Spokane County Commission names interim prosecutor following Larry Haskell’s resignation

Spokane County Chief Deputy Criminal Prosecutor Preston McCollam will oversee the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office for the foreseeable future, following a unanimous vote by the county’s governing board Tuesday.

McCollam will serve as interim Spokane County prosecutor until the Spokane County Commission approves a replacement for outgoing Prosecutor Larry Haskell, who announced his retirement last week. Haskell’s last day at the county will be July 18, about 1½ years shy of the four-year term he was elected to serve in 2022, after previously being elected in 2014 and 2018.

Haskell, 71, told The Spokesman-Review he decided to leave while he “still has his health,” and before any potential impacts to his work.

He joined the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office as a deputy prosecutor in 1998, shortly after graduating law school from Seattle University. He previously served on the Airway Heights City Council and Cheney School Board before being elected to lead the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.

The motion to approve McCollam Tuesday replaces an improper vote held last week following Haskell’s announcement, since the commissioners failed to provide proper notice for the action.

McCollam said last week he intends to seek an appointment to serve the remainder of Haskell’s term and intends to file as a candidate for the position in the 2026 election cycle. He joined the office shortly after Haskell arrived in 2015 and was named the head of the criminal side of the office in 2023.

Under state law, the party of the outgoing official is responsible for naming three candidates to replace Haskell, a registered Republican.

The Spokane County GOP has 60 days to make nominations for the commission to vote on, the same process through which state Rep. Mike Volz was named acting Spokane County treasurer after his predecessor, U.S. Rep. Mike Baumgartner, was elected to represent Washington’s 5th Congressional District last year.

McCollam said he looks forward to working through the nomination process in the weeks to come. In the meantime, Spokane County residents can have faith that the office’s work will continue as normal during the transition.

“My intent at this stage is just to provide stability so that the process can play out,” McCollam said in an interview last week. “I’ve got my own thoughts on how we can do some business moving forward, and those are things that I intend to engage with directly, with our sheriff, our law enforcement partners, our county commissioners, as well as community input and business leaders, as we kind of go through this challenging time.”