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

State Rep. Mike Volz leads list of choices for Spokane County treasurer, but final pick has more steps

Mike Volz poses for a photo after EWU’s 6th Legislative District Candidate Forum on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, at EWU’s Hargreaves Hall Reading Room in Cheney, Wash.  (Tyler Tjomsland/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)

State Rep. Mike Volz is – so far – the top-rated choice of the Spokane County Republican Party to be the next county treasurer.

Volz, who has been the chief deputy treasurer for several years, was named the acting treasurer this week by the Spokane County Commission.

The county GOP released on Wednesday its rankings of eight applicants for county treasurer, a position vacated by Republican Michael Baumgartner after he won election in November to serve in Congress.

While the rankings provide an early glance of how Republicans feel about their pick, the party can still choose differently.

As the affiliated party of the outgoing treasurer, the Spokane County GOP is responsible for providing three nominees to the Spokane County Commission, which will vote on the final appointee. The party plans to meet Jan. 18 to make a final list of three to send to the commission.

The position will be up for a public election later this year. The winner in the November General Election will hold the position through the end of Baumgartner’s current term at the end of 2026.

Volz topped the list, followed by treasurer’s office employee John Christina, commercial real estate broker Matt Hawkins, tech businessman Victor Yefremov and Spokane Valley businessman Mike Kelly.

Party officials did not release details of the rankings, which went through a similar vetting process as the party’s candidate endorsements last year, but did disclose that these candidates were “within ten points of one another.”

The remaining three candidates were ranked significantly lower, roughly 20 points below Kelly, said Morna Gilbert, who led the candidate vetting committee, at Tuesday’s meeting of the county party. These include, in order, former Spokane Public Schools teacher Natalie Poulson, Army veteran Robert Miceli and Spokane hairstylist Patti Usselman.

Poulson and Kelly serve in leadership roles in the county party as district leaders for precinct committee officers.

These applicants may not be the only ones considered during the party’s Jan. 18 meeting. Any GOP precinct committee officer could nominate additional candidates for consideration, where they will receive five minutes to make their case to the full voting body.

Those who went through the party’s vetting process submitted biographies and completed questionnaires about some of their basic political and personal beliefs, including whether they considered themselves Constitutional originalists and when they believe life begins, such as at the point of conception.

Those completed questionnaires are available to view on the party’s website. Applicants also participated in interviews with the party’s candidate committee, and each person was ranked based on a weighted score given to their questionnaire responses and interview performance.

“We evaluate not only how they present themselves, but how they align with our party platform and how strong their positions are when they articulate them, things like that,” Linebarger said in a previous interview. “It doesn’t matter if you’re running for cemetery district commissioner or governor, they all do the same questionnaire.”