Lampert to run for House position

For the 11th year in a row, retired nursing assistant Barbara Lampert is running for office.

Lampert, 60, filed this week to run as a Democrat against state Rep. John Ahern, a three-term Republican incumbent in the House. It’s the first elective position she tried to win, back in 1996, when the seat was held by Ahern’s predecessor, Duane Sommers.

Since that time, Lampert has run unsuccessfully for Spokane City Council five times, as well as for county auditor, county clerk, county commissioner and U.S. senator. But she said she’s learned a fair amount over the last decade, and changed.

“Ten years ago, I was immature, aggressive and angry,” she said Wednesday. Now, instead of a 17-point platform she discussed in 1996, she’s stressing three issues: education, crime prevention and what she calls “equality for nuclear families.”

The last would include same-sex couples, who on Wednesday were told by the state Supreme Court they cannot marry because the Legislature is within its power to limit marriage to opposite sex couples.

“That’s just another reason I’d like to be in the Legislature,” said Lampert, who is gay. She added that she made her decision to run before the court announced its ruling.

On crime prevention, she said police should “enforce the laws continually.” On education, she’d call for significant reductions in class sizes so that teachers in elementary and junior high schools would have between 12 and 15 students in a class, a plan she suggests paying for by streamlining school administration.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is her plan to run a low-budget campaign. She said she’ll spend less than $3,500, the state limit for candidates who want to avoid the more detailed reporting of donors and expenses.