July 16, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

As many of you have read, I met with Mary Verner shortly after I started the endeavor that is Spokompton. I did so because I had it from a source close to her, that she had filed a police report in regards to harassing email she had received. I met her at the Starbucks on 14th and Grand, and had a witness present with me for a large part of our conversation. During the course of this meeting she repeatedly insisted that she had filed a police report because she felt threatened by an emails she had received from someone other then myself, and that my blog was violating Washington States new Anti-Cyber Stalking laws, wrong Ms. Verner, it does not. I was reporting first had information of an event that you even admitted occurred.

I asked Mary repeatedly for the case number for her police report so that I could call and speak to the detective in charge of the investigation personally and set matters straight. She outright refused to provide me the case number, claiming that it was a private number and that I would be contacted (I gave her my phone number) by the detective. I was suspicious of this and gave her the benefit of the doubt, I even offered her the opportunity for an on the issues interview and that I would post information regarding her campaign, she stated that she would appreciate that. It has now been more then a month since that meeting, I have never been contacted by a police detective, and I have emailed with Ms.Verner a couple of times, only to be told that she is “to busy” to complete her position papers which she has listed on her website.

To set my suspicions aside I decided to go into the police station and find out for sure. I met with a detective who retrieved the police report. I told him that I was an interested party as Mary Verner had stated that my pseudonym was listed in the report. I gave the detective my real name, my handle, my email address and another email address that could be of interest in the case, he repeatedly told me in crystal clear tones that none of this information was contained in the report and that the report had nothing to do with Mary’s political activities and that further more it was not a criminal report, but merely an informational report.

Other sources outside of the police station told me that the report was related to her children and that she had filed it so that the police department would have record of it.

Mary, it just goes to show, lying to intimidate a poor college student doesn’t pay and that the truth shall will out. You do not deserve to be the mayor of Spokane, much less a city councilwoman, I have no doubt that the people of Spokane will tell you much the same thing in little over a month. Despite what some groups and individuals are saying you are NOT the candidate of the people, you lie and repress everyone who disagrees with you.

Once again I find myself saying this. Shame on you Mary Verner!

Stuck in Spokane

Posted in Washington, Spokane, Mayor, Campaigns | 5 Comments »

June 11, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

As some who follow this blog may know, there has been some controversy regarding my coverage of Ms. Verner’s mayoral race. Yesterday I was notified that there was a police investigation under Washington’s new anti-cyber-stalking laws. It was started due to the harassing emails that had been sent to the Verner campaign and to Mary personally. I immediately responded by contacting Ms. Verner personally and speaking with her. I was not the person sending the emails regarding her, and involving her children. I do not condone that behavior and think it is despicable, yet unfortunately part of politics at times.

At the time I was speaking with her I also got the opportunity to ask her about the laptop. The information that wasn’t available at the time was that the campaign had actually paid for part of the laptop, and was allowing the former staffer to keep the laptop without repaying the amount theVerner campaign paid. The staffer was also allowed to take the laptop for several hours prior to the campaign taking the computer to have it wiped. So there was ample opportunity for said staffer to back information up. While I think that communication could have been better regarding what was going to happen, there were wrongs that occurred on both sides, and neither party is entirely to blame.

And to Old Hide, I would encourage you to speak to the police regarding this situation before they have to track you down… (and trust me it’s not terribly difficult)

I’ve received quite a few comments regarding what I have covered and why I am not covering “the issues,” in my view I am. I don’t want a one sided monologue (which is why, while anonymously, offered theVerner campaign an opportunity to respond) but I view issues such as the computer to be dirty laundry, and how a candidate handles issues such as staff is integral to how they will run their office if elected. I will report on anything I consider to be valid to the course of a campaign, and do so without remorse. I do like MaryVerner’s ideas, and I would like to see them expanded upon and an opportunity for her to address policy issues directly, as well as allow the other campaigns to do so.

Like I have told Mary, and also Mayor Hession’s campaign manager, I will be sending them a questionnaire this week to fill out that does directly approach the policy issues facing the city. I will be posting their responses as I receive them.

-Stuck in Spokane-

P.S. As to my anonymity it may or may not come out in the coming days/weeks who I am, and it is my prerogative to remain anonymous, I will tell you though it is not out of fear that I do so but as Jim Camden quoted me as saying, I find it quite entertaining the guessing game people are playing.

Posted in Letters, Spokane, Mayor | 2 Comments »

June 9, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

Yesterday must have been a very busy day at the county auditor’s office, at the close of business yesterday 16 candidates had filed for the three city council seats that are up for election this year, and a total of five candidates had filed for Mayor. Only two incumbents on the City Council are seeking re-election, Brad Stark and Bob Apple, Rob Crow however is seeking to move on to bigger and better things. He has filed to face Joe Shogan in the council president’s race. In Mr. Crow’s current district however, an old familiar face has popped up on the ballot once more, Mr. Steve Corker has filed for Council District #3.

In Mayoral news, despite what some rumors may have been, Mary Verner has indeed filed to continue her bid to become Mayor of Spokane. It will be interesting to see which of the five candidates for mayor are actually running viable races when the next round of PDC filings are posted. I suspect we shall see Mayor Hession with a considerable fundraising lead over what are considered the other two “top tier” candidates.

I think this year will be an important year for local politics, it will either reaffirm the course that city officials have decided upon, or it will drastically change the cities course. Even though this is on off-year election it is still an important one, the city council and the mayor make many decisions that impact us everyday. If we make a mistake in who we select we could find our standard of living here in Spokane degraded.

Like I said in the previous entry I will be attempting to talk to each candidate, either via email or on the phone so that I can give my readers the best information possible for the upcoming election.

That’s all for now,
-Stuck in Spokane-

The current line-up as it is right now:

Mayor:
Al French
Dennis Hession
Mary Verner
Michael J Noder
Robert A Kroboth

City Council President:
Barbara Lampert
Joe Shogan
Rob Crow

City Council District #1:
Bob Apple
Donna Mckereghan
Gary Pollard
Luke Tolley
Robert E Stokes Jr

City Council District #2:
Brad Stark
George J Mcgrath
Karen Cannon
Larry Splater
Richard Rush

City Council District #3:
Dan Peck
Jeremy A Huston
John Waite
Lewis G Griffin
Rod Price
Steve Corker

Posted in Spokane, Mayor, Campaigns | 3 Comments »

June 3, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

Two months ago I had never heard of Mary Verner, other then some faint notion she was a city council woman. I then got to see her at a debate at Roosevelt elementary towards the end of April, she seemed collected and to have good ideas. After that things just seemed to go down hill from there, and it has reached a point where I can no longer keep quiet.

Mary hired a campaign manager who has been involved heavily in fundraising in the past and has become known for his ability to raise large sums of money quickly, but balked when he actually tried to get her to raise… shock… Money. Because of this the campaign manager ended up leaving the campaign. Which left her with only one campaign staff, her field director. He did an excellent job in a tough situation, especially when the campaign lacked money to be able to do much in the way of anything, including paying its bills.

This past week however on the advice of Judith Gilmore (who loses every single thing she gets involved in) Mary Verner let her field director go (who had been given an award last year by the State Democrats as a rising star within the party). So to pour more salt in the wound of being replaced by a wing nut, the Verner campaign ostensibly seizes the field director’s computer to “remove campaign material” and six hours later the gentleman gets his computer back COMPLETELY blank, with absolutely nothing on it, including Windows.

I must say for a person who claims to want to be mayor of Spokane, she isn’t doing much to earn it. Good luck Mary, you’re going to need it as you continue to alienate your base.

Posted in Mayor, Campaigns | 1 Comment »