Libel Suit Filed Against Commission Candidate Painted Hills Golf Course Owners Sue Sylvia Riddle

The owners of a Valley golf course have sued a candidate for a seat on the Spokane County Commission, claiming she libeled them in a mass mailing sent out this summer.

Michael and Pamela Senske, who own Painted Hills golf course, contend that Sylvia Riddle defamed them and hurt their business when she attempted to gather support for changes she wants to see made at their course on Dishman-Mica Road.

The Senskes are seeking undisclosed damages in the suit they filed this week in Spokane County Superior Court.

They also have filed complaints with county code enforcement officers, accusing Riddle and her husband, Warren, of violating several county codes when they remodeled a building into an office several years ago.

County officials said last week they would investigate those complaints. Attempts to reach Code Enforcement Administrator Bill Benish were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Riddle, a Republican who will challenge incumbent Kate McCaslin in the Sept. 19 primary, called the suit and code complaints a political ploy by the Senskes to damage her campaign.

She also said she and her husband did nothing wrong during the remodeling project.

“He’s a big contributor to Kate, that’s what it’s about,” Riddle said of Michael Senske. “It’s pure politics. I guess I should be grateful. At least I’m not being accused of going to Deja Vu two or three days before the election.”

Elections records show Michael Senske contributed $200 to McCaslin’s re-election campaign earlier this year. He contributed $250 to McCaslin in late 1997, records show.

Senske said Wednesday the lawsuit isn’t about politics but about defending himself and his business from what he called an unfounded attack by Riddle.

“I would never have looked into this if she hadn’t thrown a stone first,” he said. “We talked to our attorney back in June, before she even declared she was going to run. If anything, she’s the one who politicized it by running for office. She’s a bully and someone needs to stop her.”

McCaslin brushed aside Riddle’s contentions as well.

“I think that’s ridiculous,” she said. “I think Sylvia’s just trying to divert attention away from her code violations.”

The dispute between the two families apparently began in June when Sylvia Riddle mailed a petition to hundreds of residents of the Chester Creek area calling for “flood safety changes and traffic safety changes to Painted Hills golf course.”

Riddle wrote in the petition that Senske had repeatedly violated county ordinances by “adding fill to the flood zone and by paving his flood dike and driveways.”

She also called a new golf course parking lot “a danger to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists because the 16 parking stalls are designed so that each customer backs directly onto Thorpe Road.”

She encouraged recipients of the petition to lobby county commissioners for changes at the golf course.

Riddle is an advocate for flood control measures along Chester Creek, which often overflows its banks, flooding Thorpe Road, which runs adjacent to Painted Hills.

“What is at stake here is public safety and taxpayer liability,” Riddle said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Senske said Wednesday that all the work was approved by county officials and that he made some flood-control improvements not even required by the county.

He also questioned Riddle’s motives, pointing out that she has feuded with the county over a par-3 golf course she and her husband had wanted to build near Mount Spokane.

The Riddles claimed the county held up their project with red tape and unnecessary permits. They have since abandoned the plan.

The Senskes recently mailed a letter to residents near the golf course in which they attempted to rebut Riddle’s petition.

“It’s amazing to us that Mrs. Riddle seems to think herself above the law, yet she wants to limit the flexibility of the county in granting permits to others,” the Senskes wrote. “Is this the temperament and ethics we should have in a county commissioner?”

Riddle countered that Senske should just do the right thing and address the issues she brought up in her petition.

“The petition was written nearly two months ago,” she said. “Mr. Senske has had plenty of time to correct these two safety issues before opening the new portion of his golf course.”