Profile: Spokane County Assessor - GOP
In response to my surprise at Brad Stark's coming-out as a Republican (or "Spokane Democrats' best Republican friend"), I felt obligated to cover his primary challenge for Spokane County Assessor. He is primarying GOP incumbent Ralph Baker, who was appointed and retained unopposed in a 2005 special election. Generally, a Republican primary in Spokane County would be an ideological battle if between a centrist like Stark and a conservative like Baker -- and the conservative would probably win. However, given that this office is pretty behind the scenes and that I have gathered from Spokanite acquaintances that Baker has performed the position poorly, I think Stark has a good shot here. His name recognition from the City Council certainly won't hurt, and in his short time in the race he's dominated the fundraising game.
Prediction: Stark Lean
posted by TMW @ 7:26 AM
1 Comments:
Ralph Baker has turned out to be a pretty great assessor -- so much so that he's pushing for a new level of transparency. Since only he and his questioner get to see questions/answers submitted to the Spokane County web site, Ralph has built has own: http://www.spokaneassessor.com, where he opines on issues of property tax importance to voters and fields complaints, comments, reactions, etc. His sole purpose is to get a community discussion going on issues of note so the citizenry are an informed electorate. Bravo, Ralph! Do check out his site -- you'll find info there that you'd never see on the Spokane County site.
SME, 4:23, 7/10/08
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