only candidate who has created jobs” will face the “only fiscal conservative” in a prerecorded county commission debate tonight at 7 on KSPS-TV. Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager will cite her opposition to the purchase of the Spokane County Raceway as evidence of her ability to pinch a penny.
Spokane County commissioners accepted no public testimony but aired their own views on a new jail for an hour and a half Tuesday. They then voted 2-1 to confirm a site near the Medical Lake interchange of Interstate 90 and to declare an emergency so land-use changes can be made in time for an April bond measure.
An assessor’s office employee’s complaint that a co-worker took unreported leave was unfounded, according to a report The Spokesman-Review obtained Tuesday. The report, released under a public disclosure request, documents an investigation by a committee of Spokane County officials from outside the assessor’s office.
People who look closely might notice that one of Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker’s eyes doesn’t move with the other. They might even figure out that his left eye is a Plexiglas prosthesis. Children and dogs notice, but most adults don’t, Baker said Monday.
Local taxpayers shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Aug. 17 primary to help political parties elect their precinct committee officers. The primary would have cost taxpayers in Spokane County only $42,314 if state law didn’t give political parties a free ride.
Spokane city and county officials are looking for a way to acquire a new animal shelter without asking taxpayers for more money. County commissioners agreed this week to split the $8,000 cost of developing a rough plan to remodel a city-owned building.
The Spokane County courthouse’s lack of parking is legendary, but help may be on the way. Except for jurors, anyone with business in the courthouse and surrounding public buildings is at risk of a parking ticket, a long walk or both.
The Spokane County Raceway will cost taxpayers $850,000 more under a lawsuit settlement county commissioners approved Tuesday. Commissioners Mark Richard and Bonnie Mager, who don’t agree on much about the raceway, both said the settlement makes the best of a bad situation.
