'God help us': Conservatives feel iced out by new, more progressive Spokane City Council

Jan. 29—Conservatives have held less and less sway on the Spokane City Council since losing the majority in 2013, but after voters elected a more progressive slate of members in November the two remaining right-leaning council members who represent northeast Spokane feel they've almost entirely lost their influence.

The numbers didn't change during the election; at the start of 2023, the City Council had five left-leaning and two right-leaning members, which didn't shift going into 2024.

What has changed is the ideological lean of the council members. Center-left Councilwoman Karen Stratton and Council President Lori Kinnear have been replaced by solidly progressive Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke and Councilman Paul Dillon. Council President Breean Beggs, who had progressive bona fides of his own, left the council last summer to take a position as a Spokane County Superior Court judge, being replaced for a few months by Kinnear and now for the next four years by Council President Betsy Wilkerson.

"It felt more collaborative before this year," said conservative Councilman Jonathan Bingle in an interview. "I really felt with Kinnear and Stratton, and even Beggs, that they wanted to make sure that, even while we're in the minority, that we're duly elected by our district to represent them and should be put in positions where we can do that."

Tensions simmering since the beginning of the year boiled over Jan. 22, after a series of perceived slights and failed attempts by Bingle and fellow conservative Councilman Michael Cathcart to insert themselves in or at least not lose positions of authority.

In most cases, those positions were largely symbolic, such as the chair position on various boards and committees, as well as a fight over who should serve as council president pro tem, the position that serves as council president when Wilkerson is absent. Cathcart was unanimously named to that position during Kinnear's short time leading the dais, a move which was hailed by both liberals and conservatives on the council as a sign that city government was willing to work across the ideological divide.

"I'm thrilled that (Cathcart) is on our list, and hopefully this will be a unanimous vote, and again, one more opportunity to say, we work well together," said then-Councilwoman Stratton, who was the most likely liberal on the dais to vote with conservatives, during the July vote. "I'm very proud of this moment."

On Monday, Cathcart was replaced by progressive Councilman Zack Zappone. Cathcart introduced an amendment that would have kept him in that position.

"I think my track record speaks for itself, my seniority, my efforts to be collaborative and working across the board with this council, never missing a single vote on this council in four years," Cathcart said Monday.

Zappone, who had been late to the meeting due to his grandmother's death, argued that there were more important factors than not missing a vote, and noted that Cathcart had declined to attend a closed door meeting to discuss the qualifications of candidates for appointment to an open seat on the council. Cathcart has previously argued that the appointment process should have been more public.

"Avoiding backroom decision making, if that's your idea of collaboration or lack thereof, God help us," Cathcart retorted.

Only Bingle voted in support of Cathcart's attempt to remain in the pro tempore seat.

Zappone acknowledged in a Thursday interview that the position was largely symbolic, but said he was honored that his colleagues had chosen him. He added that there had been debate last summer about whether to elevate Cathcart in the first place.

"I had heard the argument from Kinnear that if you include Cathcart on stuff he would start to collaborate more," Zappone said. "I found during that time that he ... I didn't see a difference with him collaborating, being pro tem or not."

Real power, realpolitik

In at least one case, the conservatives on the City Council felt they, and by effect the northeast district, had been intentionally overlooked for a meaningful voting position on the Spokane Transit Authority board of directors. The city of Spokane has four of nine voting seats on that body; on Jan. 22, the City Council's liberal majority voted to give two positions to Northwest Spokane representatives, one to a south Spokane representative, and the last seat to Wilkerson, who was elected citywide. Neither of northeast Spokane's representatives were given a seat.

"That makes absolutely no sense to me," Bingle said Monday. "We have lobbied to be on that board, and we are not on it. That is offensive to my district, it's offensive to me personally, and that's something that I hope we can change soon."

Bingle noted that his constituents are by far the most frequent riders of the local bus system.

