While voters around the nation were indicating they were ready for some changes in political leadership, voters in Spokane County were electing to go with the flow.
At press time Tuesday night, Nov. 4, all incumbents in local, state and federal offices were winning re-election, led by 5th District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who was leading her Democrat challenger Colville Tribe CEO and businessman Joe Pakootas by a 57.62 — 42.06 percent margin in Spokane County election returns. District-wide, McMorris Rodger’s lead was even larger, 59.43 — 40.57 percent.
All three Republican incumbents representing the state’s 6th legislative district, which includes Cheney, Airway Heights and the West Plains, were also winning by comfortable margins. Michael Baumgartner held a 13.68-point margin over challenger Rich Cowan in the race for state senator, while state representatives Kevin Parker and Jeff Holy held even larger leads over their opponents, Donald Dover and Ziggy Siegfried.
Both Parker and Holy were commanding over 66 percent of the vote.
In county positions, incumbent Republican Al French was leading Democrat challenger Mary Lou Johnson 53.04 – 46.96 percent in the race for County Commissioner District 3, which represents the West Plains, southwest Spokane County and portions of the city of Spokane’s South Hill.
County assessor Vicki Horton and county auditor Vicky Dalton both held sizeable leads over their opponents, as was county clerk Timothy Fitzgerald. Also leading in their races were Larry Haskell, holding a 17-point lead over Breean Beggs in the race for county prosecutor and Rob Chase with a 10.28-point lead over Amy Biviano in the contest for county treasurer.
Incumbent Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich was easily on his way to a large win over challenger Doug Orr, with Knezovich receiving 71.51 percent of the vote.
Locally, the city of Airway Heights emergency medical services levy, Proposition 1, appeared well on its way to passage, receiving 59.54 percent yes votes. The levy would add a 25 cent tax per $1,000 of assessed property valuation to raise funds supporting the city’s EMS services over the next six years, beginning in 2015.
At press time, Spokane County voters were saying yes to two gun control measure.
Initiative 591, which “would prohibit government agencies from confiscating guns or other firearms from citizens without due process, or from requiring background checks on firearm recipients unless a uniform national standard is required” was passing in Spokane County by a narrow 50.03 – 49.97 percent. Statewide however, the measure was failing handily, 54.55 – 45.45.
Meanwhile, county voters were also approving I-594, which would “apply currently used criminal and public safety background checks by licensed dealers to all firearm sales and transfers, including gun show and online sales, with specific exceptions” by an easy 54.98 – 45.02 percent margin. Statewide, the initiative was also passing by a larger margin, 59.72 – 40.28 percent.
Finally, in the other statewide measure, voters both in Spokane County and across the state were saying no to K-12 class size reductions called for in I-1351, albeit by narrow margins, 50.15 – 49.85 percent in the county and 50.57 – 49.43 percent statewide.
The initiative faced no visible, organized opposition around the state. However, the state is facing large budget challenges in 2015 to come up with money to not only satisify the state Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling regarding education funding, estimated by the Office of Financial Management to be between $1.2 – $2 billion, but also fill a projected $900 million gap between estimated revenues and projected new spending. If I-1351 had passed, OFM estimated the state would have to find another $2 billion -- $4 billion to satisfy its requirements.
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