Once-ousted commissioner is suing Stevens County while running for re-election; he says it’s his only option after unfair ruling

A Stevens County commissioner who is running for re-election is also suing the county and the former prosecutor. He faces two challengers in the Aug. 6 primary election.

Commissioner Wes McCart is defending his District 1 seat representing the southern portion of the county. If elected, it would be his fourth term.

Running against him are Montgomery (Monty) Stobart, a retired Army veteran and home inspector, and Steven Thompson, a former third-party candidate for U.S. Senate. All three candidates are Republicans.

McCart’s federal lawsuit seeks damages related to an earlier case when he and his fellow commissioners were removed from office in 2020 after county Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen sued them, accusing them of misspending homeless assistance funds.

The commissioners were ordered to personally repay that money plus interest.

A state appellate court later ruled that they were improperly removed and that they were acting as a legislative body, so they were not individually liable.

Rasmussen appealed the overruling to the state Supreme Court, but the court declined to hear the case.

The state auditor in 2019 determined the commissioners misspent as “an unallowable gift of public funds” $121,000 from the county’s homelessness fund when they allocated $30,000 to a couple whose home was damaged from flooding and $91,000 to two nonprofits that built a transitional home for people with spinal cord injuries.

When the commissioners were removed, Gov. Jay Inslee appointed their replacements. McCart was re-elected three months later.

McCart’s former fellow commissioners Donald Dashiell, Steven Parker and each of their wives join him as plaintiffs in the suit. They are trying to recover damages from reputational harm, loss of public office, loss of salary and benefits – asking for a punitive award, twice the amount of lost wages, interest and attorney fees.

McCart said that a lawsuit is his only remedy “when I am personally tasked with paying something I shouldn’t have to pay.”

Rasmussen prevented the county from paying for their defense.

McCart has recused himself from any decisions the commissioners make about the case. But he still faces criticism from his opponents.

“A county commissioner suing the people he is elected to serve? What’s that all about?” Thompson said. “They decided to give homeless funds to people who weren’t homeless.”

Like Thompson, Stobart questions why McCart would sue the organization he represents.

“I come from a different world where integrity means something,” Stobart said.

The suit names Rasmussen both in his official capacity and as an individual.

The county and Rasmussen argue that Rasmussen had both absolute and qualified immunity, that he was carrying out his statutory duty and was supported by an opinion from the state attorney general. The defendants are waiting for the judge in the Eastern District of Washington to rule on a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case.

“Homelessness money is from a restricted fund that can only be lawfully used for homelessness programs,” Rasmussen said in an email. “I was acting within my statutory duties and thus, doing my job, when I sued the former commissioners to recover the homelessness money.”

Rasmussen retired at the end of 2022.

His successor Erika George, who is not involved in either case, said she does not have an opinion on the merits of the case but that there is nothing inherently wrong with elected officials suing as individuals if they were personally harmed. They should be allowed to petition a court to make a decision, she said – and that is not a conflict of interest with their regular duties as a commissioner.

“I find it a little bit unfair that there’s this idea he shouldn’t be able to recoup his losses,” George said. “If he wasn’t sitting as a commissioner, would it be wrong?”

The county’s insurance has hired outside counsel to defend the county in the suit.

George said that lawsuits play a role in the county’s insurance costs, but rates in general have been rising across the country lately.

Larry Batterton, chairman of the Stevens County Republican Central Committee, said there is a general feeling among the committee that “Mr. McCart is within his fair rights to attempt to recover his lost personal funds by the only recourse left to him.”

The candidates

McCart, 64, positions himself as experienced compared to the other two. They say it’s time for a change.

Stobart, 61, served 22 years in the U.S. Army first in aviation, then retention and recruitment. After that he owned two small construction and home inspection businesses. This is his first bid for public office.

“I never ran for office before, but I never ran from anything either,” he joked.

Stobart said he is running to bring “transparency” and “integrity” to local government. His top concerns are low property taxes, crime prevention and road safety.

Suncrest and the surrounding area in southern Stevens County have unique needs and could use better representation, he said. It’s more of a suburb of Spokane than a small town in a rural county – yet since it has no city government, it depends on the county for all of its services. At the same time, it provides a large portion of the county’s tax base.

Stobart said he believes in public service and has been serving his whole life. He has volunteered with Vet Corps and other veteran organizations, Life Services mentoring program for new fathers and Journey Foursquare Church in Suncrest.

“I want to continue to serve my community and lead it into a direction we can be proud of,” Stobart said.

Thompson, 68, is retired from a career in telecommunications and owns a small tree farm near Ford, Washington. He describes himself as an “America-first MAGA Republican.”

He founded Make Stevens County Great Coalition, which Thompson said is a loose-knit group of citizens who want better representation in the local and state Republican Party. It is not a political action committee raising campaign funds.

His campaign is self-funded, he said, and he is not accepting any outside donations.

Thompson wants to impose term limits. Two terms for a four-year position would be appropriate.

“Chances are good that I’ll be a one-term Commissioner,” he said in his campaign statement.

He wants county business to be more accessible to citizens by holding one third of meetings in each district, rather than only at the county offices in Colville, which is over an hour away from southern parts of the county. He also wants to hold some meetings in the evening instead of the daytime so working people can attend.

“Bring the people to the table; let the people be involved,” Thompson said. “That’s all I want.”

He criticized the current commissioners, including McCart, for excessive spending and their plans for the new jail and justice center, which he said is much larger and more expensive than it needs to be.

Thompson was active in the Reform Party of Washington in the 1990s, when he ran unsuccessfully for Spokane City Council and U.S. Senate. He was briefly chair of the state party in 2000, before it disbanded following their nomination of Pat Buchanan for president. The party was a tenuous coalition of conservatives and progressives that led to a lot of infighting.

Thompson still sees himself as an outsider.

The Stevens County Republican Party endorsed McCart and Stobart, but not Thompson. Because he was not endorsed, Thompson was not invited to participate in candidate forum last Tuesday, which Thompson called a form of censorship.

Batterton said Thompson declined to participate in the vetting process.

Thompson said he declined because the endorsements were predetermined. He said once the top-two primary is over, the party will just support McCart.

“It’s a total scam,” Thompson said.

McCart said he is running again because of his extensive knowledge of the issues facing the county and he would like to finish his current projects, including the justice center.

His resume includes a long list of boards and committees. He is the western interstate region president of the National Association of Counties, which he said gives Stevens County a voice in a national forum. He is also the chair of the Columbia River Caucus with the Washington State Association of Counties, and a past president of the Stevens County Farm Bureau.

Other issues facing the county are the Columbia River Treaty renewal, a potential superfund listing of the Upper Columbia River – which he says is unnecessary and will decrease property values – and continuing to fund law enforcement and county roads.

On issues like these, “experience matters,” McCart said.

“There is a myriad of things that come at you as a commissioner at all levels: national, state or local. Having that experience in the different happenings that affect us really makes a big difference.”

Dashiell, the former commissioner and co-plaintiff, endorsed McCart.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Dashiell said. “He is the most knowledgeable about budgets, spending, the issues that face the county and the departments.”