Hession leads in fundraising

Fueled in part by support from development interests, Dennis Hession has raised more than three times as much money as Mary Verner in the race for Spokane mayor. Since they finished first and second in the August primary, the incumbent mayor has picked up more than four times as much as his challenger, a city councilwoman.

Hession has collected more than $176,000 in contributions for the 2007 campaign, including a recent $2,500 check from the Community Builders Trust, a political action committee that represents the Spokane Homebuilders Association, which backed Councilman Al French in the primary.

Verner has raised a little more than $55,500 for her entire campaign. Her largest contributions since the primary are $1,000 from Milford’s Fish House, a longtime Spokane restaurant, and $500 from former City Councilman Dean Lynch, who lost a council election to Hession in 2001,

Steve Taylor, government affairs director for the Spokane Homebuilders Association, said French, an architect and developer, was a logical first choice for the group after the four leading mayoral candidates were interviewed in June.

“There weren’t that many differences” between Hession and French, Taylor said. “No one really had a problem with Dennis to begin with.”

Development interests in general are supportive of Hession, campaign disclosure reports show.

Among his largest contributors is Black Rock Development, owned by Marshall Chesrown, who is developing what would be the largest residential and commercial development in Spokane, the Kendall Yards project north and west of the Monroe Street Bridge.

Prium Companies also has given Hession $2,500. The Tacoma-based firm owns the Rock Pointe business complex just north of the river as well as the Wells Fargo bank tower in downtown, and is working on a 15-story condo unit just south of the bank tower.

Among Hession’s $1,000 donors are Garco Construction, Robert Goebel General Contractor, Lydig Construction, Talisman Construction, the Washington Association of Realtors and Ron Wells, who has been involved in several downtown redevelopment projects.

His largest contributor overall remains Avista, which has given the incumbent some $14,200 in cash and campaign services, such as an early voter survey. His largest personal contributor is Steven B. Smith, an executive with Northwest Tower LLC, a company that sites and builds cellular towers. Smith has given Hession a total of $3,500 over the course of the campaign; the company has given another $1,000.

Many of Verner’s large contributors come from out of the city. She has received $3,000 from Harless Aviation of Douglas, Ga., and another $2,000 from its owner Bob Harless, who is her former flight instructor and a longtime friend.

She has also received $2,000 each from the Kootenai Tribe and the Spokane Tribe, and $1,000 from the Colville Confederated Tribes. All three tribes are part of the Upper Columbia United Tribes, an organization for which Verner serves as the executive director.

She also has received $2,000 each from Don Barbieri and Sharon Smith, who are developing condominiums near the Flour Mill on the north bank of the Spokane River. Barbieri is a former Democratic congressional candidate and Smith is the former Spokane County Democratic chairwoman.

Hession also has some recognizable partisans on his list of donors for the nonpartisan race, including state Sen. Chris Marr, a Democrat who gave him $1,000. Duane Alton, the tire store owner who ran three times as a GOP candidate for Congress, gave Hession $250.

Hession outspent Verner and French combined before the Aug. 21 primary. He finished in first place, but just 300 votes ahead of Verner.

Since that time, however, Hession has had a much easier time raising money. He’s collected an extra $24,000 to help pay for the general election campaign; Verner has collected just under $6,000.