Spokane County Commissoner

Convention means nothing in the race for Spokane County commissioner.

The Republican got a labor endorsement. The Democrat is talking budgets. And the “reformer” sounds like he’s stumping for the incumbent.

The race pits Commissioner Phil Harris against Democrat Kathy Reid. College student Phil Kiver is a Reform Party candidate.

Harris lost a commission race to Pat Mummey in 1990. Four years later, he beat Democrat Richard Skalstad for the seat Mummey was vacating.

Harris contends he’s lived up to his 1994 campaign promise of “Responsible leadership and respect for the people.” The union representing courthouse employees endorsed him, despite his early promises to eliminate some county jobs. In fact, the number of employees has increased.

Harris boasts that the county’s reserve account has gone from a dangerously low $517,000 in 1995 to $9 million this year. He credits frugal spending by commissioners and employees.

Reid sees things differently, noting that increasing property values allow the county to collect more taxes each year. That increase accounts for the surplus, she said.

County spending ballooned from $121 million in 1994 to $157 million last year, Reid said. Meanwhile voters she’s met during the campaign complain that county services are lacking.

“I don’t think we’ve had leadership for the past four years,” she said.

Harris said Reid’s figures are misleading because he wasn’t in office when the ‘94 budget was drafted. He noted that spending dropped $7 million between 1996 and 1997.

“I wish my opponent would quit … trying to misinform the voters,” he said.

A nurse who cares for developmentally disabled adults in her home, Reid served briefly as a state senator in 1979. She was one of 25 freeholders elected in 1992 to recommend changes in local government.

A mayoral candidate in Cheney last year, Kiver is earning five political science credits from Eastern Washington University for this year’s campaign.

Kiver, 21, said he hopes to be a voice for his generation. But on many issues, he shares similar views with Harris, who retired from the Air Force before Kiver was born.

“Phil Harris and I have agreed more times in this campaign than not,” Kiver said. “It’s scary.”