No! To Another Status Quo Spokane Mayor
by Rob Wilkinson
Washington State Senator Jim West in the last few years has steadfastly denied wanting to be mayor of Spokane, and has publicly stated that he has had no recent contact with Stacy Cowles, Publisher of Spokane's Spokesman Review, regarding his sudden candidacy. But West is known to have close ties with the Cowles family, whose vast holdings include ownership of Spokane's only daily newspaper.
Spokane has barely endured the past four years under another Spokesman Review-endorsed mayor, John Powers, whose reign as Spokane's miniature version of Boss Tweed has nearly bankrupted this city. One of his misdeeds included decreasing Spokane's credit rating because of his refusal to take a strong upper-hand with the Cowles-backed multimillion dollar River Park Square garage and mall project, a corporate welfare debacle that is still tied up in courts.
What do Jim West and John Powers have to offer Spokane that we cannot find in other candidates running for mayor--such as grass-roots candidate and respected journalist Tom Grant (whose campaign I volunteer for), or City Councilman Steve Corker, or former "I've-done-this-already-and-got-my-T-shirt-for it" mayor, Sheri Barnard?
West relies heavily on his 20-plus years of political savvy and experience as Washington State's 6th Legislative District Senator. West doesn't have much else to brag about. There has been poor business growth in the Spokane area that he represents--with highly lucrative business opportunities settling out-of-state.
When West was asked if Spokane should adopt a livable wage ordinance, his response to the media was, "No. It would tend to eliminate entry-level jobs that help train the workforce." What West doesn't seem to understand is that the Spokane job market offers far too many "entry-level" salaried jobs. Additionally, West seems blind to the fact that Spokane has the largest welfare office in the state. West also seems ignorant that 74 percent of our college students leave Spokane County upon graduation because of the poor wages or minimal job choices that the Spokane labor market offers.
Do we need another four years of powerful families that control Spokane? No. We need a progressive mayor. "A town that devotes $50 million to subsidize an upscale mall can dig deep to fight poverty," Tom Grant recently commented to the Spokesman Review. That's gutsy. That's the mind-set we need in order to guide Spokane through the rough waters ahead.
Rob Wilkinson is an award-winning freelance journalist living in
Spokane. He also writes for the Local Planet Weekly
(www.thelocalplanet.com), an alternative weekly newspaper based in Spokane. Rob is also the editor of a bi-monthly Internet newsletter, BovineHeaven News, which focuses on human service and related issues that affect low-income families throughout the Pacific Northwest. Rob can be reached at spokaneinterlink@netzero.net.
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