Steve Hasson Says He’ll Run For Third Term Longtime County Commissioner Won’t Seek State Senate Seat
Spokane County’s most colorful politician will shun a 1996 run at the state Senate and shoot for a third term on the County Commission.
Steve Hasson said he will return to busy street corners early next year for his trademark wave-and-smile campaign marathon.
An official announcement won’t be made until January, Hasson said, noting that any formal declaration of candidacy must be followed by the filing of paperwork.
“I have to be cautious about what I say now,” he said. “I’m planning to run again. I’d like to seek a third term.”
Hasson said he still has an affinity for the 4th District Senate seat now held by Bob McCaslin and might run for it later.
“I was very seriously entertaining the 4th District Senate position,” he said. “But I’ve had a good year here. I’m sure the public might question that. But this is the first time I’ve been able to reach out and put my imprint on this organization.”
Hasson, in his seventh year as a commissioner, said 1995 has been his most challenging. He’s had to bring two new commissioners “up to speed,” navigate the county through financial straits and watch as voters faced two major issues that could forever change county government.
Last spring, Spokane Valley voters rejected a plan to form a city. This fall, voters will decide whether to unify the city and county under one charter.
Hasson has been criticized recently for leading a takeover of the county health district at a time when the county can’t afford to pay for its current services.
Hasson - an urban and regional planner, earth science major in college, and journeyman carpenter - was one of the youngest county commissioners in Washington state when he was elected in 1988 at age 37.
He campaigned on the shoulders of city and county thoroughfares, rising at dawn to greet commuters for 210 consecutive days.
Hasson returned to the streets again for his 1992 re-election campaign, spending about 300 straight mornings hailing a stream of vehicles headed to the city’s core.
Over his 510 days beside the highway, Hasson has dodged beer bottles, blushed at a woman flasher and been doused with industrial-sized squirt guns.
“It’s kind of scary when they pull a gun out. You don’t know if it’s a Supersoaker or not,” he said.
The experience has been unmatched, however, as a rare glimpse into how Spokane County residents wake up and start their days, he said.
Hasson likened the daily ritual to being a roadside anthropologist, watching people drive by while brushing their teeth, shaving and arguing with their spouses.
“I had a relationship with thousands of people,” he said.
It paid off. Hasson won, narrowly, his 1992 re-election campaign over former City Councilman Jack Hebner. It took six weeks after the general election before a recount declared a winner.
Minutes after learning of his victory, Hasson was besieged by reporters. Wanting instead to enjoy his private moment of elation, the zany Hasson climbed out his courthouse window and streaked away.
“It was like a comedy,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘If they can catch me, they can have a quote.’ I don’t know if I was more thrilled about winning the election or winning the race.”
Hasson suggested his window jump might make a good trivia question: Where did he run to? The answer: Domini’s, more than a mile away on Sprague Avenue, for a sandwich.
Other Hassonisms include his testifying on behalf of Sam’s Pit because it was the only late-night Spokane hash house that served cornbread. He once declared Spokane a cultural wasteland to a magazine.
The window caper drew the most attention, Hasson conceded.
“It sparked this huge controversy,” he said. “A commissioner is supposed to have this appropriateness all the time.
“Part of me is letting my hair hang down every once in awhile. It didn’t hurt anybody. There’s no question I’m a little bit different than the average bear. But I really do care about people, this office and the employees here.”
, DataTimes