The Spokane Home Builders Association, a generally right-leaning organization, has endorsed Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart for re-election, citing the need for "sustained leadership."

Condon's endorsement - as well as that of Councilman Mike Fagan and District 3 candidate Evan Verduin - were not that shocking, since the association usually endorses more conservative, Republican candidates. 

Stuckart's endorsement, however, is a bit of a surprise, as the group was against an ordinance put forth by Stuckart late last year mandating that a certain amount of work on public works construction projects be performed by apprentices. 

The group did not endorse any candidates in the city's southern District 2, where four candidates are competing to take the seat being left vacant by Councilman Mike Allen. The group also endorsed Arne Woodard and Sam Wood for Spokane Valley City Council.

Here is the association's explanations of their individual endorsements:

Spokane Mayor: In February, the SHBA early endorsed the re-election of Mayor David Condon.

Not since the re-election of Mayor David Rodgers in 1973 has the City voted to re-elect a Mayor. This four decade long drought has deprived our community of the sustained leadership necessary to achieve a long term vision.

Mayor Condon’s ‘City of Choice’ slogan makes it clear that his vision for Spokane is growth and opportunity, but his actions demonstrate so much more: the inventive funding mechanisms proposed to voters for revitalizing Spokane’s streets and Downtown’s Riverfront Park reveal a fiscally conservative core; the revamped budget process that ensures public participation, and the weekly ‘open to anything’ press conferences represent a level of transparency unmatched by most local elected officials; and the online department performance measures provide citizens with a new level of access and the ability to actually hold the City accountable. 

On issues important to the Spokane Home Builders Association, the Mayor has largely been in our corner. He supported our successful effort to amend the Spokane Charter with a taxpayer protection clause requiring a 2/3 vote of the Council or a simple majority vote of the people to raise taxes. His office provided assistance as we worked to eliminate Spokane’s Copper Pipe Mandate, an ordinance which he later signed into law. The Mayor heard our concerns on the ordinance to restrict access to utilities for development in the expanded Urban Growth Area (UGA) and vetoed the bill after it was rushed through the process with little study. He understands the benefits of incentivizing in-fill development and the need to allow more urban style projects in our centers and corridors. The Mayor also supports our call for a buildable and available lands study to ensure sufficient developable land exists and that those lots are identified.

We urge support for Mayor Condon’s re-election. It’s time to break the so-called “curse” and work to usher in an era of new growth and revitalization.

Spokane City Council President: The SHBA endorses the re-election of Ben Stuckart.

If Spokane is going to realize any long term vision, we need sustained leadership. This means not just re-electing the Mayor, but re-electing the Council President as well. Some continuity will go a long way for our City and, despite their differences, Mayor Condon and Council President Stuckart appear to work well together. It’s no secret that, throughout his first term, Council President Stuckart and our Association haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. However, we have found more and more willingness by the Council President to work with us and ensure our points of view are part of the conversation.

It’s our desire to continue exploring the opportunities to work with the Council President, especially in the areas we agree, such as: publicly opposing Envision Spokane’s anti-business/anti-growth initiative proposals; working to develop an available and buildable lands study; and efforts to incentivize in-fill development and allow urban style projects in and around our centers and corridors. In addition, the Council President voted last year in favor of the ordinance, backed by the SHBA, which eliminated Spokane’s Copper Pipe Mandate. Although we have disagreements, we appreciate his willingness to appoint us to the Mandatory Sick Leave Workgroup. It is encouraging to hear him say he only wants a very minimal sick leave policy and that he wants to leave minimum wage discussions to the state.

It’s our hope that the next City Council will focus on economic growth and development and we want to be right there working with them to advance those goals.  

We are supporting Ben Stuckart, but we want to be clear that we maintain the utmost respect for his opponent John Ahern. John served his constituents well during his decade long tenure in the Washington State House of Representatives and we supported his 2013 bid for a Spokane City Council seat. John has been a friend to the Association and we wish him well, but we do not believe that he is the best candidate in this instance.

Spokane City Council: The SHBA endorses the re-election of Mike Fagan in District 1.

Councilman Mike Fagan is known as the constituent’s Council Member. If you ask around you’ll probably be hard pressed to find any other Councilmember who works nearly as hard for their constituent’s. This is the type of public servant we need to keep in office. Councilman Fagan has done an excellent job taking the lead on difficult issues, such as revitalization in Hillyard and salary setting authority.

On issues important to the Spokane Home Builders Association, Councilman Fagan is one of our strongest advocates. He supported our successful effort to amend the Spokane Charter with a taxpayer protection clause requiring a 2/3 vote of the Council or a simple majority vote of the people to raise taxes. The Councilman voted in opposition to both ordinances adopted by Council that limited access to utilities in the expanded Urban Growth Area (UGA) and he voted in favor of the ordinance, backed by the SHBA, which eliminated Spokane’s Copper Pipe Mandate. He has strongly voiced opposition to city interference in labor policies, such as sick leave and minimum wage that would put Spokane at a competitive disadvantage. Councilman Fagan also supports our call for a buildable and available lands study.

Spokane City Council: The SHBA has opted to defer a decision in District 2.  An announcement will be made in that race at a later date.

Spokane City Council: The SHBA endorses the election of Evan Verduin in District 3.

Evan Verduin is a small business owner with a young family and is an incredibly passionate and energetic candidate. For the past year, he has been a member of the City of Spokane Planning Commission. We expect he will make a great addition to the Spokane City Council. His background as an architect gives him insight into development and construction related issues. Evan agrees with our call for a buildable and available lands study and supports an emphasis on in-fill development. His focus will be on economic growth and not new taxes or regulations. We are also very excited that he has adopted into his platform our long-standing desire to see the City of Spokane implement a trackable database of ordinances and votes cast, which would leave behind the antiquated system that forces citizens to search through old PDFs of the City’s weekly gazette. This is a hugely important issue for transparency and accountability.

Spokane Valley City Council: The SHBA endorses the re-election of Arne Woodard for Position 3.

Arne Woodard and similarly minded Councilmembers are the reason why our job is incredibly easy in the Spokane Valley. As a Realtor he understands growth and development issues and as a small business owner he knows the value of limited taxation and less regulation. We appreciate that Councilman Woodard has expressed support for implementing a tax payer protection clause into the Governance Manual of the Valley, which would require a 2/3 vote of the Council to pass a tax increase. When issues have arisen in the Valley that would limit property rights, such as last year’s debate over whether to ban commercial vehicle parking in residential neighborhoods, a move that would likely have hurt some of our smaller members, his vote was solidly in favor of protecting the rights of his constituents. We know we can count on Councilman Woodard.

Spokane Valley City Council: The SHBA endorses the election of Sam Wood for Position 6.

Sam Wood is a member of the Spokane Home Builders Association and a life member of the Spokane Association of Realtors. As a residential appraiser and member of the Spokane Valley Planning Commission, he is acutely aware of many issues affecting residential development and he understands that, as a growing City, the Valley needs to work incredibly hard to ensure the infrastructure and zoning regulations are designed to accommodate that growth. Sam is also an advocate for limited taxation and less regulation and he favors the implementation of the tax payer protection clause to require a 2/3 vote of the Council to raise taxes.