Stated Ambitions

Something bad has happened to the air in the basement of the Central United Methodist Church. It’s hot, verging on muggy, and the air is stagnant — despite two oscillating fans blowing their contrary winds at each other from either side of the room.

It’s Wednesday, and 50 congregants (the reason for the swampy atmosphere) sit in portable chairs, fixedly staring at the stage, somber-faced, maybe bored, but paying close attention. Except there’s no preacher. Instead, the church is hosting one of a handful of candidate forums in the city, and Amber Waldref and Mike Fagan are sermonizing into their microphones, hers green, his red.

She mentions that her firstborn, the daughter she and husband Tom had last year, is a fourth-generation Spokanite. He says he’s “hailing out of historic Hillyard.”

The two are the only two candidates vying for a City Council seat from Spokane’s northeastern territory, a district that encompasses blue-collar Hillyard and part of the downtrodden East Central neighborhood. It’s a district bounded by the traffic-jammed Division Street, I-90 and the sprawling Valley, a district currently being run through by a massive highway 50 years in the making, whole neighborhoods razed to ease the cross-town commute. It’s a district known, unfairly or not, for its apathetic and largely absent voters — the average voter turnout in the district for the last two council elections was about 46 percent, 10 points lower than average city turnout.

It’s strange, then, that these two candidates are meeting here. The two have names that reverberate across the state. Fagan has already put his stamp on Washington through the many anti-tax initiatives he’s orchestrated with Tim Eyman. And Waldref, some say, has a bright future waiting for her in Olympia.

And though the two don’t appear on the primary ballot — because there are only two candidates and the field needs no whittling down — come November, it’s on. Waldref versus Fagan — quite a big match-up for such a little part of town.

Face to Face
At the forum, Fagan is obviously more comfortable. The Ron Paul-related Campaign for Liberty is hosting the event and Fagan throws around “C4L,” as if the group is a pal of his.

For her part, Waldref seems at ease. This is the first time the two have met, and both are polite, if not simply ignoring each other. They answer the questions posed to them, hardly looking at each other or responding to the other’s answers. Fagan does break down once, saying he agrees with Waldref’s assessment of eminent domain — “Use it sparingly” — but that’s about it.

It’s no wonder they ignore each other. They don’t agree on much.

“It’s an interesting dichotomy,” Waldref says. “Young versus old, extreme right versus a more moderate view.”

If by moderate she also means Democratic, then she’s right on. When Waldref announced her candidacy in May, the state’s Democratic establishment lined up behind her. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, who represents Spokane, gave Waldref a hearty endorsement within a week of Waldref’s entering the race. This endorsement was quickly followed by those from Chris Marr, the senate’s majority whip, and Sharon Smith, vice chair of the state’s Democratic Party, also fellow Spokanites. Waldref, unsurprisingly, got the party’s backing in short order. The party hasn’t endorsed any candidates in District 3 and belatedly gave its approval to Jon Snyder in District 2.

“We are pretty focused on quality … and it doesn’t get much better [than Waldref],” Smith, the party’s vice chair, says. “We’re going to do whatever she wants us to.” The organizing ability has helped, especially when it comes to fundraising. Waldref has pulled in more than $17,000, second in fundraising only to incumbent Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin in District 3. Smith and her partner, Don Barbieri, have each donated $500, and Marr has given $250. Waldref’s lawn signs are everywhere.

But Waldref, development director for the Lands Council, says she’s about more than having a party behind her. She says her district has been especially hit by the downed economy, considering its lower average household income and its loss of big manufacturers, like Kaiser Aluminum. She wants to grow the green-job sector, especially in her part of town, and points to the work Greater Spokane, Inc. and Avista are doing to promote “clean, green technology.”

For public safety, she wants to lessen the impact that large arterial roads have on her part of town, roads such as Nevada, Division, Francis and Market.

“It makes it a really unsafe place for kids to get around,” she says. “We feel divided by these huge arterials. We feel disconnected. It’s unsafe to walk from one part of town to the other.” For this reason, she supports the North South Freeway, to relieve congestion on neighborhood roads.

But she also wants people to know the differences between her and Fagan, whom she calls Eyman’s “foot soldier.” She points to Fagan and Eyman’s successful campaign for I-776.

“The car tabs initiative — it’s one of the reasons the North-South Freeway has taken so long,” she says, adding later in an e-mail, “Governing by initiative hasn’t created new solutions in government, [it has] only furthered our budget problems and polarized the debate over fair taxes.”

Mike Fagan doesn’t talk a lot about the initiative and referendum process, though he’s “definitely a huge proponent.” Which is kind of a given.

Fagan co-founded and co-directs the anti-tax group “Voters Want More Choices” along with Eyman. Together, they’ve pushed through limits on property tax increases and worked to put limits on how transportation money is spent in the state.

Yes, Fagan’s been called the Tim Eyman of Eastern Washington, but he’d rather be known as the Bulldog from Hillyard. In fact, it’s hard to get him off the topic of the neighborhood, which in no small part he’s helped to transform.

“On a city level, when I’m elected here, I want to be able to share the ideas, the vision, the expertise we’ve gotten over the last 10 years … in getting the Hillyard area where it is now,” he says. “We’re talking about blue-collar, bulldog-determination folks.”

Fagan wasn’t clear on what exactly has helped Hillyard in its effort to revitalize, other than to say it involved a lot of civic involvement, an aversion to government “handouts” and a lot of cooperation. “We’re like one big happy family,” he says.
You get the impression he loves Hillyard more than anything, that the neighborhood is the jewel of Spokane.

“We practically had to beg him to join the race,” says Curt Fackler, former chair of the Spokane GOP who now acts as its spokesman. The last entrant for any council seat, Fagan said he’d take on Waldref just three days before the deadline. Now that he’s in, Fackler says he has the party’s support. “This is one of the easier races, as far as I’m concerned. … There was no doubt who we were to support.”

Fagan agrees — there’s only one candidate who any voter should seriously support.

“I personally feel that Ms. Waldref is being groomed to replace Alex Wood,” he says, pointing to the Democratic state representative from Spokane.

“Whether she’ll remain true to her commitment to not seeking higher office, I’m not so sure,” Fagan continues, referring to a question the two received at the church’s voters forum. “She’ll jump at whatever situation arises. I guarantee. She’ll jump.”

But at that forum when they were asked if they’d seek higher office during their council term, both candidates, as polite as could be, didn’t even have to think about the question.

“No,” said Fagan.

“No,” said Waldref.