McAloon thrown under bus

Spokane has done it again with another display of partisan politics: throwing an outstanding municipal attorney under the bus (even though she served as legal counsel for Spokane Transit) just because of the infighting between the mayor and the council.

I have had the privilege to be associated with Laura McAloon as our city attorney for close to 12 years and you could not find a more outstanding, intelligent, savvy, municipal attorney in this region or the state. Contrary to what I read about Spokane politics, in Pullman we actually ask Laura for advice and we make a practice to follow her excellent counsel. Laura comes from a family with a great history of public service and when she told us that she was going to be nominated as Spokane’s new city attorney (despite all the red flags we could wave), she looked on the position as a way of helping Spokane and attempting to establish some credibility at City Hall.

For those lofty goals she was made a political pawn between the president of the council and the mayor and the fallout from the Straub sacking/retirement. So, thank you, Spokane, because of your bickering we now have back the best city attorney in the state.

Mayor Glenn Johnson

Pullman