Colliton Leading Numbers

Early returns showed voters bouncing incumbent Bev Numbers from the Spokane City Council and picking up newcomer Roberta Greene for the next four years.

Council critic John Talbott held a slim margin over incumbent Orville Barnes, but the race for Position 2 was too close to call late Tuesday.

Jeff Colliton pole-vaulted to an early lead over Numbers in the race for Position 3 and stayed there.

Colliton described himself as “cautiously optimistic,” but said he wasn’t ready for a victory dance. “I’m very pleased with the way it’s going,” he said.

Numbers held onto hopes of a turnaround as she watched election returns with Barnes at a small gathering at Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes’ home.

“I think the vote will shift” as the night goes on, Numbers said, adding she planned to go to bed soon.

Neither Barnes nor Talbott cared to guess who would land the seat by night’s end.

“It’s too early to tell,” said Talbott, who spent the evening at home reading a novel.

Barnes said the early results were a “little surprising. I don’t know what to think of them.”

First-time candidate Greene, co-owner of Empire Ford, held a strong lead all night over Jim Kolva in the race for Council Position 1 - the seat currently held by Joel Crosby.

She and opponent Kolva, a land-use planner, ran a polite campaign, rarely, if ever, disagreeing on issues. In fact, supporters on both sides bemoaned the fact the two chose to run for the same position.

Greene said, in the end, she thought her “diversity of experience” captured voters. “They knew I would be committed,” she said.

Kolva was a tireless campaigner who knocked on doors in every neighborhood.

A smiling Kolva said the best thing was that the campaign was over. “I don’t have to put up any more signs,” he said.

Incumbent Barnes, a semi-retired commercial real estate broker, ran a close race against Talbott, with the challenger staying just a few hundred votes ahead most of the night. The two ran a rancorous campaign that stayed that way until the end.

Talbott, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, said that if Barnes lost the race, “He did it to himself. Take a look at what he said he would do four years ago.”

“If you spend your time knocking everything, and that’s what people want, that’s too bad,” Barnes said.

Colliton and Numbers ran low-key campaigns, overshadowed by the new candidates of the Position 1 race and the finger-pointing of the Position 2 contest.

Numbers, a semi-retired real estate agent, hailed herself as the council’s only full-time member, who dedicated nearly all her time to council work.

Colliton, a retired U.S. Army colonel, attributed his wide lead to his promise of new leadership. “There was a promise there, a vision there,” he said. “I had a message.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo