Lynch impact may be small

In a mayor’s race that could come down to a question of who’s the strongest leader for Spokane, the dismissal of Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch could be seen as a plus or a minus for incumbent Dennis Hession.

But the impact might not be large, or long-lasting, Spokane political observers said.

“It’s more of an inside City Hall thing,” said Curt Fackler, chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party. “I don’t think the public really knows what’s going on, and I think people care more about the mayor than his deputy.”

Hession fired Lynch on Feb. 23 after several months in which Spokane’s top unelected official spent time on medical leave and faced questions about rumors surrounding his actions. Hession named John Pilcher as Lynch’s replacement, renaming the job to chief operating officer of the city.

City Councilman Al French, Hession’s only announced opponent in this fall’s election, had been calling for Lynch’s ouster for weeks. The letter of termination, along with Hession’s comments to the media after the city released the letter, indicate that the mayor had been trying to get his deputy to leave that post voluntarily for months.

“It shouldn’t take you five months to evaluate that decision,” French said recently. “Decisive leadership says you move on a decision in a timely fashion.”

The City Hall rumor mill was saying as early as December that Lynch would be fired, even though Hession continued to express his public support for the deputy mayor until he was fired, French said. That left employees wondering whether their boss was going to be Lynch or Pilcher, the councilman said.

French reiterated something he said when launching his campaign two weeks ago, that leadership is the key issue in the race.

Hession agreed that the campaign “is everything about leadership” but argued that his handling of Lynch’s departure was an example of good leadership by “doing the right thing for the city and the right thing for Jack.” He said he talked to Lynch months ago about concerns he had with the way his deputy mayor was handling the job. At that time, Hession said, he suggested Lynch “look for other employment while continuing on in the job.”

Hession said it was not a crisis. “Jack was doing the job. I was allowing him some time to move his way out the door.”

Lynch went on medical leave on Dec. 28, and Pilcher was named as the interim deputy mayor. Hession said when he reached the conclusion that his deputy wasn’t going to leave on his own, Lynch was terminated. “It didn’t take five months,” Hession said.

Kate McCaslin, a former Spokane County commissioner who now heads the Association of Builders and Contractors, said while the election may come down to a question of who can be the stronger leader for Spokane, any controversy over Lynch is likely to die down before the elections.

“I think it’s an issue, but not the issue to a majority of voters,” McCaslin said. “I think people just view it as odd.”

Former Mayor Sheri Barnard said she thinks the decision did drag out too long. “Dennis took the right step, but I agree with Al that it should have been done sooner.”

Barnard has been mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor but said she’d rather support another female candidate if one gets in the race.

Attorney Tom Keefe, a former congressional candidate and former Spokane County Democratic Party chairman, called the firing “one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.” On the surface, it’s hard to understand how a longtime top administrator who served three mayors suddenly wasn’t meeting performance standards, he said.

But Keefe isn’t sure whether it will affect the November election. “It’s too early to tell, and there’s too little information,” he said.

Because the situation is murky, voters may see it as a positive or a negative for Hession based on whether they already support or oppose him, said Mark Mays, a local psychologist and chairman of the Democratic Business and Professional Group. Hession was the speaker at the group’s monthly luncheon on Monday, and the topic of Lynch’s firing didn’t come up, Mays said.

“I think it’s going to come down to whether you trust someone,” Mays said.

Bart Haggin, another former Democratic congressional candidate and longtime political activist, agreed that the firing might not have much impact on the election. The question is whether it becomes part of a pattern that voters see in the incumbent, if the quality they want in their next mayor is strong leadership, he said.

“The biggest complaint I hear about Dennis is that he makes Hamlet look decisive,” Haggin said. The challenge for Hession, an attorney who has a long history as a mediator, is to show the right combination of strong leadership and caution, he said.