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Voters can\u2019t complain about a lack of options in the Aug. 2 primary election race for Spokane County commissioner to represent southeastern Spokane County and parts of Spokane.<\/p>\n
They can fill in the bubble for a conservative with more than 20 years of local government experience.<\/p>\n
If they want a liberal, they can vote for a political rookie who spent three years leading Spokane County\u2019s criminal justice reform efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anyone looking to avoid Republicans and Democrats is in luck \u2013 the ballot includes an independent who wants to focus on finding stable housing for the homeless<\/a>.<\/p>\n And if none of those sounds right, a former mayor is re-entering the political fray as a Republican nearly 25 years after he left office<\/a>.<\/p>\n Commissioner District 5<\/a> includes all of the West Plains cities as well as northwest Spokane and the South Hill above 29th Avenue. It\u2019s one of five new districts drawn during last year\u2019s redistricting process<\/a>. Because all five seats are up for election this year in the new system, three of the seats will start with two-year terms<\/a>, including District 5\u2019s. Starting in 2024, all commission seats will have four-year terms.<\/p>\n For the first time, Spokane County this year will elect five commissioners, each representing constituents in one specific district. It\u2019s a dramatic change from the old setup wherein three commissioners ran in district-specific primary elections and countywide general elections.<\/p>\n The Republicans and Democrats who drew District 5 described it as a swing district. But in past elections, GOP candidates have had the advantage by about 5 percentage points. That\u2019s easily the closest gap in any of the five districts.<\/p>\n If that tight margin isn\u2019t dramatic enough on its own: The party that takes the 5th could be in a good position to win a majority on the Spokane County Commission, which has had only Republican members for a dozen years. <\/p>\n Spokane County Commissioner Al French is effectively the District 5 incumbent.<\/p>\n The Republican served the maximum eight years on the Spokane City Council from 2002 to 2009, then won a county commission seat in 2010. He\u2019s held that seat ever since and is the longest serving county commissioner.<\/p>\n On the campaign trail, French is highlighting his experience, commitment to economic development, work to create jobs and the fact that he\u2019s endorsed by Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. He stressed that he\u2019s trying to convince an aerospace company to open a manufacturing facility near the Spokane International Airport.<\/p>\n Democrat Maggie Yates was Spokane County\u2019s regional law and justice administrator for three years. She led the county\u2019s reform efforts and often focused on reducing jail crowding.<\/p>\n Yates resigned in January. Her departure followed resistance from the Spokane County Prosecutor\u2019s Office to a proposal for pre-trial release for some people accused of nonviolent crimes. The county created a new position overseeing the criminal justice system<\/a> at that time, too.<\/p>\n \u201cI left because I could no longer push the work of my office forward,\u201d Yates said this spring.<\/p>\n Besides touting her criminal justice expertise, Yates said she\u2019d work to improve transparency and make data-driven decisions if elected. She\u2019s also criticized county planning policies and called for a development moratorium along the U.S. Highway 195 corridor.<\/p>\n Tara Carter, a Spokane County District Court clerk, is running as an independent.<\/p>\n Carter said addressing homelessness would be a priority if voters put her on the county commission. She also said she wants to get partisanship out of county government.<\/p>\n \u201cSpokane County needs change,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWe need some new voices. We need a little bit more of an open perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican Don Harmon has eight years of experience as an Airway Heights mayor and city councilman, but he hasn\u2019t been in office since the late 1990s.<\/p>\n \u201cAll I\u2019m doing is mowing grass and moving snow,\u201d Harmon said, \u201cjust decided I want to get back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Harmon said building a new jail and fixing county roads are his top priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cOur roads are pathetic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where the candidates stand on some important county issues.<\/p>\n Politicians have argued about the Spokane County Jail for more than a decade. Repeated inmate suicides and deaths have plagued the facility in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Elected officials across the political spectrum agree the status quo at the overcrowded jail can\u2019t continue. But not everyone agrees on the solution.<\/p>\n Some, especially conservatives, say the county needs to build a new jail to handle more inmates. Others, mainly progressives, say the county should focus on providing people with more mental health and addiction help rather than creating more cells.<\/p>\n French said Spokane County needs a new jail. He described the current facility as unsafe and \u201cfunctionally obsolescent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s undersized dramatically and it\u2019s expensive to operate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A new jail would be cheaper to operate and have enough cells to keep dangerous people behind bars, French said.<\/p>\n In addition to a new jail, French said the county should build a community corrections center. That facility would house low-level offenders and could include a variety of offerings for inmates, such as GED courses, housing assistance resources and addiction treatment.