Treasurer race focuses on skill

The race for treasurer is by far this year’s most congenial contest for Spokane County office.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t differences in opinion.

Democrat Skip Chilberg and Republican Bob Wrigley have debated who has the best experience and the public role of the county’s top tax collector and government banker.

Wrigley, the chief deputy treasurer who has run the office during the frequent absences of his boss, Treasurer Linda Wolverton, says he has the most relevant experience and educational background. Wolverton decided not to run for re-election.

“I probably know this job better than anybody in today’s environment,” said Wrigley, a certified public accountant who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting.

Chilberg, who served as Spokane County treasurer for 10 years starting in 1983, says the position calls for someone with experience outside the office. He also argues that the treasurer should be more open in advocating tax policy.

“It’s just important that the treasurer have a broad perspective,” said Chilberg, who served as Idaho’s state budget director under former Gov. Cecil Andrus. “The treasurer is there to represent the taxpayer more than the bureaucracy.”

Advocacy

When he was treasurer, Chilberg often took public stands on tax issues, asking county commissioners, for instance, in 1989 to lobby the Legislature to repeal a recently created mobile home tax. He also argued against tax-increment financing and tax breaks aimed at spurring development, and he says he would do the same now.

While praising Wrigley’s and Wolverton’s administration of the treasurer’s office, Chilberg said the office has been too quiet on issues that affect residents.

Wrigley responds that the office offers opinions to elected leaders on tax issues, but the crux of the position is following the law, not changing it.

“What he’s talking about is becoming more involved in actual legislation, and that’s something different than being an advocate for the taxpayer,” Wrigley said. “That’s what the position is all about, financial administration in accordance with state law.”

Records in treasurer’s office

Wrigley has won a long list of bipartisan endorsements, including from Wolverton and state Treasurer Michael Murphy, who are Democrats. Wolverton has said Wrigley has been an excellent leader during her frequent absences for health problems. She also has said the treasurer should be a certified public accountant. Chilberg’s college degree is in agriculture, and he is not a certified public accountant.

Chilberg says he’s no stranger to finance, leading several nonprofit agencies, not to mention his experience leading Idaho’s budget office and his 10 years as county treasurer. The role of treasurer is to be a leader, not necessarily a CPA, he says.

Soon after taking office in 1983, Chilberg’s office faced an 11 percent budget cut and loss of six jobs. He was criticized by the county’s employee union when he bypassed a list of laid-off workers to hire his campaign manager for a clerical job. Chilberg responded that with a tight budget he needed someone he was confident would “do hard work and do it well.” Furthermore, he said, the people cut from his office were not in clerical positions.

Four years after he was first elected, his Republican challenger said Chilberg had brought credibility to the office even in the face of budget cuts. Chilberg went on to win two more terms.

The two candidates also have different experience in politics. Wrigley has never run for office. Chilberg was a prominent county Democrat in the 1980s and 1990s, leading Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign in Eastern Washington and Mike Lowry’s campaign for governor in 1992.

Campaign money

Chilberg is running a modest campaign on about $1,000 of his own money. He said he thinks it’s “inherently wrong” for the tax collector to raise money from those who pay taxes.

“In order to raise the kind of money it takes to put on a campaign, you can’t do it without going to the big taxpayers, and I’m just not willing to put myself in that conflict,” Chilberg said.

Wrigley, who has raised about $13,000, said there’s no conflict in gathering support.

“If you don’t raise money, then only the rich will be able to do it,” Wrigley said.