Serving Has Been Growth Experience

Thu., Oct. 15, 1998

By Chris Peck chrisp@spokesman.com

Spokane’s two Republican county commissioners, Kate McCaslin and Phil Harris, don’t talk the same talk as Democrat John Roskelley.

But the three commissioners do walk the same walk.

All three do their homework. All three have agreed to disagree even as they listen to one another. All three regularly look for ways to work together for a common good: Spokane County residents.

Their cooperative, informed and collegial approach is a far cry from recent, contentious county commissions.

So, in this November election where commissioner Harris is facing longtime neighborhood activist Kathy Reid, there doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to reshuffle the deck.

Early in his first term, Harris risked becoming a caricature of a good-old-boy politician who didn’t really know his job. Three and a half years later, however, Harris has come a long way. Now, he talks with ease about a wide range of county issues, from budgets to sewage treatment.

He’s backed off the flame-throwing on growth management and pledges to carry out the laws of the state.

He recognizes the county needs to spend some money on better roads and more services as the population spreads, and no longer paints county government as a haven of spendthrifts.

Challenger Kathy Reid tries to do this. She paints Harris and the current commissioners as wasteful spenders, but her arguments fall short.

The commissioners have built up an impressive $9 million reserve fund since 1995, even as they have increased funding for crime control and more paved streets.

Reid also suggests Harris isn’t a leader and that she would be.

Again, the record suggests otherwise. Harris appears to have taken a cue from his fellow commissioners, toning down his pointed comments and spending more time getting the facts.

Challenger Reid, on the other hand, still struggles at times with being an argumentative, not always informed person in many public forums. For example, records show she missed 11 of 34 meetings as a Spokane County freeholder when she was asked to help decide whether a combined city-county government made sense.

Harris, on the other hand, rises early, works late, returns his phone calls and clearly is enjoying the job.

For these reasons, he should be given a second term.

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