Prosecutor Can’T Challenge Convicted Felon’S Candidacy Challenge Must Come From Citizen Before Sept. 28 To Take Name Off Ballot

Spokane County’s prosecuting attorney will not challenge the candidacy of attorney Brad Plumb, a convicted felon running for District Court judge.

Prosecutor Jim Sweetser said Tuesday he can’t initiate a challenge to Plumb, who was convicted in 1993 of welfare fraud.

Deputy Prosecutor Jim Emacio researched the issue and found the law says a challenge to a candidate must come from “an elector,” but not from any county official.

An elector is anyone eligible to vote - meaning he or she has lived in Spokane County for at least 30 days and is at least 18 years old. The elector does not need to be a registered voter.

Plumb, 42, and his wife, Lisa, were convicted of first-degree theft for cashing $7,096 in welfare checks while Plumb was working as an attorney.

Convicted felons cannot vote or run for office until a court decides to restore their rights.

The Washington State Bar Association suspended Plumb from practicing law for three years for the crime.

In 1996, a court ordered his wife’s civil rights restored. But a bureaucratic error kept Plumb legally ineligible to vote.

Plumb said he didn’t know at the time he paid a $960 candidate filing fee on July 31 that he wasn’t eligible to run for elected office.

Last Friday, a Spokane County Superior Court judge restored Plumb’s civil rights. That happened after state Corrections officials wrote Judge James Murphy that Plumb had satisfied all conditions of his 1993 sentence.

Among other conditions, he and his wife repaid the $7,096 plus other court costs.

If his candidacy is challenged, Plumb predicted Tuesday he will be found eligible to run.

“We’re working right now on making sure we stay on the ballot,” he said. “We’re researching our options.”

Elections Supervisor Tom Wilbur said any challenge to Plumb needs to occur before Sept. 28.

Because District Court Judge Mike Padden and Plumb are the only candidates for the position, their names will not appear on the Sept. 15 primary ballot. If Plumb is unchallenged, he will be listed on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Padden said he and his campaign workers have not decided if they’ll challenge Plumb. “A lot of people had thought the prosecutor’s office would handle it,” he said.

Challenges to candidates are rare in Spokane County, said Auditor Bill Donahue. The last one he recalled was in 1977, when Bob McCaslin ran for re-election as a board member of Spokane Valley Fire Protection District 1.

McCaslin won the election but was declared ineligible by a judge because he didn’t live in the fire district.

McCaslin is now a Republican state legislator from the Spokane Valley.

The decision came after then-Prosecutor Donald Brockett challenged McCaslin’s election. Emacio said the prosecutor can challenge the election of a candidate.

“The law provides that choice for the prosecutor - to challenge someone after elected if reasons to do exist,” Emacio said.

Tom Sowa can be reached at 459-5492, or by e-mail at toms@spokesman.com.