Hopefuls spar over job creation

It is the duel of the job-creating mayoral candidates.

Two of the five candidates for Spokane mayor have made broad assertions about creating jobs in Spokane.

In campaign literature, incumbent Mayor Dennis Hession says he “presided over a reawakening of Spokane, with 10,000 new jobs created in our area since 2005.”

One step further, City Councilman Al French’s brochures claims him to be “the only candidate that has personally brought or created more than 2,500 new jobs for Spokane.”

Another candidate, Councilwoman Mary Verner, said the claims are little more than grandstanding.

Hession says the number in his campaign literature reflects a pro-business ethic at City Hall.

“We are a significant contributor to the business friendly environment and the job growth and development in the city of Spokane and the region,” Hession said.

But French says jobs created in Hession’s 19 months in office are more likely the result of private enterprise. He questions how many of those jobs were added outside city of Spokane borders.

“It’s like staring at the horizon and watching the sun rise and taking credit for it,” French said. “What created those jobs is the private sector.”

A breakdown provided by French for the jobs he “personally brought or created” shows 2,200 of those jobs were at NorthTown Mall, where he worked through much of the 1980s. But that number is more than the estimated number of employees currently working at the entire complex.

Leslea Warnick, marketing manager of the mall, estimated that there are about 1,500 people who work at NorthTown, but that number can increase significantly at Christmas and back-to-school seasons, she said. She stressed that her number was only a rough estimate.

French said he’s not surprised by the number now employed at the mall. New computer systems over the years likely have reduced retail staffing needs, he said.

The two-term councilman was influential in two expansions of the mall and was the architect for the project that transformed the shopping center into an indoor complex in 1983. French says he bases his job claims on the property management and development of the mall.

He claims to be responsible for 480 jobs he says were created when the mall grew in 1983 and 1,755 jobs when it expanded again around 1990. “I was serving as the agent that was going out and recruiting these businesses to come to Spokane,” French said.

But former City Councilman Orville Barnes, who owned McCarthy Management, the company that managed NorthTown during the 1983 expansion, said French’s job creation numbers are bogus.

“That’s a complete exaggeration,” said Barnes, whose consulting firm contributed $50 to Hession’s campaign.

Barnes said French wasn’t involved in attracting businesses to the mall in the 1983 expansion.

“I did probably 95 percent of the leasing,” Barnes said.

French, who was working as an associate broker under Barnes at the time of the 1983 expansion on top of his architect duties, noted that Barnes’ company later was replaced by firms owned or partly owned by French.

He disputed Barnes’ take on the 1983 project.

“In my spare time I developed, not only the architectural drawings, but the costing and the income and expense projections to do that package” for the expansion, French said.

Barnes said credit for creating NorthTown jobs belongs to the mall owners, Dixon Investment Co., and later, Sabey Corp.

“He can say what he wants,” Barnes said. “I never created any (jobs), he didn’t create any.”

Ted Bare, who owned the Pickle Barrel Restaurant in the mall from 1984 until 1999, said French deserves credit for some NorthTown job creation, but 2,200 seems too high.

“He did an excellent job,” said Bare, who served a couple terms as the president of the mall’s tenants association. “He was a positive influence as far as increasing the business at the mall.”

More than 100 other jobs on French’s list are from companies French owns or used to own.

French also claims to be responsible for 145 jobs he says were created by the Spokane Neighborhood Economic Development Alliance, a nonprofit group whose board he sits on, and for 17 jobs at SNEDA, including 13 AmeriCorps workers. While SNEDA used to have a staff about that size, there is now only one full-time employee at the organization.

Eric Loewe, SNEDA’s executive director, said the organization has “assisted in the creation, retention or significant improvement” of 145 jobs. Loewe, who contributed $1,000 to French’s campaign, said French has been a key player on SNEDA’s board and has been instrumental in locating operating money for the group.

But mayoral candidate Councilwoman Mary Verner said that using French’s logic, she and most other politicians could take credit for any number of jobs. For instance, Verner said, just because she has supported AHANA, a local business organization, that doesn’t mean she should assert she was responsible for jobs AHANA created.

“I as one candidate am not going to begin to take credit for every job that has been created by joint efforts,” Verner said.

Hession’s job statement that 10,000 jobs have been created in the “Spokane area” since he took office appears to be technically accurate.

The state Employment Security Department reports that when Hession took office in January 2006, there were 205,600 non-farm jobs in Spokane County. In July, the state said that number had increased to 216,300.

But the state doesn’t have statistics showing how many of those jobs were created outside Spokane city borders.

Jeff Zahir, Employment Security regional labor economist, said it is more accurate to use the same month when considering job growth. The number of jobs in Spokane County had grown by about 6,000 between July 2006 and July 2007.

While local leaders can stifle job growth, they’re not usually responsible for creating jobs, he said.

“They’re coming from entrepreneurs who are risking money,” Zahir said. “They are not coming from politicians who are trying to get elected.”

Hession said he’s not trying to take any credit away from the private sector. But he notes the city’s No. 20 ranking earlier this year by Forbes magazine on the list of “Best Places for Business and Careers.”

But French said if anyone in the city deserves credit for the economic expansion it’s former Mayor Jim West, whom French credits for bringing a business-friendly atmosphere to City Hall.

Mayoral candidate Michael Noder, who co-owns demolition contracting firm MoMike, said city policies such as high utility taxes and tax breaks awarded to developers have done more to hurt job growth than help it.

“I don’t believe that the policies of City Hall over the last several years have done a lot for job creation,” he said.