SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County's general election is coming up on Nov. 7, 2023. Some of the key Spokane County races include the city of Spokane mayor, Spokane City Council president and multiple Spokane City Council seats. KREM 2's Chief Journalist Amanda Roley sat down with City Council President candidate Kim Plese over tea to learn where she stands on important issues.
Amanda Roley
Kim Plese, thank you for joining me once again here on The Tea with Amanda Roley. Happy to have you back.
Kim Plese
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
Amanda Roley
We always start out, I gotta know what type of tea you decided to drink with me today.
Kim Plese
Well, it's my favorite and I have it at home. It's the cinnamon spice tea on ice.
Amanda Roley
This is a historical race for Spokane City council President. So, Kim, you could be the first woman elected to Spokane City Council president. So what would that mean to you?
Kim Plese
It would mean a lot. Look how far women have come in Spokane.
Amanda Roley
On your campaign website, you mentioned that you believe city council hasn't been taking public safety seriously. What do you mean by that?
Kim Plese
Our city council president can do a better job at supporting our police department who keep us safe.
Amanda Roley
Well, for the general election, Proposition One is on the ballot. It's that citizens' initiative to ban encampments within 1,000 feet of public schools, parks, daycares. Why do you support it?
Kim Plese
Well, one of the first things that I've done is gone to some of the neighborhoods, like I went out to the West Central Neighborhood, and talk to all those people about the parks. My biggest worry is around schools. Imagine having a child walking through the park and finding drugs.
Amanda Roley
Spill the tea for me, Kim. The TRAC center has also been kind of a hot button issue within our community. So what is your vision for the future of TRAC?
Kim Plese
Well, I know right now it's not sustainable. It really is not ,the amount of money that we're spending on the Trent Shelter. But we have to have it. Cold weather is coming in, and we need it. But there's a lot of people that have really criticized it because it's not homey enough. It's more of a warehouse.
Amanda Roley
The city council recently denounced Mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing at a prayer event with former state legislator Matt Shea. Censuring and denouncing, they're just a formal disapproval, right? So in your position, if you find, 'Hey, I need to hold somebody accountable.' Is that enough?
Kim Plese
If something comes up [like] that again, I would probably just set a meeting with whoever that person is or who's responsible and saying 'This is wrong,' and do it a lot differently.
Amanda Roley
Betsy Wilkerson recently sent out a campaign email saying Spokane voters have two choices. Elect an experienced leader who who'd be ready to start the job day one, or, and it appears to reference you in a subtle way, let outside special interests buy this race and push the city backwards. So I want to hear your reply to that implication, that your campaign has been bought by outside special interests.
Kim Plese
Well, I would say 99.9% of all my supporters are people from Spokane.
Amanda Roley
I looked at the numbers. So the Public Disclosure Commission, it actually turns out the current PDC number shows Betsy actually has more contributions from out of state, out of Spokane, than you by $10,000. So what do you hope voters take away from that? I mean, the numbers don't lie, right?
Kim Plese
Yeah, numbers don't lie. And I hope that people realize, you know, look at the numbers, check the facts out and things like that.
Amanda Roley
Well, thank you so much for joining me on The Tea and spilling the tea with me.
Kim Plese
Thank you so much.
To watch the extended interview with Betsy Wilkerson, use the player below:
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
Apple TV: Search "Spokane News from KREM" in the Apple store or follow this link.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.