Council race a clash of activists

Bob Apple got elected to the Spokane City Council four years ago as a community activist seeking changes at City Hall. Now seeking re-election, he’s facing Donna McKereghan, a community activist seeking changes at City Hall.

That’s not unique in Spokane politics, because challengers almost always have some activism on their resumes, and some bone to pick with the city’s governing structure.

But in this case, both style and issues separate McKereghan, a former college instructor and Logan Neighborhood Council leader, from Apple, who runs a small roofing and construction company when he’s not tied up with council responsibilities. The winner gets a four-year term on the council, which comes with an $18,000 annual salary.

McKereghan, who accuses the city of discriminatory hiring practices in a federal lawsuit filed last year, is using her campaign to challenge the city on a range of issues from openness and accountability to public safety and economic development. She said she regularly “goes round and round with City Legal” about issues; recently she challenged the council for holding an illegal meeting while it was in recess for its regular Monday night meeting. Apple has changed during his term in office, she contends.

“(Voters) elected somebody who would go in and be a bulldog and object to how things were, and that’s not happening any longer,” she said. Apple doesn’t have a record of legislation that he’s sponsored to benefit his district, she contends.

Apple scoffs at that characterization, saying he’s challenged high ambulance charges and fought with the zoning staff over the delays in neighborhood planning, pushing to give the neighborhoods “teeth” to do their own planning if they aren’t satisfied with city staff. He’s also sought more funding for senior and youth programs, and notes the city will be kicking in to help with the expansion of the Northeast Community Center.

McKereghan’s criticism of the number of ordinances he’s sponsored shows she doesn’t understand the council’s legislative process, he contends: “We work as a team. You don’t have your own legislation, you have consolidated legislation.”

Their district essentially stretches east from Division Street and north from Interstate 90, although it includes a piece of downtown as far west as Monroe Street. It’s an area with some of the city’s most valuable real estate, but some of the poorest households and lowest voter registration and turnout.

They argue over who can best bring the views of the district’s residents into the discussions in City Hall.

“If I’m elected, I’m not going to be sitting at my desk at City Hall day after day,” McKereghan said. She’ll be out talking to neighborhood groups, church organizations and any other gathering where people might be sounding off about their concerns, she said.

Apple counters that he already does that: “I go to more meetings than most people,” he said, and doesn’t see McKereghan at most of them.

What he hears most at those meetings or just talking to voters is a concern over public safety, particularly a fear of crime related to methamphetamine sales and addiction. Apple wants the city to push for a special “meth jail” that would house addicts and put them through extensive detoxification treatment, rather than a standard jail that becomes a “training class” for addicts to learn other crime skills like burglary and identity theft.

He supports an independent ombudsman for the Police Department to investigate citizen complaints, and is a firm supporter of Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who’s just starting her second year on the job. Questions about police practices in several recent controversies have taken so long to investigate that “it’s damaging the public’s perception” of the department, he said.

McKereghan, who argues that Spokane doesn’t just need a police ombudsman but an ombudsman for all city operations, said she’s less supportive than Apple of the chief and the department: “I’m supportive as long as they obey the rules. But we’re protecting some people who need to go away.”

She wants stricter rules on the use of Tasers, by direction of the council if necessary, and noted a recent federal judge’s ruling that anything more than three jolts from the device could be considered excessive force. Apple contends that the police have told council members in briefings that they have a rule that limits their use to three shocks from a Taser.

McKereghan says she’ll bring the same research skills to the council that she’s used as a government watchdog, enhanced by the better access to information she’d have inside City Hall. Apple questions that, and accuses her of filing a frivolous lawsuit against the city over the process surrounding her application for a job in 2005.

“She’s seeking a job with the city while she’s suing the city for not giving her a job,” he said.

That’s inaccurate, McKereghan said. She sued the city for violating federal nondiscrimination laws for job applicants. When she applied for a job as a public information officer, she was told the job required a driver’s license or “evidence of equivalent mobility.” McKereghan, who does not drive because of a physical disability, said she was improperly questioned about that when she first turned in her application and city officials couldn’t describe what she needed to submit to provide that evidence. She eventually submitted an application and didn’t get the job, but her discussions with city officials convinced her they didn’t understand federal employment laws. Mediation didn’t solve her complaint, she said.

“I don’t go around suing people, this was a last alternative,” she said. “The real point of this is not to win, but to find out if what the city of Spokane did is legal or not.”

The lawsuit is pending in federal court, where the city contends she failed to establish her claim of discrimination and last month asked a judge to dismiss the case before it goes to trial. McKereghan is fighting that attempt.

Apple also questions whether McKereghan, who went through a bankruptcy in 2003, is better qualified than him to be voting on the city’s multimillion-dollar budgets: “I think people could be concerned about her ability to manage the city’s finances.”

McKereghan said the Chapter 7 bankruptcy was a result of a combination of factors “out of my control.”

She was a single mom with a teenager and an elderly mother in her home, significant student loan debt and rising expenses, she said.

It was one of the most difficult decisions she’s ever made, humbling because it’s a reminder that “I’m far from perfect,” she said. But it is good training for a council member, she contended.

“Making the hard decisions … the ones that you least want to do, whether you want it or not, that’s what you got to do, is something a City Council member has to do,” she said.