Powers, Talbott Take Anger To Airwaves Third Candidate Jim West Calls For An End To Bickering

The acrimony between mayoral candidates John Talbott and John Powers continued to smolder Thursday, as the two took to the radio waves to debate Talbott’s record of open government.

The candidates were on talk radio throughout the day, with Mayor Talbott rebutting accusations that he was under the influence of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities. The two also gave their sides of a heated exchange that led to Talbott bumping into Powers on Wednesday.

Both men agreed that there was contact; Powers said it was instigated by Talbott. Talbott said he wasn’t sure.

“There was a bumper and a bumpee,” Talbott said. “Who was who, I don’t know.”

Left out of the back-and-forth of the last few days has been state Sen. Jim West, who sought to turn that to his advantage at an Exchange Club candidates forum where the three men appeared.

West said Spokane’s squabbling City Council needs to behave itself, as should the candidates.

“We’ve got to stop the bickering,” West said. “Just yesterday, you saw two of the candidates running for mayor break into a fight. It’s got to stop.”

Tensions have been rising among all three of the main candidates, who have only a handful of days left before Tuesday’s primary.

After a polite appearance at the Exchange Club forum, Talbott and Powers locked horns on KGA’s “Rick Miller Show” on Thursday afternoon.

Talbott said his anger at Powers was provoked by Powers’ twisting of the facts about Metropolitan Mortgage.

Powers, an attorney at Paine Hamblen, said Talbott was frequently visited at City Hall by Metropolitan’s director of government relations, Erik Skaggs. Talbott said he gave no special favors to any person or company, and that Powers had no right to say whom the mayor could talk to.

Talbott also said he had no special relationship with Metropolitan Mortgage President Paul Sandifur and that they had only seen each other socially two or three times.

Powers was engaging in legal trickery, Talbott said.

“He practices law,” Talbott said. “I don’t practice at being mayor.”

But Powers kept up the attack. He said Sandifur sponsored Talbott’s membership to the Spokane Club and he read on the air an invitation from Skaggs to a 1998 meeting about City Council districting featuring Talbott held at Metropolitan Mortgage.

Powers accused Talbott of “meeting in the basement of a downtown financial institution” to plot a change in government.

“These are important issues,” Powers said. “Districting, strong mayor. I think they should debated in public. I want to do this out in the open.”

The meeting was open, said Talbott, and districting was eventually approved by a public vote.

“Districting was an open process,” he said. “It couldn’t be any more open. Anybody that wanted to come (to the meeting), they were welcome to join in.”

The radio debate often broke down into sniping and shouting, with Powers repeatedly interrupting Talbott. Eventually, he led an exasperated Talbott to complain, “Would you stop interrupting me, Mr. Know-It-All?”

Talbott has made open government one of the main themes of his campaign, and has spoken often about ending secret meetings.

His television ads, which feature a grim-faced Talbott addressing the camera, also refers to ending “secret deals and special favors.”

Off-camera, Talbott said he’s referring to the controversial River Park Square downtown mall deal, which has snared the city in four lawsuits.

The mall is being developed by an affiliate of Cowles Publishing, which owns The Spokesman-Review.

The secret meetings, he said, were attended by “members of the council, members of the city staff and members of the development community.

“You’ll not find the minutes, you’ll not find any record of them, but if we go to discovery in the lawsuit, you’ll be aware of them,” he said.

Those comments puzzle and annoy some council members who helped craft the River Park Square deal.

Councilwoman Roberta Greene said members of the council Finance Committee met with staffers and representatives of the developer to hammer out the details of the city’s participation in a public-private partnership for the mall.

Greene said the city often meets with private parties when negotiating deals.

“They were negotiating meetings,” she said. “I don’t know why they would be called secret. Everyone knew what was going on. Was the public invited? The public is not normally invited to negotiation meetings.”

Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes took offense at Talbott’s tone.

“He’s suggesting illegal, immoral and unethical things, and the fact of the matter is there was nothing illegal, immoral or unethical going on.”