Criminal justice reform advocates bash Spokane County Commission over advisory board decision

The Spokane County Commission appoints volunteers to advisory boards all the time, and most of the time no one pays attention.

But an appointment decision Tuesday led to a Republican v. Democrat faceoff and drew criticism from criminal justice reform advocates.

In a 3-2 vote, the county commission appointed Airway Heights City Councilwoman Jennifer Morton to the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council. Morton, who is Black, will serve as chair of the Law and Justice Council’s racial equity committee.

Republicans Mary Kuney, Josh Kerns and Al French voted to appoint Morton, while Democrats Amber Waldref and Chris Jordan voted nay.

Opposition to Morton’s appointment had little to do with her as an individual and more to do with the process leading up to her selection. She could not be reached for comment as of press time.

The Law and Justice Council is an 18-member board made up primarily of individuals who work in Spokane County’s criminal justice system. It includes judges, the county sheriff, the county prosecutor and the county public defender. Three of the 18 seats belong to at-large community representatives

The board lacks decision-making power, although county commissioners tend to take its recommendations seriously.

Two years ago, the Law and Justice Council looked different. It was bigger, with more elected officials and an additional at-large community representative.

French, Kuney and Kerns in 2021 voted to downsize the Law and Justice Council, following a push from county prosecutor Larry Haskell.

Haskell lobbied for the change following a report from the independent Spokane Criminal Justice Commission. That report said the council had grown ineffective because it had too many members and too much infighting.

The decision to downsize the council, and limit its membership mostly to criminal justice professionals, angered reform advocates. Haskell’s detractors said the county needed to hear more, not less, from community representatives who have interacted firsthand with the criminal justice system.

Jordan unsuccessfully attempted to convince his fellow commissioners to delay the appointment decision for a month. That way, he said, the county could encourage more people to apply for the seat. Jordan pointed out that the Law and Justice Council doesn’t plan to meet again in 2023, so delaying the appointment a month wouldn’t cause any issues.

County staff said that while the seat has been open for over a year, only two people have applied. Spokane Community Against Racism member Curtis Hampton, who is Black, applied last year. Kuney, Kerns and French declined to appoint him, but it wasn’t immediately clear why.

Waldref and Jordan said Morton was an imperfect candidate because she’s a city councilwoman. The at-large community members on the Law and Justice Council should be unelected community members, they said.

The Republican commissioners praised Morton but otherwise spent little time debating their Democratic colleagues.

“I think Jennifer will do a great job,” Kerns said.

Spokane NAACP President Kurtis Robinson lambasted the commissioners’ decision to appoint Morton, although he said he has no issue with her as an individual. He said the commissioners should be soliciting feedback from community leaders when appointing people to the Law and Justice Council’s at-large positions.

In a news release, written on NAACP letterhead and signed by numerous progressive organizations, Robinson had scathing words for Kuney, Kerns and French.

“We demand representation on the SRLJC that we choose, not you,” he wrote.

“We demand that you represent the best of all of us instead of your own selfish, self-seeking and self-serving, status quo desires which, no matter what you say, are absolutely having racist and potentially tokenizing outcomes.”