Well, it was an interesting week in the race for city council. It all started on Monday with a candidate forum moderated by the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce. The forum itself was a disappointment.
First, the forum was very poorly attended. If family of candidates, current council, city staff, and chamber staff were removed you could count the residents on your fingers and probably still have a couple left over to continue swiping on your phone. One of the primary factors in the poor attendance was the time of day as it began at 4:30 PM on a work day. Another factor was likely the lake of advertisement and visibility.
Next, the questions were not of interest to the voters who were present. Most of the questions seemed self-serving of the chamber of commerce and related to the region instead of focusing on Liberty Lake. One attendee commented that the questions sounded like speed dating questions.
On a positive note, voters got to hear from Hugh Severs who has been very quiet during this election since he is running unopposed. This is pretty much where the positive ends and the fireworks begin.
It went from just a disappointing forum to interesting and little more disappointing.
During the closing statements, candidate and current councilmember, Odin Langford, stated something to the effect, “…you shouldn’t need to be asked to run for office, you should see a need and get off your ass.”
This statement did not sit well with candidate, Jeanette Nall, who was reportedly asked to run by Mayor Steve Peterson. At this point in Odin’s remarks Nall walked away from the table and headed down the hall to have a chat with Mayor Peterson and Mrs. Peterson.
That night and into the following days news of this exchange made its way to Facebook groups where Langford supporters and Nall supporters debated, conversed, argued, and complained. Nall issued a statement on her campaign page and participated in the online debates, while Odin double downed with a statement on his campaign Facebook page.
Here is some of what they had to say on say on social media.
As you can see from these statements, neither made apologies for their tone, words, or actions. Are we to expect more of this “gloves off” type of campaigning as we get closer to election day?
But wait, there’s more!
Minutes before the forum, Councilmember Cris Kaminskas shared a letter to many Liberty Lake Facebook groups rejecting a claim Nall had made about council infighting. The letter was signed by 6 of the 7 councilmembers where they, as residents, endorsed Odin Langford. Absent from the letter was Mayor Steve Peterson and Councilmember Dan Dunne.
The purpose of the letter was to end the rumor that there is council infighting and show unity. In doing so, it has started some fights outside of council which could include legal battles.
Check back soon as we will have more on “the letter” to come.
