Look again at three candidates

For a time, the hot issue in the Spokane’s 3rd City Council District was the fate of Joe Albi Stadium. Mayor Jim West and Councilman Brad Stark proposed selling the facility to help balance the budget. All seven candidates for an open seat in that district were against the sale, and it was eventually shot down by the current council.

The easy avenue is to support a popular facility in one’s district. The tough road is figuring a way out of the city’s chronic budget problems while keeping the stadium and holding the line on taxes. None of the candidates are for the short-term property tax increase that was recommended by a citizens committee.

Additional revenue must come from somewhere or the city will have to embark on another round of layoffs of police and fire personnel. Most the candidates would like for the police and fire unions to make some sacrifices in their pay and benefits packages, but they acknowledge the difficulty in achieving that goal when binding arbitration favors compensation comparisons with West Side communities.

So how can voters discern which candidates are best in the Sept. 20 primary? Civic engagement and experience are two answers. So is a sophisticated view on the challenges ahead. First-time candidates Keith Springer and Daniel Day can be eliminated on those scores. They simply haven’t done the homework. The voters have spoken multiple times when it comes to perennial candidate Barbara Lampert.

Experience is also the decisive factor when it comes to Steve Corker. The city has already witnessed the work of the most experienced candidate in this race. Corker was a key player on a contentious and divisive council that gave the city a public-relations shiner from which it’s just now recovering. We need to move forward.

The remaining three candidates show promise but they give us pause for different reasons.

Nancy McLaughlin shows a definite passion for the city and has been active in the schools and her church. She and her husband have a small construction company. She is well-versed on the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Rather than raise taxes, she’d like to see the city annex businesses north of Francis to pump up tax revenues. However, her moralistic outlook on social issues bears watching.

Judith Gilmore is more cautious when it comes to annexation. Her support from labor unions will also make it difficult for her to seek concessions. Such positions don’t point to balanced budgets without some severe service cutbacks. On the other hand, she has extensive experience in being an effective voice for the voiceless and has demonstrated the ability to work across the ideological spectrum.

Joyce McNamee has an impressive record of public service, especially in health care. She helped bring a dental clinic to the northeast part of town. She was on the board of the Community Health Association of Spokane. She sees the need for labor concessions from the police and the importance of supporting small businesses. While being on the right side of important issues, she showed some gaps in knowledge on important issues, such as annexation and wastewater concerns.

We recommend voters make their choices among McLaughlin, Gilmore and McNamee.