Need help from Spokane

I was reading the filings yesterday in Spokane County and am mystified as to what is happening in the county assessor race there. Normally, I would not care about a county assessor race, but one of the filings flies in the face of conventional wisdom and partisan allegiance. The background on the office is Ralph Baker was appointed to the seat after former state Rep. Duane Sommers retired a couple years ago. Baker was elected to complete the term in a special election last year, unopposed. Now, he's running for the full term and is being opposed by Democrat Judy Personett. The kicker is that Brad Stark has filed as a Republican for the seat, and I do not see why he would file for that office when he already holds a much better seat on the city council, and is a known Democrat aside from that, having been an aide for Sen. Lisa Brown and campaign manager for Democratic County Commissioner John Roskelley's 2000 reelection.

I had assumed that whoever filed was some nobody who simply had the same name and was trying to fool voters, that sort of thing happens all the time (remember the California Recall?). However, I ran a search for registered Starks in Spokane County on Sharkansky's voter database, and the councilman is the only Brad Stark in the county. If anybody can enlighten me as to what's happening in the east, I would appreciate it.