Politics long a part of Richard’s life

Editor’s note: A profile of Richard’s opponent, Bill Burke, appeared in Thursday’s Spokesman-Review and can be viewed at www.spokesmanreview.com. Profiles of County Commission candidates Todd Mielke and Linda Wolverton will appear next week.

“What took you so long?”

That’s the reaction Mark Richard got from his brothers and sisters when he announced his decision to run for Spokane County commissioner.

The 40-year-old Republican has been involved in politics on an advocacy level for years in his position as the government affairs director for the Spokane Home Builders Association and the Spokane Association of Realtors.

“I’ve been getting heckled from my family for 10 years about when I was going to run for public office,” Richard said.

Politics has long been part of Richard’s life.

Growing up in south Spokane as the youngest of seven kids, talk around the dinner table often centered on government. It does even to this day when the family gets together, and discussions often become animated, Richard said.

Not every member of his family is a Republican, so sometimes they have to agree to disagree.

Richard’s first personal experience with a campaign was when his father, Richard Richard, ran successfully for judge.

“He didn’t like asking people for money or door-belling,” Mark Richard said.

That’s in contrast to his own experience. Richard said he’s found he enjoys doing both.

An early start

Mark Richard’s first campaign – a bid to become the student body president at Ferris High School – didn’t result in victory. But he did go on to become president of the school’s DECA business group and later dorm president at Western Washington University.

After that start, Richard took a back seat, focusing his work on supporting other people’s campaigns and other groups’ political causes. Today his two daughters, ages 4 and 9, are continuing the tradition of helping a Richard family father’s political campaign. They love wearing their campaign T-shirts and are always on the lookout for his political yard signs.

“She’ll holler out the window, ‘Mark Richard for county commissioner,’ ” Richard said of his 4-year-old daughter. His 9-year-old, on the other hand, does get a little tired of now being known as “Mark Richard’s daughter,” he said with a laugh.

But it hasn’t all been fun. Richard’s campaign has hit some rough spots, in particular the revelation this summer of his 1997 personal bankruptcy. He blames the situation on medical problems he and his wife, Wendy, were suffering, resulting in hospital bills at the same time neither was able to work. Richard said he learned from the experience, and is prepared to manage the county’s budget.

“I’ve had a perfect credit record before and since then,” he said.

Northwest values

Richard said that someday he’d like to live on an acre or two of land, but his wife is committed to living in the city after her childhood on a ranch.

But Richard said he loves the outdoors. His family camped at Priest Lake when he was growing up. His lawyer father would often drop Richard’s mother and siblings off and then commute each day into work in Spokane. He couldn’t afford to take the time off, Richard said.

“It was a pretty simple life. We had a good appreciation for work and how a dollar stretches,” he said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of money, but we had a lot of fun.”

Richard described his upbringing as being strongly grounded in the Catholic faith, although he attended the public Jefferson Elementary School. He confessed that he doesn’t make it to church every week, but said that he tries to instill faith and Catholic values in his children.

He is troubled that some think he would make decisions solely on who has contributed to his campaign – especially home builders and construction companies.

“Would I sell my religious beliefs or moral values out for a paycheck? Of course not,” Richard said.

‘More to me’

Some wonder if his experience with the Home Builders will make him a commissioner eager to help developers, but reluctant to listen to other individuals.

Moran Prairie resident Paul Kropp has butted heads with Richard a number of times on issues related to stormwater management. Serious flooding in the Moran Prairie and Glenrose area prompted the county and city of Spokane to place some restrictions on what developers could do, and Richard fought those restrictions all the way, Kropp said. Though he describes Richard as “smart” and “likeable,” Kropp said he hasn’t proven himself to be a friend to neighborhoods. Richard has built a constituency with the attitude of “Oh, these stupid neighbors. They just don’t get it,” Kropp said.

“I’m not confident that Mark could or would be able to take different approaches for the good of the whole community,” he added.

But Rob Higgins, former Spokane City Council president and Spokane Association of Realtors executive officer, said Richard’s experience on land-use, stormwater and development issues gives him a leg up on the other commission candidates, including Richard’s opponent Bill Burke.

“I know that he’s intelligent enough and has the integrity,” said Higgins of Richard. “If he’s wearing a different hat, he’s representing all of the community as a county commissioner, not just one special interest group.”

Richard likes to point out that he also has the support of local law enforcement groups. He said he hopes he gets a chance to prove he isn’t just about development.

“If there was a way I could reach out and sit down with everyone, they’d be more comfortable knowing there’s more breadth to me than my job.”