Today on Inland Journal, we spend an hour with the candidates for a city council seat representing northwest Spokane. Councilwoman Karen Stratton is running for a second term and she’s challenged by five people. We’ll talk with four of them. Ken Side hasn’t answered our requests for an interview.
The candidates whom we’ll talk with are, in alphabetical order, Jeff Martin.
Jeff Martin: “I felt, right now, currently, that the city council is a little bit out of balance. There are a lot of six-to-one votes. Myself, I feel that I am a moderate. I really don’t like extremes on either end. Very hard to get things done.”
Andy Rathbun.
Andy Rathbun: “People fall on hard times and just need a hand up, getting back on their feet, those are some of the easiest to take care of. But where we have addictions and mental health issues, we have to get people housed and off the streets.”
There’s Jeff Rugan.
Jeff Rugan: “For almost the past six years, I’ve helped thousands of people find jobs. I’d now like to take my passion for helping others to the city level, where I can be an effective listener and effectively address and follow through with concerns.”
Christopher Savage.
Christopher Savage: “I would want to prioritize people like the homeless veterans or homeless people who are from Spokane first, rather than the people that seem to be out there that may be from other places. And that’s why I feel like it’s not being spent in the correct way. These funds are being spent towards people who are either out of state or from out of the city and I don’t want prioritize those people yet.“
And the incumbent, Karen Stratton.
Karen Stratton: “We put together a 21st century task force for work conditions within city hall. We looked at pay scales between male and female. We looked at diversity. So, really trying to bring the city into the 21st century as far as human resources and diverse opportunities and pay scales for men and women.”