Cops Coordinator To Run For 3Rd District House Seat

Wed., April 22, 1998

By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com (509) 879-7461

Community policing advocate Cheryl Steele says she will run for the Legislature and look for a way to “re-humanize” government.

“I want to put the focus back on the individual,” Steele said Tuesday. She will run as a Republican for the 3rd Legislative District House seat held by Democrat Alex Wood.

Steele said she wants the Legislature to decentralize some of the state’s larger agencies, such as the Department of Corrections, and give communities more say in how to handle some minor offenders.

But Steele said she opposes measures that sometimes are portrayed as empowering people, such as term limits and campaign finance reform.

Such changes make government seem more automatic to citizens, she said.

Initiative 134, the voter-approved campaign finance law that sets limits on political contributions to candidates, has prompted political action committees to use their money for independent ads. That takes the issues away from the candidates, she said.

Steele is running as a Republican in one of the most Democratic districts in the state, but she differs with her party on some key issues.

She opposes the GOP-sponsored ballot proposal to reduce the state motor vehicle excise tax and shift some of the money it generates into road repair. That shift would take money out of the state general fund and “away from other services that are dependent on that money,” Steele said.

The Republican Party is strongly opposed to abortion and supports banning a procedure known as “partial-birth abortion.” Steele said she personally is opposed to abortion, but added, “I don’t think that the government has the right to make those decisions for people.”

Steele, 41, is program coordinator for Spokane Community Oriented Policing Services, a nonprofit group that oversees the city’s community police stations. She started as president at the COPS West organization and later was hired by then-Police Chief Terry Mangan as a liaison to the department.

The system has been recognized nationally as an innovator in community policing but also has been criticized for requiring city funds longer than originally expected.

If elected, Steele said, she would take an unpaid leave while the Legislature is in session. She plans a formal announcement of her campaign next Tuesday.

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