Hession concedes election

Dennis Hession on Friday conceded the mayoral election to Councilwoman Mary Verner after a tense battle that turned the once political allies into bitter rivals.

“I accept the voters’ decision, of course, and I wish Mary Verner – and this city – every success,” Hession said in a statement released Friday afternoon. “I have asked city employees to give Ms. Verner their full cooperation to enable a smooth and professional transition for the benefit of the citizens. This is a great city with a bright future, and I will always cherish my time as its leader.”

Verner, with her all-volunteer campaign staff and a significant disadvantage in fund-raising, will become the 43rd mayor of Spokane when the election is certified Nov. 27. The mayor-elect praised Hession for his service and said she plans to meet one-on-one with city department leaders early next week to begin a transition.

“It has demonstrated that you can run a grass-roots campaign for Spokane mayor,” Verner said of her victory.

Verner said she and Hession exchanged phone messages Friday, but hadn’t yet talked.

Spokane voters never had so many opportunities to see their choices for mayor up close. Verner and Hession debated about a dozen times, including a live debate on KXLY-TV and a recorded one on KSPS-TV. Even though Hession could point to a significant turnaround in the city’s financial stature since he became mayor two years ago, his opponents attacked him for communication failures and localized issues such as his decision to discontinue trash pickup along some alleys in North Spokane.

A win for Verner has been likely since the first count was released Tuesday night. But Hession held out hope, hoping that late votes would fall to him.

After gaining ground Wednesday, he fell behind again Thursday. He gained votes in Friday’s count, but not enough to make a difference with only 6,000 ballots left to count. Going into the weekend, Verner leads 25,951 to 23,324.

Verner will join Councilman-elect Steve Corker in taking office Nov. 27 because they are taking over for officeholders who were appointed.

Councilman-elect Richard Rush, who defeated incumbent Brad Stark, will take office early next year.

The election of Verner continued Spokane voters’ trend of dumping incumbent mayors. No Spokane mayor has been returned to office since David Rodgers in 1973. Since moving to the strong mayor system in 2001, none of the city’s three mayors has served a full four-year term.

“I just think for some reason the people of Spokane are always looking for the ‘grass is greener’ when it comes to their mayors,” said Jack Geraghty, who served a term as mayor in the mid-1990s and worked for Hession’s campaign before the primary.

Verner will take over as mayor just before the city approves a budget for next year. She has said there won’t be enough time to make broad changes to the budget proposal submitted by Hession, but she might request that the City Council tweak some items.

She has, for instance, indicated that she does not favor Hession’s proposed 2 percent cut in utility rates. She also wants to add the position of police ombudsman in the budget.

Councilman Rob Crow, who backed Hession and will be replaced by Corker, said folks will be watching how she deals with her campaign contributors. “My suspicion is they are going to be seriously disappointed” if they expect favors, he said.

Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, who backed Hession, said she hopes Verner’s victory will begin a new relationship between the City Council and mayor’s office.

“The people have spoken and it’s time to move on,” she said. “Because of Mary’s communications gifts, I believe we will go through a honeymoon period.”

But Council President Joe Shogan pointed to honeymoon periods of previous mayors.

“I think she’ll have some, but I don’t think it will be long if history repeats itself,” he said.