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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Verner says she’ll run for mayor

City Councilwoman Mary Verner is joining the race for Spokane mayor.

Verner confirmed Monday she will run for the city’s top executive spot, campaigning as someone with “positive, decisive leadership” who has knowledge of City Hall but is not entrenched in the bureaucracy.

“I’m not the stereotypical insider,” said Verner, who is in the middle of her first term. “I’m not stuck in a rut.”

If elected, she said, she would work to defuse possible controversies by bringing different groups together and instill trust between management and labor at City Hall.

The furor over removing trees on South Bernard Street as part of a street-widening project is an example of how homeowners, engineers and planners should have met early to avoid “a clash of philosophies,” she said.

“I would have brought all the people together in the same room and asked ‘What is the common ground?’ ” she said in an interview with The Spokesman-Review. “I’d be a referee, if necessary.”

She also questioned Mayor Dennis Hession’s recent announcement that he would not seek to renew the levy lid lift, the two-year property tax measure approved by voters in 2005, and would work to reduce the city’s utility tax. The council’s Finance Committee has not yet studied the mayor’s plan, but Verner said it seems to fly in the face of comments about the budget made just a few months ago.

City workers were told at the beginning of the year the city was facing budget deficits in 2008, she said. Now the city seems to be saying that it has money enough to cut taxes.

“City employees don’t trust that. They think there’s a slush fund somewhere,” Verner said.

Even though sales tax revenues were up for 2006, that may simply be one good year, she said. “I have not seen a demonstration that one good year is going to solve our long-term budget problem.”

Until the city can be sure sales tax revenue will continue at 2006 levels, she said it would be better to spend the extra revenue on one-time projects that would save money in the future.

Verner, 50, is a lawyer who serves as executive director of the Upper Columbia United Tribes, a job she plans to keep through the campaign. She is originally from Georgia and is a member of the Muskogee tribe. She’s divorced with two children, ages 26 and 9, and two grandchildren.

Juggling single motherhood, her job, council duties and a citywide campaign will involve triage, a concept she learned as an emergency medical technician years ago, she said.

She represents the city’s South District, and was appointed in 2004 to fill the council seat that became vacant when Hession won election as council president. She’ll face Hession, who was named mayor after Jim West was recalled by voters, and fellow Councilmember Al French in the August primary.

Unlike her previous district council campaign, however, she’ll have to run citywide, and some of her supporters in 2005 are already supporting Hession, who began his campaign last year. She said she’s had people from all three council districts encourage her to run and hopes she can get some of her past supporters’ votes, even if they’ve already given Hession money.