Keep Quiet, Able Leader On The Job

Jack Geraghty is the strongest candidate for mayor of Spokane.

His record, like the apron of a baker, is a little dusty.

His opponents, all of whom have some appeal, point to the mayor and suggest he isn’t enough of a leader.

But leadership, like baking cake, always is messy if things are getting done.

And in the four years Geraghty has been mayor, much progress has been made on issues crucial to Spokane.

Geraghty was quick to recognize that an eroding downtown posed a significant challenge to the future of the city.

A most astute student of government, Geraghty understood that if the downtown retail center decayed, the city’s identity would be damaged, its tax base would erode and it would fall into a cycle of central deterioration even as citizens clamored for more help to fix streets and sewers.

Geraghty’s leadership as an early, consistent supporter of downtown will pay big dividends for Spokane in the next four years. He should be around to keep this redevelopment on track.

Geraghty has reached out to Spokane’s neighborhoods. He didn’t just talk at council meetings. He walked through dozens of neighborhoods, met with citizens, promoted neighborhood councils to help citizens bring issues to the City Council.

The city has opened up nine neighborhood cop shops and hired 30 more police officers on Mayor Geraghty’s watch.

For his next term, Geraghty already has pledged to find a way to resolve the street funding issue for the long haul. He’s looking ahead, the way a good leader must.

Geraghty isn’t a grandstander.

He’s not as sharp-tongued as candidate John Talbott nor as warm-hearted as candidate Sheri Barnard.

Behind the scenes, in the neighborhoods, in all the big causes, Geraghty herds, cajoles, gently pushes forward on important issues.

Among his challengers, Duane Sommers is probably the strongest contender. Sommers offers a steady hand with years of government service. Still, it seems likely Sommers would better serve Spokane by staying in the Legislature, where he is a key supporter of the Cheney Cowles Museum expansion.

John Talbott, a well-known critic of the City Council, has toned down his divisive anti-government rhetoric. But he offers only a thin vision of where he would want to take Spokane. It’s not leadership simply to oppose the good direction the city already is headed.

Barnard, wonderful, caring person that she is, should find a place in public life. However, she already has had a turn at being mayor and would be better suited for a new role.

That leaves Geraghty.

He’s done a good job. He’s a quiet leader who is baking one fine cake for the future of Spokane.

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