Public Periscope

Candidates kiss and make up

Strong mayor candidates John Talbott and John Powers had been campaigning fiercely all week, with more than a few tense moments between them…. So a few observers held their breath when Powers approached Talbott to say hello at a relaxed candidates picnic sponsored by the Citizens League on Sunday at Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition. … But instead of harsh words, broad smiles broke out as the two appeared ready to let bygones be bygones. “John, we’ve got to quit bumping into each other like this,” Talbott said, referring to their jostle Wednesday. “Thank you for that smile,” Powers said in reply.

Color us confused

Some absentee voters in Spokane County may be scratching their heads as they try to comply with the instructions to place their ballots into a “colored return envelope” to return it to the courthouse. They’re also told to sign the statement on the back of the colored return envelope before dropping it in the mail … Trouble is, for many voters, there is no colored return envelope. It’s white, as alert reader and voter Cathy Stocks of the Spokane Valley pointed out in a call last week. What gives? Stocks asked.

Seems the county Elections Department had a little proofreading problem before sending the instructions to the printer. County Auditor Vicky Dalton said that return envelopes for the early absentees - the one-time requests before poll books are printed - are blue. The envelopes sent to vote-by-mail precincts are pink … But the envelopes for the permanent absentee voters, the vast majority of mail-in ballots, are white or beige. “White is a color,” suggested Dalton.

Actually, it’s the absence of color, when talking about pigment as in this case. In the past, the elections office has used various hues for return envelopes, and just failed to take out “colored” from the standard instructions … It is clearly a return envelope, with the courthouse address and postage square. If folks want to color their white envelopes, that would be OK, Dalton said, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the signature or the address.

Voter aids

Looking for a ballot to mark up and take to the polling booth? With as many races and names as we have on the primary ballot, that’s certainly understandable. A sample ballot ran in Saturday’s Spokesman-Review, on pages A5 and A6.

Looking for more information about the candidates in a particular race? If you’ve got access to the Internet, go to www.spokane.net and click on Election Central. (It’s in the middle, yellow-tinted section, right below the little flash that says “New!”) That takes you to a page that has links to past newspaper stories, candidates’ Web sites and political party home pages … If you don’t have access to the Internet, there are copies of the state primary voters pamphlet available at most libraries and the county courthouse.

Looking for one more mayoral matchup? The last pre-primary debate held Sunday night will be broadcast at 6 p.m. tonight on KREM-TV.

Questions we never thought to ask

Candidates and their supporters outnumbered average voters about 10-to-1 at the Citizens League event, where politicians in half a dozen races milled about, eating hot dogs and drinking root beer. The candidates did take part in a question-and-answer period, but the questions seemed designed by grade-schoolers. … As a result, we learned that County Commissioner Kate McCaslin’s favorite recipe is chocolate espresso cheesecake, that House of Representatives candidate John Keefe likes dogs, cats, horses and chickens, and City Councilman Steve Corker’s favorite childhood memory involves winning a bicycle. … Being politicians, they did slip in a few digs. Asked who his favorite comedians are, Councilman Rob Higgins first said Bill Cosby, but then added “as a group, the City Council.” When asked what animal they could be, County Commissioner John Roskelley said a crow, then anticipated McCaslin’s choice. “Kate, if you came back as a horse, you’ll be ridden hard and put away wet.” And when Mayor John Talbott said he would be a dove, former mayor Jack Geraghty asked “Dove or a pigeon?”