Filing Week Wrap Up

By Nina Culver Current contributor

Some familiar names will be on the ballot in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake in August as incumbents drew challengers and multiple people filed to run for positions that will be vacated by those currently in office.

In Spokane Valley, three people filed to run for Position 2 to replace Brandi Peetz, who was elected in 2017 and recently announced she was not running again. Those vying for the open seat are Jessica Yaeger, Rachel Briscoe and Adam Smith.

On Yaeger’s website she states that she is running “to address the concerning decline in safety, condition and livability within our cherished community.” She also states that “crumbling infrastructure” and “out of control crime” must be dealt with while also “hunting down drug dealers.” She is listed as the Chapter Chair of the Spokane County chapter of Moms for Liberty.

Smith, owner of Spokane Valley Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, previously ran for a Spokane Valley council seat against Arne Woodard in 2019.

In Position 3, incumbent Arne Woodard has filed to run again and will be challenged by Al Merkel, who previously ran against Woodard in 2019 and lost. Woodard has held his seat since 2011 and served as Deputy Mayor twice. Merkel also ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2017 and has previously served as a Republic Precinct Committee Officer in Spokane Valley.

Retired educator and incumbent Tim Hattenburg filed to retain his seat on the council in position 6 and is being challenged by Rob Chase, who was elected state representative in 2020 and Spokane County treasurer in 2010 and 2015. Chase also ran unsuccessfully for multiple position in the State Senate, U.S House of Representatives and Spokane County Commissioner.

Every seat on the Liberty Lake City Council is on the ballot this year and all drew challengers, though Mayor Cris Kaminskas will be on the ballot unopposed. In council position 1, incumbent Phil Folyer has filed for reelection and will be challenged by Linda Ball. Ball previously applied to fill a vacant city council seat in 2022.

Dan Dunne, who has served on the city council in 2012, drew two challengers for his Position 3 seat; Larry Marshall and Keith Kopelson. Kopelson was previously appointed to the Liberty Lake City council in 2012 and served until 2016.

Position 4 incumbent Jed Spencer, who was appointed to the council last year, is facing a challenge from Travis Scott, founder of RainierDigital. Scott posted on his LinkedIn page that he believes the country is too divided. “There’s also an attack on our freedom and a push for big government (from the party that preaches no big government,” he wrote. “They want to tell us what we can read. Who we can love. How we should pray. Don’t be fooled. When they start the train of taking freedoms away, it doesn’t stop once it’s left the station.”

Position 5 incumbent Annie Kurtz is being challenged by Mike Behary, a city planner in Coeur d’Alene who previously ran for a city council seat in 2021. Position 6 incumbent Tom Sahlberg opted not to run for reelection and his seat is being sought by Michael Hamblet and Mike Kennedy. Kennedy previously held the seat until he stepped down in early 2022.

In Position 7, Wendy Van Orman is attempting to keep the seat she was appointed to in early 2022.

She previously served as a council member from 2001 to 2007 and was Mayor of Liberty Lake from 2008 to 2011. She is being challenged by Teresa Tapao-Hunt, a special education teacher who currently sits on the Liberty Lake Library Board of Trustees.

There are also plenty of challengers for seats on the Central Valley School District board, with inexperienced newcomers pitted against longtime incumbents. In District 1, incumbent Cindy McMullen will face off against Jeff Brooks. McMullen previously served on the Central Valley school board for 24 years, including serving as president five times. She rejoined the school board in December 2015.

In District 3, longtime incumbent Debra Long is being challenged by Stephanie Jerdon. Long was elected to the school board in 2003 and since then has held several state leadership positions with the Washington State School Directors Association.

In 2020 Jerdon became involved with A Voice for Washington Children, which worked to get Referendum 90 on the ballot with the goal of rejecting a comprehensive sex education law approved by the Washington State Legislature. On her website Jerdon writes that more transparency is needed between the school board and the community, along with community values and local control.

District 4 incumbent Keith Clark, a board member since 2007 and current board president, is being challenged by Anniece Barker. According to her website Barker was the founder of A Voice for Washington Children because she “strongly believed that our District and parents should be able to determine what curriculum it taught in its schools – curriculum that reflects its community values.”

A seat on the West Valley School board has also drawn several interested people. In District 3, incumbent Christy White will not be on the ballot. Her seat is being sought by Tricia Phillips, Amy Anselmo and S. John Dubois. Incumbent Adam Mortensen is running unopposed for reelection in District 4.

In the Spokane Valley Fire Department, former firefighter and longtime board member Bill Anderson has not filed for reelection to Position 5. The vacant seat has drawn interest from former Spokane Valley Mayor and Spokane Valley Fire civil service commissioner Diana Wilhite, former firefighter and state legislator George Orr and recently retired firefighter and arson dog handler Rick Freier.

In the East Valley School District, board members Theresa Noack and Laura Gates are unopposed. In the City of Millwood, council members Kelly Stravens, Andy Van Hees and Shaun Culler are also unopposed.