SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Spokane County Republicans are gearing up to nominate a replacement for the Spokane County treasurer.
That position will soon be vacant as current treasurer Michael Baumgartner heads to Congress to serve Washington’s 5th congressional district. He won in the general election against Democratic opponent Carmela Conroy.
Baumgartner told KREM 2 he plans to resign as treasurer in January when he becomes a member of Congress. Once he steps down, the Spokane County Republicans and Board of County Commissioners will have 60 days to appoint a nominee to that role.
According to a release from the Spokane County Republicans, the party will choose three Republican nominees for commissioners to choose from. But if the Board of County Commissioners can't agree, then the governor will choose someone from that list to serve as treasurer.
Right now, those interested in becoming treasurer can participate in the Spokane county Republicans evaluation and vetting process. They can participate by visiting https://spokanegop.com/contact and requesting the "candidate evaluation form."
Rob Linebarger is the chair of the party's vetting committee. He said the evaluation form includes generic questions and is used for all offices up for replacement. The form asks candidates to describe the duty of the office they're running for and how they will achieve success. It also asks what key performance indicators voters should use to evaluate them. Other questions include when the candidate believes life begins, if they have any criminal convictions, filed for bankruptcy or tax liens.
While the form doesn't ask questions specific to the office the candidates are pursuing, Linebarger said the vetting committee will ask questions that are. He said the vetting committee will be made up of 10 to 12 people. Half will be Republican precinct committee officers, and the other half will include volunteers within the community.
Evaluation forms are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29. Then, the vetting committee will begin interviews on Saturday, Dec. 7. To be clear, the evaluation form and interviews are not required for candidates to be considered for nomination.
As of Monday, Linebarger said nine people will participate in the vetting and interview process to become the next treasurer.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said appointing someone to a vacant position in the county is not an unusual occurrence.
"This does occur in county governments quite frequently," Dalton said. "Our current clerk of the Superior Court, Tim Fitzgerald, he was originally an appointee. Mary Kuney, our county commissioner, was originally an appointee as well."
Whoever is appointed to the vacant spot will serve as Spokane County Treasurer until November next year. But if they want to remain in that position they need to run for election. Whoever is elected in the November 2025 election will serve for one year until Dec. 31, 2026. To keep that seat, they'll need to run for office again in the 2026 General election. That's when it returns to the normal four-year cycle.
This is a breakdown of the treasurer position term lengths going forward:
- Baumgartner's replacement treasurer
- Jan. 2025-Nov. 2025
- Next Elected Treasurer
- Nov 2025 to Dec 2026
- And next Elected Treasurer: (returns to normal four-year term)
- Jan 2027 to Dec 2030