Candidate filing season is upon us

Candidates for local office head to the starting blocks this week, but they will have to lengthen their stride a bit for a slightly longer race. For the first time in state history, filing for municipal offices – as well as school and fire boards and other local district positions – opens this first Monday in June and closes at 5 p.m. Friday, rather than the last full week of July. That’s because this year sees the first shift in the state primary to mid-August.

Since candidates for those offices often wait until filing week to announce their plans, the races are never certain until the doors close at the county elections office on Friday afternoon.

But it’s not as if some candidates haven’t been running for months. In the city of Spokane, the race for mayor began the moment Jim West was recalled by voters and replaced by then-City Council President Dennis Hession.

Hession, and council members Al French and Mary Verner are already in full campaign mode, arguing over such things as budget priorities for police, fire and other municipal services; economic development; and open government. Much early debate revolves around leadership, specifically the ability to lead a city that seems to chronically fight a battle between increased demand for services and a tight budget.

The earlier start means campaign rhetoric started sooner and may get hotter, faster. Already, the three mayoral candidates have sparred over taxes and who is politicizing the prospects of a new fire station in Latah Valley.

Last week, French, who is hoping to land police and fire union support that may be withheld from Hession, offered this assessment of the city’s current state of public safety:

“We have little old ladies being mugged in Riverfront Park, and the mayor thinks that’s OK,” he said after a recent council meeting

Alvena Eales, an 81-year-old visitor from Olympia, was mugged in the park May 17 by a man who stole her purse and shoved her to the ground, breaking her nose and causing other scrapes and bruises. But Hession said he is not “OK” with it.

“Of course I care,” Hession countered Friday. “But I believe the community was safe and this is a random incident. Fifty more officers wouldn’t necessarily stop that.”

Hession became an almost certain candidate as soon as he took the oath of office in early 2006. But incumbency is seldom a plus in Spokane city elections, where voters haven’t re-elected a mayor since 1973, when Dave Rodgers had the benefit of civic goodwill from the impending opening of Expo ‘74 and a strong South Side vote in favor of a North-South freeway.

Rodgers’ three successors decided one term at the city helm was enough, but former mayors Sheri Barnard, Jack Geraghty, John Talbott and John Powers all lost re-election bids.

With his early start, Hession has a substantial lead over Verner and French in raising and spending money.

As of mid-May, Hession had raised about $91,500 and spent about $31,700. His biggest contributor is Avista Corp., which has kicked in $2,000 in cash and $14,000 more for such things as a poll, computers and office rent – money the utility is always quick to stress comes from shareholder profits, not customer utility payments.

French, who jumped into the race in February, has raised about $17,500 and kicked in $5,000 of his own money, and he has spent about $10,000, according to his most recent reports. His biggest contributions are a $3,500 phone system for the campaign office from New Line Communications and $3,000 from Fairwood Retirement Services.

Verner, who started about the time political observers were wondering if Spokane would have an unusual two-candidate mayor’s race, has nearly caught up to French with about $20,600 raised; she’s spent about $13,000. Among her top donors are the Kootenai, Spokane and Colville Confederated tribes.

That prompted Hession’s campaign to contend that Verner, who is executive director of the Upper Columbia United Tribes, should have recused herself from a recent council vote that dealt with a city contract for archaeological services needed for certain construction sites. After complaints from the Spokane Tribe, the city dropped its contract with Eastern Washington University and hired a Montana firm for ongoing archaeological services.

Verner said she didn’t receive the contribution until after the vote. She said she checked with a private attorney when the issue came up, and was confident there was no conflict of interest that would keep her from voting on the contract.

When the question was raised later in a letter to the editor, she said she double-checked with City Attorney Jim Craven about the tribe’s connection to Upper Columbia United Tribes – it appoints one member to a board to which Verner reports – and was told there was no conflict of interest.

“The contract was not awarded to the tribe, and I voted to award it to someone else,” she said.

Late last week a fourth candidate also made moves to enter the race: Robert Kroboth, a 73-year-old retiree who ran for mayor in 2000 and finished fourth in a four-way primary.

Kroboth, who declined interview requests from The Spokesman-Review in 2000 because of his opposition to River Park Square, which is owned by the newspaper’s parent company, says on his Web site he will accept no campaign contributions, will not give interviews and will not appear in debates.

The other three candidates have started sparring at joint appearances in front of neighborhood groups, and have an appearance scheduled for Monday at the Magnuson Democratic Club luncheon at Red Lion Inn at the Park.

With the mayor’s race at the top of the ticket in Spokane, other municipal races have attracted scant attention thus far.

Council President Joe Shogan – appointed to that citywide elected position after Hession was named mayor – recently announced he would run for that job and lists a campaign fund of $200. City Councilman Rob Crow, named to Shogan’s vacant council seat, has said he will run for council president, but hasn’t filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission for that job or the Northwest District seat he currently holds.

Councilman Bob Apple is seeking re-election to his Northeast District seat, and faces a challenge from Logan Neighborhood activist Donna McKereghan. Councilman Brad Stark, from the South District, has raised about $11,000 for his re-election campaign, and has no announced opposition.

Other cities and towns also have council positions on this year’s ballot, although only Liberty Lake, Rockford and Spangle have mayoral races. The city of Spokane Valley, which five years ago was flooded with would-be council members in its first municipal election, will have three council seats on the ballot but so far is experiencing a quiet political spring.

Most area school districts have at least two board positions on this year’s ballot, and many have three. Most fire districts, including District 1 in Spokane Valley, have at least two fire commissioner seats up for election.

The rules for becoming a candidate are essentially the same, regardless of the position. A petition of candidacy must be filed with the county elections office and accompanied by a fee that equals 1 percent of the annual salary, or $10 if that salary is less than $1,000. For the mayor of Spokane, that means each candidate must pay $1,387.68 to be on the ballot, while the filing fee for a council position in the town of Fairfield is $12 and a spot on the Millwood Council is no charge, because positions with no salary have no fee.

Local races in Washington state are nonpartisan, so a race with three or more candidates has a primary Aug. 21, with the top two candidates advancing to the Nov. 6 general election.