Campaign Notebook
And then there were four
All of the computers seem to have survived Thursday’s 9-9-99 scare, but one of the Spokane City Council candidacies did not. Roosevelt “Brother” Thomas, a late entry for Position 3, decided that night to drop out of the five-person race… Thomas was fond of handing out campaign literature from his race 10 years ago, and telling people that Spokane still has the same problems. Nines seem to be significant in his candidacies - he ran in ‘79, ‘89 and now ‘99 … He said he plans to devote his time to helping pass the council election-by-district initiative.
Following the money
As they come down to the wire to Tuesday’s primary, the candidates for Spokane City Council are spread across a fairly wide field for campaign contributions. Here’s the way they stack up by position, with contributions and expenditures, as of last week’s reporting deadline:
Position 1
Roberta Greene, $24,631 raised, $11,557 spent
David Bray, $5,925, $5,538
Gail Howard, $3,077, $1,956
Joanne McCann, $1,745, $1,447
Position 2
Steve Corker, $6,474, $2,459
Al French, $4,671, $4,028
Edward Thomas Jr., $3,904, $1,410
Kathy Reid, $3,355, $1,059
Steve Smits, $742, $278
Louise Stamper, $445, $431
Position 3
Jeff Colliton, $18,812, $11,496
Judith Gilmore, $12,285, $10,036
Steve Eugster, $4,510, $2,229
Candidates Robert Schroeder, Barbara Lampert and Joshua Gilstrap have filed papers saying they will accept and spend limited amounts on their campaigns, and do not have to file periodic reports.
More on money
The money race for Position 2 looks pretty competitive, but public relations consultant and former radio talk show host Corker actually has a bigger lead. A local political action group, Straight Talk, also has purchased $2,764 worth of signs for him … The group bought the signs so recently that the contribution shows up on its report, but not yet on Corker’s.
Catch the candidates
It’s too late in the primary campaign and too early in the general election campaign for candidate forums. But voters hoping for another look at their City Council candidates and the bond issue campaigns can catch a rerun of Thursday’s League of Women Voters forum, if they have the inclination - and cable television … The forum will be rebroadcast at 5 p.m. today and 11 a.m. Monday on Cable Channel 5.
For more info
Those who don’t have the time free for the cable rebroadcast of the League forum, but do have access to the Internet, can check out the resumes, cover letters and stories about the Spokane Council races on the newspaper’s Web site … It’s at www.spokane.net/election.
Campaign Trivia
Careful readers noted that we did not provide an answer to the Campaign Trivia quiz last week. The reason is simple. We didn’t get any takers to the question: Which campaign sported buttons declaring “We Made History” after it won? … Waiting an extra week didn’t help, so here’s the answer: George Nethercutt’s supporters, after the 1994 campaign in which he defeated House Speaker Tom Foley. It was the first loss of a sitting speaker since 1860 … So we’ll keep the prize button, and offer a new trivia question: What candidate in the 1980s campaigned throughout Spokane in an orange and black 1967 Buick Electra?