On an average week between October and December last year, nearly 60% of all STA riders boarding within city limits came from bus stops in Cathcart and Bingle's Council District 1, which has the highest concentration of impoverished neighborhoods. Excluding the downtown transit plaza, which is located in District 1, 1,750-2,400 more riders boarded from northeast Spokane bus stops than in either of the other council districts.

Wilkerson, who previously represented south Spokane but now represents the entire city, argued Monday that the northeast was not being left out in the cold.

"I was just recently elected citywide, so I feel that I do represent that district," Wilkerson said.

Zappone has argued that the city's representatives to STA were meant to represent the city, not their particular council districts. He believes that neither Bingle nor Cathcart would vote in a way that represented the majority of voters, who decided in November to give overwhelming control of city government to liberals.

"The reality is that elections have consequences, and the electorate has spoken that they want a new direction," Zappone said.

Amid an increasingly bitter fight within the STA board over (also largely symbolic) positions of power, County Commissioner and STA board Chair Al French argued in a letter to the editor in Sunday's Spokesman-Review that Wilkerson's stated representation of the northeast was hollow. That claim, he adds, harkens back to a time before 1999 when all council positions were elected citywide and few if any were elected from the northeast.

"Twenty-five years later, we have a City Council poised to exclude council members from the northeast district from the opportunity to represent the voters who elected them," wrote French, who previously served on the Spokane City Council representing the northeast council district.

Zappone, who was reappointed Monday to one of the city's four voting seats on STA's board, has argued that French is using an argument of equitable representation to thinly veil a power grab, attempting to solidify conservative control over that agency. If French wanted northeast Spokane to have representation, he could step down and give his seat to Commissioner Amber Waldref, a Democrat who represents that portion of the city, Zappone said in an interview.

"French just recently made an argument that Waldref can't even serve as an alternate (voting member) on the STA board," Zappone said. "He's trying to make two arguments at the same time that are in complete contradiction to each other."

Dillon, who said he was sympathetic to the concerns of the northeast's representatives and suggested he would like to see Bingle on the STA board, argued that the county would have to be willing to give up a conservative seat if the city were to give up a liberal one.

"Could (Commissioner) Josh Kerns step off STA and be replaced by Amber Waldref, and then Councilman Bingle could come in?" Dillon said. "You'd have a lateral move for votes and more representation in the northeast. I think there has to be some compromise."

Cathcart argues this line of thinking is nakedly partisan from an ostensibly nonpartisan City Council.

"Nothing we do should be contingent on what the county does," Cathcart said. "I think it's wrong to hold us hostage for a partisan desire — we are a nonpartisan body. The county is partisan, they're elected as Democrats and Republicans, it makes sense that they act in a partisan way."

Personal politics

Outside of committees and boards and positions of power, Bingle said some of the recent tensions feel like personal attacks.

He pointed to Zappone's assertion that the conservatives couldn't vote in the city's interests on STA, as well as comments Dillon made Monday that Cathcart's opposition to the appointment process that selected Lili Navarette to serve a nearly two-year term on the City Council was "gaslighting" and would be perceived as a slight against a person of color.

At the time, Cathcart called the assertion "incredibly offensive," stating that his opposition to the appointment process limited public engagement predated this year and noting that he had wanted to appoint Alex Gibilisco, a Guatemalan immigrant.

In a Thursday interview, Dillon said that he had been unaware of Cathcart's prior concerns when he made those comments.

"I think I would have rethought what I said had I known that was true, but without that communication upfront it felt like a breakdown," he said. "I don't think Michael Cathcart is racist. We often don't agree, but I have a lot of respect for him."

Cathcart acknowledged Friday that Dillon had pulled him aside to apologize.

"It felt very heartfelt, and I appreciated it," Cathcart said. "An apology goes a long way, especially with how toxic things have been on council."

Dillon added that he hoped to collaborate with the council's conservatives in the future, noting that Bingle had recently advocated for a new fire station in the Latah Valley, a key infrastructure need in Dillon's district.

"I think we want to find a way forward together," Dillon added. "It was an emotional start to things on Monday."