<\/p>\n Yates said the county shouldn\u2019t build a new jail.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly expensive intervention that really does little to nothing to improve public safety,\u201d she said, adding that she believes the focus should be on funding programming that reduces recidivism.<\/p>\n The county should spend its dollars on programs that help people find housing, improve early childhood education, increase economic opportunities and expand mental health and drug addiction resources, Yates said.<\/p>\n More specifically, Yates said the county should work to keep people out of jail. She said some of the reforms her office implemented, such as court date reminders and giving people free rides to court, can help individuals avoid future interactions with the legal system.<\/p>\n \u201cIt decreases likelihood of criminal activity, so it\u2019s an investment in all of our safety,\u201d Yates said.<\/p>\n Carter said she\u2019s not sure whether the county should build a new jail and would need to study the issue more before knowing where she stands.<\/p>\n Harmon said building a new jail is his No. 1 goal.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople need to know there\u2019s consequences for what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said, emphasizing that the new jail should be built to accommodate future expansion.<\/p>\n Spokane County locks up people of color at far higher rates than white people.<\/p>\n According to a 2017 analysis by the JFA Institute, a Black person in Spokane County is 13 times more likely to be jailed than a white person, and Native Americans are 6.5 times more likely to be jailed.<\/p>\n Yates said many of the programs she supports that could reduce jail crowding also would reduce the criminal justice system\u2019s disproportionate impacts on people of color.<\/p>\n She noted the county spends more than $150 million on law enforcement and public safety annually<\/a>, yet 60% to 70% of offenders return to the jail at some point after their release.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a clear sign that what we\u2019re doing right now is not working effectively to disrupt the cycle of arrest and actually increase safety and stability in the community,\u201d Yates said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s failing at significant cost to taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n Carter said in order to reduce the criminal justice system\u2019s impacts on people of color the county should \u201cstop looking at race\u201d altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we keep saying we have race issues, there will continue to be race issues,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n Harmon said he doesn\u2019t have any specific ideas for addressing the problem but would like to get churches more involved.<\/p>\n French said he\u2019s aware that Black people are overrepresented in the jail. But he said he believes the commissioners have limited authority over criminal justice.<\/p>\n The commissioners control departmental budgets, not policy, he said. All the commissioners can do is fund reform efforts when they\u2019re proposed, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t arrest. I don\u2019t prosecute. I don\u2019t defend. I don\u2019t adjudicate. I\u2019m the landlord in the jail,\u201d French said. \u201cI don\u2019t sentence people to jail. It comes from our courts.\u201d<\/p>\n This fall, the Spokane County commissioners reformed the Spokane Regional Health District\u2019s Board of Health.<\/p>\n They were forced into changing the membership of the board to comply with a law the state Legislature passed in 2021 that requires health boards to have an equal number of elected and unelected members.<\/p>\n The lawmaker who wrote the law, Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, said he wanted to depoliticize health boards, which have had authority over public health decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n How the commissioners reformed the board<\/a> caused controversy. They opted for fewer members, kicking off Spokane and Spokane Valley\u2019s representatives. They also put Alycia Policani, a naturopathic doctor, on the board instead of a medical doctor<\/a>. Multiple medical doctors applied for the position.<\/p>\n Carter said she\u2019s not opposed to having a doctor on the health board, but didn\u2019t say it was a necessity.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it hurts anything to at least have a consultant doctor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Harmon said a doctor, specifically a family physician, should serve on the board.<\/p>\n French, and Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns, were the two commissioners who wanted a naturopathic doctor instead of someone with a medical degree.<\/p>\n The health board has often lacked a doctor in the past, French said. He said the board doesn\u2019t need a medical doctor because it doesn\u2019t make public health decisions and is merely administrative.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a doctor is appointed to the health district board, it should not be because his only credential is that he\u2019s a doctor,\u201d French said. \u201cA medical degree is not needed to be a health district board member.\u201d<\/p>\n Yates said the health board should reflect the spirit of the new law and include a medical doctor. She also said she\u2019d advocate for restoring Spokane and Spokane Valley\u2019s elected representatives.<\/p>\nShould Spokane County build a new jail?<\/h3>\n
Racial disparities in criminal justice<\/h3>\n
Should the health board include a medical doctor?<\/h3>\n